It really depends on what you like. I would hate living in Nevada and just visiting California. Here’s why.
Las Vegas: we go there a few times a year, and while the strip is fun I find very little else appealing about that area. Not only is it unbearably hot during the summer, what most people forget is that it is also exceedingly dry. The people we know who live there have huge humidifiers in their homes, and even that is not enough to keep my wife and my noses from drying out to the point of bleeding. Couple that with the bleak landscape, lack of greenery, and the boring sterile dirty look of the buildings (except for the strip, which locals avoid anyway) and I think living there would actually bring me down. Finally, the town attracts a very weird element…it is fun to watch them on a weekend visit, but I doubt I’d like to live amongst them.
Reno/Carson City: Las Vegas on a smaller scale. We go here often too (relatives) and I just can’t imagine living there. Since it is smaller than LV, it lacks the only thing LV has going for it: a plethora of fun things to do on the strip. The Reno strip is tiny and pathetic in comparison. But just up the hill is Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevadas which can take some of the sting out of it. Problem is, during the summer that area is one big traffic jam. A drive that can take 20 min with no traffic will take hours. We’re not into skiing, so that really doesn’t help us either. There are pockets of nice areas between Reno and CC which would be acceptable for living, but we wouldn’t have ready access to the nightlife that we have here in San Diego.
If you think you’ll be visiting Calif often, then I would submit to you that you’ll spend every penny you saved in Calif income tax on traveling back and forth to Calif. On top of that, unless you buy a second home in Calif, you have hotel expenses also. Then factor in what the travel time is worth.
I also shake my head at all the Californians who load up their trailers/campers with toys (dune buggies, boats, motorcycles)and head out to the desert each weekend. Obviously some ppl don’t mind the traveling and like the arid desert landscape. That’s not me but if it is you, more power to ya and you might want to consider moving to Nevada. 🙂
