30 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Vegas

I just read this post about "25 Things I Wish I'd Knew Before Moving to San Francisco" and thought I would write something similar about Las Vegas...

The cons:

1. It’s hot as hell here during the summer (mid May to mid September).
2. Driving here is a contact sport (and the pedestrians usually lose; car insurance rates are some of the highest in the country).
3. The job situation here is horrible.  Worse than horrible.
4. People are rude (Vegas was voted 12^th rudest city in America in 2012).
5. The next closest big city is six hours away.
6. Las Vegas has a flash flood season (each year people die in flash floods here).
7. If you don’t like a multi-cultural atmosphere, don’t move here (it sounds like the UN nearly everywhere you go in the city).
8. The school system is horrible (Nevada has the lowest high school graduation rate in the country).
9. The tech industry in Vegas is growing…at a glacial pace.
10. Humidity is super low.  Your skin will feel like leather nearly as soon as you arrive.
11.  Check out where you live before you buy; there are plenty of ghetto areas around Vegas (and poverty, and crime).
12. Buying a cheap foreclosure house is not nearly as simple as everyone says.
13. Where I’m from dogs live outside under the porch, in Vegas dogs are dressed for each occasion and pushed around in baby strollers.
14. Mass transportation isn’t nearly as good/efficient as in other major cities.
15. Las Vegas doesn’t have any major league sports teams to cheer on (but you can bet on anything at the numerous sports books here).

The pros:

1. The weather, anytime other than the summer, is amazing (hiking in January is awesome!).
2. There are SO MANY outdoor sports to enjoy here (skiing, canyoneering, hiking, biking, etc).
3. Food is amazing (and generally cheap).
4. The cost of living is very low for a major city.
5. The library system rocks!
6. There is always something going on (events, shows, and lots of free things to do).  You can't be bored in Vegas.
7. When you get tired of Vegas you can hop on a plane and go somewhere else (the airport is super easy to get to and serves many national and international carriers).
8. You never have to travel to attend a world-class concert or show, they come to you in Vegas.
9. You can drive from one end of the city to the other in less than 20 minutes (surface streets are designed much like freeways; see #2 in cons).
10. Vegas is seasonal in that you can tell what week it is by taking a look at the people (cowboys=NFR week; pit crew people = NASCAR week; geeky people = DEFCON week; beautiful people = Miss America week; etc).
11. The “glitz” that is Vegas is kept in a very narrow area in and around the Strip, the rest of Vegas is like living anywhere else.
12. You get all of the benefits of living in a big city in what feels like a very small city.
13. Allergy season is practically unheard of here.
14. Vegas is a wonderful place for retirees (senior discounts for all kinds of thing abound).
15. There are no bugs, no bears, no possums, no roadkill, no raccoons, no creatures trying to get into your garbage cans or eat your dog's food.