The desert state once known for cheap buffets and neon-lit dreams is now bursting at the seams with California‘s richest refugees fleeing the chaos of the Golden State.
But they’re not just bringing suitcases. They’re bringing millions.
According to a new study that looked at data from the US Census Bureau the number of millionaire households in the Las Vegas Valley has surged an eye-popping 166 percent since 2019.
That’s 879 millionaire households in 2023, up from just 331 before the pandemic. Many of these new millionaires are homeowners, bucking national trends where even the ultra-rich are increasingly looking to rent.
The real estate boom has been driven in no small part by Californians, particularly those weary of cities’ crime, homelessness, high taxes and what some describe as the state’s ‘hostile’ regulatory climate.
Nevada is so attractive to the monied because the state levies no taxes on corporate income or shares. It also doesn’t have taxes on personal income, franchises, inheritances, gifts or estates
In 2024 alone, nearly 39,000 Californians traded palm trees for desert heat, handing over their driver’s licenses at Nevada DMVs in record numbers, and reigniting fears that the Silver State may soon resemble the Golden State – politically and economically.
Once a reliable battleground state, Nevada stunned the political world last year’s presidential election by swinging decisively to Donald Trump – the first time the state voted Republican since George W. Bush in 2004.
Las Vegas, a desert city once known for cheap buffets and neon-lit dreams is now bursting at the seams with California’s richest refugees fleeing the chaos of the Golden State. Pictured a neighborhood in Summerlin, Nevada in the suburbs of Vegas
In California, homelessness is spiraling, taxes are soaring while crime appears to be creeping into once-safe enclaves and pandemic-era restrictions
Once a reliable battleground state, Nevada stunned the political world last year’s presidential election by swinging decisively to Donald Trump. Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is seen right
Trump’s victory wasn’t just a fluke buta structural shift. Trump made historic inroads with Latino voters, a bloc that had long been the Democratic Party’s firewall in the Silver State.
Trump also gained ground among young men and suburban voters, particularly college-educated white women who had previously leaned blue but turned away from the left amid economic concerns and rising crime.
Some high profile business leaders who have left California for the bright lights of Vegas include billionaire spouses Andrew and Peggy Cherng, the co-founders of Panda Express, and David Chao, cofounder and general partner of multibillion-dollar venture firm DCM.
‘It’s no surprise to see the number of millionaire households in Las Vegas tripling since 2019. We’ve felt that momentum firsthand. The city has transformed into a magnet for high-net-worth individuals who want more space, better quality of life, and the energy of a city that’s constantly evolving,’ said Las Vegas-based luxury real estate broker Ivan Sher to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Even some celebrities – Mark Wahlberg and Dean Cain among them – have been drawn to the bright lights of Vegas over the last two years in the wake of California’s mansion tax.
Teddy Liaw, the founder of NexRep marketplace, relocated to Southern Nevada a few years ago after becoming ‘disenchanted’ with the San Francisco Bay Area.
Liaw explained how he is pitching to California’s tech entrepreneurs, millionaires, billionaires and CEO’s how Nevada is ‘pro-business.’
‘There’s a reason they’re leaving California in the first place: the politics and the regulatory environment,’ Liaw said.
‘They are seeing the allure here in terms of access and quality of life and the opportunities we have here.’
The bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip and the fountains from the Bellagio Hotel are luring California’s richest refugees
Billionaire Panda Express cofounders Peggy Cherng and Andrew Cherng moved their business to Nevada
Liaw founded the Vegas Tech Summit, where tech entrepreneurs can discuss the business landscape of the region with one other each October.
He described Nevada’s pro-business culture was like a breath of fresh, tax-free air.’
They are seeing the allure here in terms of access and quality of life and the opportunities we have here. At the end of the day California has lost population, this is a big deal.’
Kent Yoshimura, co-founder of NeuroGum, a company that makes gum with caffeine in to boost memory and focus.
Yoshimura moved the multimillion-dollar business from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and said the choice to relocate his company and part of his staff to Summerlin was about more than just money but about clarity.
‘When you don’t have to think about that excess stuff as much, it makes life much easier and it allows you to maintain a higher level of focus,’ Yoshimura said.
‘I probably see more people now being in Vegas than I did in LA, because everybody wants to come visit here.’
Yoshimura spoke at the third annual Vegas Tech Summit, an increasingly elite event that has drawn tech millionaires, CEOs, and investors to the city’s most exclusive neighborhoods like the Summit Club, a far cry from Silicon Valley’s increasingly grim tech scene.
‘The employment laws are a lot easier here, the affordability of a house, transportation,’ Yoshimura said, adding, ‘I live in Summerlin and it’s 20 miles to my office and it takes 20 minutes. … When I was in downtown [Los Angeles] to Koreatown where my office was, it was only 8 miles away and it took me 45 minutes.’
Kent Yoshimura, cofounder and CEO at NeuroGum, right, talks with former Olympic champion, entrepreneur and motivational speaker Apolo Ohno during Vegas Tech Summit last October
Teddy Liaw, founder of NexRep, addresses the crowd at the third annual Vegas Tech Summit, which was held at a ritzy private club in Summerlin, Nevada last October
Mark Wahlberg, left, and Dean Cain, right, are among celebrities who have left California for Nevada
Billionaire Cherng, meanwhile, quietly moved his Panda Express base of operations to Nevada in recent years.
He joins a growing exodus of wealth from California’s crumbling urban centers to the business-friendly, regulation-light promise of the Mojave.
And while Hollywood types recently suffered a setback when a bill to attract movie studios to southern Nevada failed, local leaders like luxury broker Ivan Sher remain bullish.
For years, California’s natural beauty, elite universities, and deep tech economy were enough to hold its wealthy residents in place but the situation has changed.
Homelessness is spiraling, taxes are soaring, crime appears to be creeping into once-safe enclaves and pandemic-era restrictions which were among some of the strictest in the country, pushed many over the edge.
California has indeed been losing hundreds of thousands of people since 2019, before posting a moderate gain in 2023.
Nearly 158,000 Californians moved to Nevada between 2020 and 2023, making up 43% of all new residents, according to Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles data.
Liaw explained how he is pitching to California’s tech entrepreneurs, millionaires, billionaires and CEO’s how Nevada is ‘pro-business’
Kent Yoshimura, co-founded NeuroGum, a company that makes gum with caffeine in to boost memory and focus
Billionaire spouses Andrew and Peggy Cherng, the co-founders of Panda Express, quietly moved his base of operations to Nevada in recent years
But with wealth comes pressure and Las Vegas is feeling the squeeze. Housing prices are pushing record highs, and Nevada Treasurer Zach Conine is warning of a housing crisis if action isn’t taken soon.
‘We are spending a lot of time talking about housing right now, affordable housing, attainable housing, housing for all,’ Conine said.
‘Housing instability is economic instability, if we do not have a housing market that works it makes it harder for people to start businesses, it makes it harder for kids to do well in school, nothing is easy when we have a housing problem.’
That hasn’t slowed the flood. At last year’s Vegas Tech Summit, the mood was electric.
On stage, former Olympic gold medalist Apolo Ohno, now a Miami-based entrepreneur, hinted he might make the move himself. ‘Vegas has got a special vibration to it right now,’ he said.
For all the optimism, some locals fear the very migrants fleeing California’s dysfunction could eventually turn Nevada into its mirror image.
The message from business leaders is clear: don’t California our Nevada. That means no income tax, no bloated regulations and no ‘woke’ politics.
Liaw seemed to put it most succinctly: ‘If [Nevada] adopts the policies that drove job creators out of that state, those individuals and companies will go to Arizona, Utah, Texas or Florida.’
