I thought it was pretty cool and would do it again. Iceland has a population of only 350k and apparently most of them live in the Reykjavik metro. I think one day shows you most interesting City-tourist stuff and longer stays would probably focus on nature.

But since Las Vegas has non-stop flights to all major European airports, going to Iceland would definitely be a detour for you. I need a stopover somewhere anyway and KC -> Reykjavik -> Berlin could actually be a little faster than the KC -> Chicago -> Frankfurt Lufthansa flight I usually take. [Right now I am on the high speed train from Berlin to Frankfurt that takes less than 4 hours]

I was walking my dogs here in north Alabama on Wednesday in 85 degree temperatures and sweating even then.

Photo taken on overwalk over the Strip summer 2017 between Tropicana and Excalibur.

Just thought that your list of things that wouldn't increase the cost of living was incomplete. You forgot the persistent smell of urine, burning crosses on every street corner, serial-killing circus clowns (What you want to do instead is visit non-murderous clowns), piles of dead children, and so forth.

Worst OP I’ve read in years. Nearly bannable it’s so bad

I'm about to do a mod thing I've never done before. I 'm going to delete the body of the OP's garbage post but keep the topic. And he is definitely live game around here.

Dom is a real academic too!

Does the low humidity really make the heat a lot more bearable?

I'm in Florida and although I love warm weather, this humidity in the summer sucks.

Absolutely.

My wife is from New Orleans and this is our first summer in Vegas and she says it’s not even close how much more tolerable the heat is here. I’m from So Cal and I’m adapting pretty well, I spent a summer in Phoenix where May 1 to Oct 15 was 100+ everyday and many were 110+ and I’ve found Las Vegas to be more enjoyable/tolerable than Phoenix.

yes to a certain point. when it's 110+, it's still unbearably hot dry heat or not.

it does get humid here in July - September when the monsoon season arrives. it's not Florida-level humidity, but it is still noticeable and yucky.

Blank OP, that's a first

tx

I was in Berlin last week and used some free time on Tuesday to walk around the city, ~8 miles in 95 degree dry heat. Landed in Kansas City on Friday night, walked maybe 5 minutes outside to my pick up. Same 95 degrees but extremely humid. Guess which of the two activities left me trenched in sweat?

[side note: most buildings in Germany don’t have an AC. Including my clients “office” which was in the back of his bar. Fun times]

I don't get the point

You are right that the ACS data is dragged down by rent regulated/controlled apartments. However, not all of Manhattan is as expensive as Tribeca. A friend of mine just rented a studio 1 block away from Natural History Museum, 2 blocks from Central Park, generally nice and happening area, for $15xx. Yes, it is very small, but it is in a nice building.

$1140 gets you a nice house in Vegas? Other posters in this thread say that $1500 gets you a nothing-special apartment... If I can get a decent house in Vegas for $1140 I might be tempted to buy it as a rental.

I certainly do not doubt that NYC is more expensive than Vegas simply because of housing prices. But aside from housing prices, I am not seeing any obvious savings in Vegas. Food is same price, but worse variety. Transportation cost is probably the same or worse if we include ridesharing, Amtrak, and Subway. Clubs and bars on the strip are more expensive than many NYC clubs/bars and off the strip locales seem to be very dingy. Most other Vegas activities seem to be terribly overpriced and focused on tourists.

I am not trying to piss on Vegas but rather understand what good value you guys find there and hoping to hear some concrete examples. I am generally frugal and always looking for value, and Vegas doesn't seem to offer much value even compared to NYC, one of the most expensive cities in the US. This is what surprised me, as a Vegas noob visitor.

Vegas is hardly unique in having a house renting for more than the mortgage payment for that same house.

The topic was fine, the post was not.

It isn't worth it. Professionals buy, poor people rent. This is similar to most of the country (not NYC area).

Food has great variety here. Pretty much anything you want in little strip malls all over the town.

Transportation is primarily "you drive your car to where you want to go." Taking public transportation would be silly here. Ride sharing is extremely cheap, primarily because "all the way across town" is not a long ride.

If you are looking for a NYC-ish club scene in Vegas, you pay for it. Most people who live here are not looking for that. We either do what most NYC people do (which is go directly home after work and maybe watch some porn on the internet), or we go to the little restaurants and bars around town.

I didn't take it badly. IMO, it just sounds like you like where you live.

The major difference between Manhattan and Las Vegas (and most Western US cities ) is population density.

I like Manhattan, but The City is relentless in terms of the effects of population density. (I was not interested in the daily commute from Connecticut or The Island.) Glad to visit, when I lived in DC I spent three days/week in Midtown and Lower Manhattan and do enjoy it.

Out West, things however are way more open, spaces are open and people are not as crowded-in, whether you are referencing housing, ground transportation, green spaces, access to restaurants, shopping, etc. There are many collaterall effects on the quality of life, in a positive sense.

Additionally, the weekend 25% population bulge from tourists is wholly avoidable unless one wants to interact selectively.... Fine dining reservations and good tickets to upcoming concerts are generally available to locals, if they choose to do the "Vegas" thing for an evening. It is not Manhattan, or even as 24/7 as it used tgo be here, but it is a manageable lifestyle, with some variety easily available 20 minutes from some really nice neighborhoods with affordable large lots,single family houses, greenery and swimming pools.

Once they add that NFL team to the NHL team, all within a 25 minutes drive of anywhere you might live, that will be another plus.... and, we have the NFR and Nascar.

Oh yeah .... there is the WSOP poker season to boot.

No one has mentioned EDC as a positive yet

Don't exaggerate. It can take upwards of 27 minutes to get all the way from the outskirts to the middle of the city during a bad rush hour.

Not everyone would consider those negatives. I don't believe any of those are particularly more prevalent than any other city besides the gambling.

Yeah this is weird. If OP was so wrong about his claims, argue against it instead of delete it. And why go back and delete it after 2 pages of people doing just that?

Your question was discussed and you got an answer: if you don’t want that stuff, stay away from it. The city is big enough and nobody forces you to enter gambling establishments.

There are major cities in the world where (street) prostitution is legal, alcohol is available in every grocery store or kiosk and you just have to go to the nearest park to buy drugs. People in those cities manage to survive somehow..

I believe it was deleted because no one likes him.