The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second-largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area is coextensive since 2003 with Clark County, Nevada. The Valley is largely defined by the Las Vegas Valley land formation, a basin area surrounded by mountains to the north, south, east and west of the metropolitan area. The Valley is home to the three largest incorporated cities in Nevada: Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas. Eleven unincorporated towns governed by the Clark County government are part of the Las Vegas Township and constitute the largest community in the state of Nevada.
The names Las Vegas and Vegas are interchangeably used to indicate the Valley, the Strip, and the city, and as a brand by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to denominate the region. The Valley is affectionately known as the Ninth Island by Hawaii natives and Las Vegans alike, in part due to the large number of people originally from Hawaii who live in and regularly travel to Las Vegas.
Since the 1990s, the Las Vegas Valley has seen rapid growth, tripling its population from 741,459 in 1990 to 2,227,053 estimated in 2018, increasing to 2,421,685 in 2024. The Las Vegas Valley remains one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States. In its relatively short history, it has established a diverse presence in international business, commerce, urban development, and entertainment, as well as one of the most visited tourist attractions destinations in the world. In 2014, a record-breaking 41 million people visited the Las Vegas area, producing a gross metropolitan product of more than $100 billion.
History
The first reported non-Native American visitor to the Las Vegas Valley was the Mexican scout Rafael Rivera in 1829.Barbara Land, Myrick Land, "A short history of Las Vegas", University of Nevada Press, 2004, p. 4. Las Vegas was named by Mexicans in the Antonio Armijo party, including Rivera, who used the water in the area while heading north and west along the Old Spanish Trail from Texas. In the 19th century, areas of the valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas, or meadows, hence the name Las Vegas (vegas being Spanish for "meadows").
The area was previously settled by Mormon farmers in 1854, and later became the site of a United States Army fort in 1864, beginning a long relationship between southern Nevada and the U.S. military. Since the 1930s, Las Vegas has generally been identified as a gambling center as well as a resort destination, primarily targeting adults.
Nellis Air Force Base is located in the northeast corner of the valley. The ranges that the Nellis pilots use and various other land areas used by various federal agencies, limit growth of the valley in terms of geographic area.
Businessman Howard Hughes arrived in the late 1960s and purchased many casino hotels, as well as television and radio stations in the area. Legitimate corporations began to purchase casino hotels as well, and the mob was run out by the federal government over the next several years. The constant stream of tourist dollars from the hotels and casinos was augmented by a new source of federal money from the establishment of what is now Nellis Air Force Base. The influx of military personnel and casino job-hunters helped start a land building boom which is now leveling off.
The Las Vegas area remains one of the world's top entertainment destinations.
Boundaries The valley is contained in the Las Vegas Valley landform. This includes the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson, and the unincorporated towns of Summerlin South, Paradise, Spring Valley, Sunrise Manor, Enterprise, Winchester and Whitney. The valley is located within the larger metropolitan area, as the metropolitan area covers all of Clark County including parts that do not fall within the valley.
The government of Clark County has an "Urban Planning Area" of Las Vegas. This definition is a roughly rectangular area, about from east to west and from north to south. Notable exclusions from the "Urban Planning Area" include Red Rock, Blue Diamond and Mount Charleston.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is the largest police department in the valley and the state and exercises jurisdiction in the entire county. There are approximately 3,000 police officers who cover the city of Las Vegas; unincorporated areas; the town of Laughlin, about from Downtown Las Vegas; and desert, park, and mountain areas within Clark County. The department does not exercise primary jurisdiction in areas with separate police forces such as North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Nellis Air Force Base and the Paiute reservation.
The metropolitan area was created for the 1970 census when it only included Clark County. In 2000, the metropolitan area was changed to include Nye County, Nevada and Mohave County, Arizona, but it later returned to only being Clark County.
The Office of Management and Budget has designated Clark County as the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The United States Census Bureau ranked the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area as the 31st most populous metropolitan statistical area of the United States as of July 1, 2012.
The Office of Management and Budget has further designated the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area as a component of the more extensive Las Vegas–Henderson, NV CSA, the 27th most populous combined statistical area and the 30th most populous primary statistical area of the United States as of July 1, 2012.
Geography and environment
The Las Vegas Valley lies in the Mojave Desert. The valley in the northwest section is a northwest-by-southeastNevada Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme, c. 2010, p. 70, p. 66-67. trending area, and trending parallel to Las Vegas Wash, lies at the northeast of the Spring Mountains massif.
U.S. Route 95 leaves Las Vegas's northwest and goes northwesterly through the northwest valley section with Las Vegas Wash about Nevada Atlas & Gazetteer, p. 70. northeast. U.S. 95 lies on the southwest perimeter of the valley bottomlands and small alluvial fan areas from the northeast Spring Mountains border southwest.
A "distorted surface",Nevada Atlas & Gazetteer, p. 70, p. 66-67. a playa-like region, occurs at the farthest northwest area, for about , starting from State Route 157. At State Route 156, northwest, the distorted surface, bottom land turns north, a area in length and about wide. It lies at the south drainage section of the Three Lakes Valley, where a water divide separates Dog Bone Lake in the valley's center from the southwest washes that drain into the Las Vegas Valley (upland Las Vegas Wash).
The Corn Creek Dunes lie about southwest of Route 156's intersection with U.S. 95 and they are slightly northeast of Las Vegas Wash.
The Las Vegas Valley is around . All perimeters, except the northwest, are foothills or mountain ranges, with all highway routes entering the foothills; this includes the Interstate 15 to the southwest, as it climbs to Jean Pass (north), before traversing Ivanpah Valley. Only the U.S. Route 95 northwest follows an actual valley. The northwest section, thus describes the entire landform as a central, and large valley with an attached feeder valley northwest, and in this case the northwest source, and actual course of the Las Vegas Wash.
The valley is a fault-bounded structural and hydrologic basin made of alluvial-fan deposits. There are several aquifers contained within the valley including the Las Vegas Aquifer. These heavily depleted water sources exist at about in depth. As of 1986, estimate show that the valley floor in Downtown Las Vegas has subsided by about and about along The Strip as a result of pumping from these aquifers.
Climate The Las Vegas Valley lies in a relatively high-altitude portion of the Mojave Desert, with a subtropical hot-desert climate. The Valley generally averages less than of rain annually. Daily daytime summer temperatures in July and August typically range from to , while nights generally range from to . Very low humidity, however, tempers the effect of these temperatures, though dehydration, heat exhaustion, and sun stroke can occur after even a limited time outdoors in the summer. The interiors of automobiles often prove deadly to small children and pets during the summer and surfaces exposed to the sun can cause first- and second-degree burns to unprotected skin. July and August can also be marked by monsoon season, when moist winds from the Gulf of California soak much of the Southwestern United States. While not only raising humidity levels, these winds develop into dramatic desert thunderstorms that can sometimes cause flash flooding.
Winter days in metropolitan Las Vegas range from mild to quite chilly, and sunny most days; while winter itself is of short duration. Winter highs in December and January usually range from to , while nighttime lows range from to . The mountains surrounding the valley are snow-covered during the winter season, but snow accumulation in the metropolitan area itself is uncommon. Every few years apart, however, Las Vegas does get a small measurable snowfall.
Spring and fall are generally dry and with hot, sunny days and cool nights.
Fault zones The valley is an active earthquake zone crossed by multiple fault and thrust lines. These include the long Frenchman Mountain Fault capable of a magnitude 7 event, Whitney Mesa Fault, Cashman Fault, Valley View Fault, Decatur Fault, Eglington Fault and the West Charleston Fault.
Air quality Having part of the region in a desert basin creates problems with air quality. From the dust the wind picks up, to the smog produced by vehicles, to the pollen in the air, the valley has several bad air days.
Pollen can be a major problem several weeks a year, with counts occasionally in the 70,000-plus range. Local governments are trying to control this by banning plants that produce the most pollen.
The dust problems usually happen on very windy days, so they tend to be short and seasonal. Full-fledged dust storms are rare.
Smog, on the other hand, gets worse when there is no wind to move the air out of the valley. Also, in winter it is possible for an inversion to form in the valley.
Since manufacturing is not a dominant industry of Las Vegas, and with Clark County working to control air quality problems, success has been shown over the years.
Water
The native flora does little to help the soil retain water. During the intense rains of monsoon season or (relatively) wet months of January and February, a network of dry natural channels, called washes or arroyos, carved into the valley floor allows water to flow down from the mountains and converge in the Las Vegas Wash which runs through the Clark County Wetlands Park. The wash system used to form a large natural wetlands which then flowed into the Colorado River, until the construction of Hoover Dam on the Colorado River led to the creation of Lake Mead. Further development in the 1980s and 1990s made Lake Las Vegas, which required directing the Las Vegas Wash into tunnels which run under Lake Las Vegas and into Lake Mead.