1. We’re talking about purchasing power — the real value of $100 by metropolitan area, and somehow, $100 is worth more than $100 in Clark County. Tell us more.
A: That’s right. When you’re paying your bills or buying anything, it doesn’t feel like it. A couple weeks ago we talked about the homeless crisis in Clark County, how more and more people are homeless, in great part because housing is so expensive.
Well, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, part of the Department of Commerce, in Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise (Metropolitan Statistical Area) $100 is actually worth $103.63. It’s based on how expensive things are compared to the rest of the country.
In the Las Vegas area, that means $100 actually buys $103.63 worth of goods and services.
This is for the year 2022, the most recent year data is available. But in past years, Nevada has been on the higher end of value, so it’s probably not changed much from being one of the places where money goes further.
Las Vegas’ $103.63 value is more than in Reno - $101.73 — but less than in Carson City — $105.82.
2. How does this compare to other places around the country?
A: The $103.63 is right around the national average of $104 – so not bad.
Californians get the worst deal – San Fran, Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose, Santa Clara, San Diego, LA, Long Beach, Anaheim, and many more all hover around $85.
NY/NJ, $88.50, Seattle, Boston, Miami, Washington DC – all in the high $80s
The best places to spend your money are in Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana — as high as $123.61
The two metropolitan areas with the greatest disparity in price levels are the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California region and Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The real value of $100 in San Francisco is $84.82, compared to $123.61 in Pine Bluff — 46% more!
Of the more than 2,000 areas the Bureau of Economic Analysis looked at, more than 1,600 were getting their dollars worth, getting at least $100 value for their $100. Only about 400 places were getting less than $100 value for their money.
So while it sounds crazy to your audience, the majority of the country is getting at least $100 worth of goods and services for $100.
3. What does this mean for Nevada residents and their financial status?
A: Nevada is one of 9 states with no income tax, so that impacts affordability and makes it attractive to people to move to the state.
While Nevada has a solid positive domestic net migration — more people are moving to the state than from it – it’s far less in the last two years than it has been in the past.
122,000 people moved to Nevada last year from other states, according to data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau for the 2023 American Community Survey. (domestic net migration 18,000). Net migration was 13,000 in 2022, it was 40,000 in 2021, almost 28,000 in 2019, almost 38,000 in 2018, almost 35,000 in 2017, 29,000 in 2016, 37,000 in 2015.
A decade ago, it was 26,000 net migration, and 26,000 net migration two decades ago.
They’re moving from CA (almost 42,000 people), Colorado (8,064), Texas (5,939), Florida (5,935), Washington (5,516), Hawaii (4,441), Utah (3,776), Oregon (3,604), Ohio (3,475)
So people are always moving to Nevada. Not every state can say that – New York has had a net loss since 2020, California since 2020 but they finally had a population bounce back. Illinois lost people last year, while it’s neighboring states Missouri, Iowa and Indiana all had net gains.