Nevada (NV).

• Region: Western United States
• Population: 3,177,772 (ranked 32nd) (2022 estimate)
• Capital: Carson City (pop. 58,130) (2022 estimate)
• Largest city: Las Vegas (pop. 656,274) (2022 estimate)
• Number of counties: 16
• State nickname: Sagebrush State; Silver State; Battle Born State
• State motto: All for Our Country
• State flag: Cobalt field with silver star above sagebrush in the upper left, with name “Nevada” below and legend “Battle Born” on a scroll above

Nevada entered the Union on October 31, 1864, as the thirty-sixth state. Part of the United States’ Southwest, the state is bordered by Oregon and Idaho to the north, California to the west, and Arizona and Utah to the east. Nevada’s nickname, the Silver State, highlights the importance of silver mining throughout the state’s history—the Comstock Lode, discovered in 1859, was just the first of many rich deposits of silver unearthed there. Nevada’s economy has been linked to gambling since the early 1930s, when the state legalized the gaming industry; Las Vegas and Reno, in particular, have a high concentration of casinos. Other popular recreation areas include the mountain resort of Lake Tahoe, on the California border. Las Vegas is also a major location for trade shows and conventions.

State Name: The name “Nevada” comes from a Spanish word meaning “snow-capped,” referring to the snowy tops of the bordering Sierra Nevada mountain range. The nickname Silver State refers to the immense silver lodes discovered in the nineteenth century, including the immensely rich Comstock Lode. The nickname Sagebrush State derives from the vegetation commonly found there. Nevada is also known as the Battle Born State, because it entered the Union during the Civil War.

Capital: Carson City has served as Nevada’s capital since the state entered the Union in 1864.

Flag: The state flag, adopted in 1929, has a cobalt-blue background and features the state logo in the upper-left corner. This image includes a five-pointed silver star, around which is a half wreath of sagebrush. Above the wreath is a golden banner bearing the words “Battle Born,” referring to Nevada’s entry into the Union during the Civil War. Beneath the silver star is the state’s name, written in gold letters. The design was revised in 1991.

Official Symbols

• Flower: Sagebrush
• Bird: Mountain bluebird
• Tree: Single-leaf pinyon
• Animal: Desert bighorn sheep
• Fish: Lahontan cutthroat trout
• Song: “Home Means Nevada” by Bertha Raffetto

State and National Historic Sites

• California National Historic Trail
• Goldfield Historic Bullfrog-Goldfield Railroad Yard (Goldfield)
• Great Train Robbery Site (Verdi)
• Hoover Dam (Boulder City)
• Keil Ranch Historic Site (North Las Vegas)
• Lake Mead National Recreation Area (in the Mojave Desert)
• Nevada Capitol Building (Carson City)
• Nevada Test Site (Nye County)
• Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park (Las Vegas)
• Old Spanish Trail National Historic Trail
• Pony Express National Historic Trail
• Stokes Castle (Austin)
• Tonopah Historic Mining Park (Tonopah)
• Toquima Caves (Pete's Summit, Toquima Mountain Range)
• Tule Spring Fossil Beds National Monument

State-Specific Holidays

• Nevada Day, last Friday in October
• Family Day, day after Thanksgiving

DEMOGRAPHICS

• Population: 3,177,772 (ranked 32nd) (2022 estimate)
• Population density: 28.3/sq mi (2020 estimate)
• Urban population: 94.1% (2020 estimate)
• Rural population: 5.9% (2020 estimate)
• Population under 18: 21.7% (2022 estimate)
• Population over 65: 16.9% (2022 estimate)
• White alone: 72.1% (2022 estimate)
• Black or African American alone: 10.8% (2022 estimate)
• Hispanic or Latino: 30.3% (2022 estimate)
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone: 1.7% (2022 estimate)
• Asian alone: 9.4% (2022 estimate)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 0.9% (2022 estimate)
• Two or More Races: 5.1% (2022 estimate)
• Per capita income: $34,621 (ranked 30th; 2021 estimate)
• Unemployment: 5.4% (2022 estimate)

American Indians: Nevada has historically been inhabited by the Shoshone, Ghosute, Paiute, and Washoe nations, who settled both in the Great Basin region and in the western mountains. Like other western tribes, Nevada’s American Indians found themselves in conflict with White settlers and miners and were ultimately forced onto reservations. Wovoka, a Paiute also known as Jack Wilson, sought in the late nineteenth century to restore American Indian culture through the creation of the Ghost Dance religion. In 2023, Nevada had nineteen federally recognized tribes, which are subdivided into separate tribes, bands and councils, and urban groups.

ENVIRONMENT AND GEOGRAPHY

• Total area: 110,572 sq mi (ranked 7th)
• Land area: 109,781 sq mi (99.3% of total area)
• Water area: 791 sq mi (0.7% of total area)
• National parks: 4
• Highest point: Boundary Peak (13,140 feet)
• Lowest point: Colorado River (479 feet)
• Highest temperature: 125° F (Laughlin, June 29, 1994)
• Lowest temperature: -50° F (San Jacinto, January 8, 1937)

Topography: Lying mostly within the Great Basin, Nevada contains large stretches of arid terrain, part of which is in the Mojave Desert. Because of this, much of the state is uninhabited. Common features are alkali sinks, into which many of Nevada’s rivers flow. The Colorado River flows along the border with Arizona. The Sierra Nevada mountain range, to the west, lies on the border with California; these snow-covered peaks average around 5,500 feet in height. Nevada is an arid state despite its numerous rivers. There are two main watersheds, the Colorado and the Snake. Rivers in southeastern Nevada drain into the former, while those in northern Nevada empty into the latter. Reclamation projects have altered the course of several rivers, including the Truckee.

Major Lakes

• Lake Mead
• Lake Tahoe
• Pyramid Lake
• Ruby Lake
• Walker Lake

Major Rivers

• Colorado River
• Humboldt River
• Snake River
• Truckee River
• Walker River

State and National Parks: Nevada has four national parks, more than twenty state parks, and numerous recreation areas and historic trails. The state parks preserve historic sites as well as natural areas. Some of the most significant historic sites are Fort Churchill, a frontier-era fort, and the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort, one of the oldest structures in Las Vegas. Scenic state parks include Echo Canyon and the Big Bend of the Colorado. The national parks in Nevada include Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Great Basin National Park, Death Valley National Park, and the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument.

Natural Resources: Nevada possesses some of the richest mines in the country, which have produced large quantities of silver, gold, and other metals since the mid-nineteenth century. In 1859, prospectors discovered the Comstock Lode, the largest known silver deposit in the United States. Other important minerals include barite, lead, mercury, tungsten, and zinc. Petroleum was discovered in Nevada in 1954.

Plants and Animals: Despite the scarcity of water and vegetation, Nevada’s deserts are full of life. Wild horses and burros range freely over the desert, as do desert bighorn sheep. Common plant species include cactus and sagebrush. Other inhabitants include the desert tortoise (the state reptile), the desert fox, and the kangaroo rat.

Nevada is home to numerous large game animals that are rare in many other parts of the United States. Species found in mountain or upland regions include mule deer, black bear, bobcat, coyote, and mountain lion (cougar). The pronghorn antelope, another big game animal, dwells in open country. Nevada gamebirds include the blue grouse, sage grouse, sandhill crane, and wild turkey.

The state’s rivers, streams, and ponds are home to a variety of smaller mammals and waterbirds. Bird species include the black-crowned night heron, great blue heron, and Canada goose. Beavers, though not native to the state, inhabit a number of Nevada’s rivers and ponds.

Climate: Nevada receives the least amount of rainfall in the United States. As a whole, the state receives around seven inches of rain per year, though actual rainfall varies wildly between the desert and mountain regions. The Sierra Nevada mountains receive around forty inches of precipitation each year, while the desert region receives less than four inches. In the past, the mountains have received heavy snow in winter, though temperatures were relatively moderate except in the northern ranges. The desert is unbearably hot in summer, with temperatures often reaching well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to climate change, by the 2020s Nevada's average temperatures had increased over time, leading to more frequent and severe heat waves. Additionally, droughts had become worse and more common, and snow amounts had decreased, including at higher elevations.

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Major Colleges and Universities

• Great Basin College (Elko)
• Nevada State College (Henderson)
• Sierra Nevada University (Incline Village)
• University of Nevada (Las Vegas, Reno, Reno at Lake Tahoe)

Major Museums

• Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, University of Nevada (Las Vegas)
• Boulder City-Hoover Dam Museum (Boulder City)
• Clark County Museum (Henderson)
• Las Vegas Natural History Museum (Las Vegas)
• Lost City Museum (Overton)
• National Automobile Museum (Reno)
• Nevada Museum of the Arts (Reno)
• Nevada State Museum (Carson City)
• Northeastern Nevada Museum (Elko)
• Wilbur D. May Center (Reno)

Major Libraries

• Lied Library, University of Nevada (Las Vegas)
• Nevada Historical Society Museum and Research Library (Reno)
• Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records (Carson City)

Media: Nevada has several large media markets, with Las Vegas and Reno as two of the largest. There are numerous daily newspapers, including the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Las Vegas Sun, the Nevada Appeal (Carson City), the Reno Gazette-Journal, and the Tahoe Daily Tribune. Special-interest dailies include two legal newspapers: the Nevada Legal News and the Nevada Legal Press, both published in Las Vegas. Major weekly newspapers include the Northern Nevada Business Weekly. Public television stations include KNPB, based in Reno, and KLVX, based in Las Vegas. Nevada Public Radio has several stations, including flagship station KNPR in Las Vegas.

ECONOMY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

• Gross domestic product (in millions $USD): 215,917.8 (ranked 32nd) (2022 estimate)
• GDP percent change: 3.7%

Major Industries: Nevada's economy was historically based on silver and gold mining. These minerals remain important, despite the decline of historic silver deposits such as the Comstock Lode. Other important minerals include barite, lead, mercury, tungsten, and zinc. Petroleum was discovered in 1954. Tourism is highly important, as is the related industry of gambling (which provides the most state revenue). Las Vegas leads the state in numbers of casinos and resorts, followed by Reno and Lake Tahoe. Las Vegas is also a popular location for trade shows and conventions.

The manufacture of gaming equipment is essential to the state's gambling industry. Other manufactures include aerospace material, irrigation equipment, and equipment to monitor seismic changes. The federal government is a major landowner, owning about 85 percent of Nevada. Nellis Air Force Base is a major facility for aircraft testing and flight training. Nevada also serves as the site of nuclear testing (at the Nevada Test Site) and is a proposed location for the nation's nuclear-waste storage (at the controversial Yucca Mountain repository).

Tourism: Nevada's economy is heavily dependent upon tourism, which focuses strongly on casino gambling and resorts in Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe. There are also numerous scenic areas, including Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Death Valley National Park, and Great Basin National Park. Ghost towns like Virginia City (now restored) are another popular tourist attraction, as are historic sites such as the Old Mormon Fort in downtown Las Vegas. Gross revenue from gaming was over $15.19 billion between August 2022 and July 2023, according to the state's gaming control board. The state's tourism, gaming, and entertainment sector employed an estimated 318,850 jobs in 2021.

Energy Production: Nevada is among the largest geothermal energy producers in the US. The state also produces a large amount of solar energy. Nevada's hydroelectric power is produced by the Hoover Dam, on the Colorado River. About 56 percent of the state's electricity was supplied by natural gas in 2022, while the use of Nevada's renewable resources provided 37 percent. Nevada has no nuclear power plants.

Agriculture: Agriculture is not a dominant part of Nevada's economy, largely because the state is so arid. The leading agricultural sector is cattle raising. The vast majority of the state's agricultural land is ranchland. Other farmers raise sheep and hogs. Crops that are grown include hay (as forage), wheat, and potatoes.

Airports: Nevada has two major airports—Reno-Tahoe International Airport and McCarran International Airport Las Vegas. Other airports include North Las Vegas, Laughlin/Bullhead International, Elko Airport, and Henderson Executive Airport.

GOVERNMENT

• Governor: Joe Lombardo (Republican)
• Present constitution date: September 1864
• Electoral votes: 6
• Number of counties: 16
• Violent crime rate: 460.3 (per 100,000 residents) (2020 estimate)
• Death penalty: Yes

Constitution: The Nevada state constitution was adopted at statehood in 1864 but has been amended several times since then.

Branches of GovernmentExecutive: Nevada’s chief executive officer is the governor, who is elected to a four-year term. Duties include proposing, approving, and vetoing legislation; making appointments; overseeing the administrative agencies; and serving as commander in chief of the state military forces. The lieutenant governor serves as acting governor in case of the incumbent’s death, disability, or removal from office. The other executive-branch officers are the secretary of state, treasurer, controller, and attorney general.

Legislative: The Nevada legislature has two houses—the twenty-one-member senate and the forty-two-member assembly. Senators are elected to four-year terms, with half of the membership running for election every two years. Assembly members are elected to two-year terms. Term limits went into effect in 2010; no legislator is allowed to serve more than twelve years in the same house. The limit also applied to former members.

The legislature holds biennial sessions, meeting every other year beginning the first Monday in February. Regular sessions can last up to 120 days. To handle business between sessions, the legislature uses several continuing agencies, including the Legislative Counsel Bureau, the Legislative Commission, and the Interim Finance Committee.

Judicial: Nevada’s highest court is the seven-member Nevada Supreme Court, which serves as the court of final appeal and handles issues of constitutional law. The justices are elected to six-year terms. The governor appoints justices to fill any vacancies; these appointees must then stand for election upon completing their terms. The justice with the most seniority serves a two-year term as chief justice. The state’s other courts include the district courts, justice courts, and municipal courts.

HISTORY

1826 Fur trapper Jedediah Smith is reportedly the first white man to enter what is now Nevada. His trail is later developed into the Old Spanish Trail.

1828 Canadian fur trapper Peter Skene Ogden of the Hudson’s Bay Company discovers the Humboldt River.

1829 Antonio Armijo, a merchant from Santa Fe, New Mexico (then part of Mexico), discovers artesian springs while leading a party through what is now Nevada. He names the site Las Vegas, or “The Meadows.” The presence of the springs allows travelers to cut through the desert, thus shortening the Old Spanish Trail.

1843–45 US Army officer John C. Frémont leads an expedition through what is now Nevada. Frontier scout Kit Carson serves as his guide.

1846 The Donner Party meets disaster in the Sierra Nevada mountains, being snowed in because they started out too late from Reno. Over half of the eighty-seven-member party dies, and the survivors are forced to resort to cannibalism.

1847 The Mormons under Brigham Young arrive in the Great Salt Lake Valley. They soon establish smaller settlements in surrounding areas, including Nevada. Young claims Nevada as part of his provisional State of Deseret.

1848 The United States and Mexico sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican War. Present-day Nevada is part of the territory that Mexico cedes to the United States.

1850 Congress establishes the Utah Territory, which originally includes all of Nevada except the southern tip (part of neighboring New Mexico).

1851 Mormon Station (now Genoa) is established by a party of Mormons led by Colonel John Reese. This is the first permanent white settlement in what is now Nevada. Later that year, the settlers establish a provisional government for the area.

1855 A Mormon party under William Bringhurst establishes a fort in the Las Vegas Valley, along the Old Spanish Trail. Mormon Fort is both an outlet for missionary activity and a supply depot. The fort is abandoned two or three years later.

1859 The Comstock Lode, the nation’s richest known deposit of silver, is discovered in the Virginia Range, in the western part of Nevada. The mining town of Virginia City becomes one of the richest communities in the west. The lode proves fabulously profitable for several decades, but is worn out and abandoned by the late 1890s. During the lode’s heyday, silver is the backbone of Nevada’s economy and creates millionaires known as the silver kings.

1860 The Pony Express begins operation, carrying messages two thousand miles from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, with part of the route passing through Nevada.

1861 Congress organizes Nevada as a territory on March 2. President Abraham Lincoln appoints James W. Nye of New York as the first territorial governor.

1861–65 During the Civil War, Union troops in Nevada are tasked with protecting local communities. Colonel P. E. Connor recruits Nevada men for his California regiment, which serves part of the war in Utah. Two companies of the First Nevada Volunteer Cavalry are based at Camp Nye, just north of Carson City.

1862 Samuel Langhorne Clemens begins his literary career as Mark Twain while working as an editorial writer on the Territorial Enterprise newspaper in Virginia City.

1864 Nevada enters the Union on October 31 as the thirty-sixth state. The timing is intended to help Lincoln gain more votes in Congress to pass the Thirteenth Amendment and thus abolish slavery. Nye is elected to the US Senate as a Republican.

1865 Octavius Decatur Gass buys the Mormon Fort and there establishes the Las Vegas Ranch with the help of friend William Knapp. This is the first permanent settlement on the site of present-day Las Vegas.

1866 Nevada’s boundaries are extended to their present limits. Land is added from Utah, and Nevada gains its southern tip from New Mexico.

1869 The first transcontinental railroad is completed, linking Nevada more strongly to the eastern states.

1870s–90s Nevada strongly supports the free silver movement, which seeks to establish silver as an official currency equal in status to gold. Many Nevadans are outraged by Congress’s passage of the 1873 Coinage Act, which ends the use of silver for currency. The Silver Party is formed and quickly gains control of state politics.

1870 Train robber A. J. “Big Jack” Davis and his gang rob the Central Pacific Railroad of $60,000 when a train pulls into the station near Verdi, Nevada. They escape with the money but are quickly captured. It is considered the first train robbery in the western United States.

1871 The Nevada capitol building, a Victorian-style structure, is completed in Carson City.

1873 The legislature authorizes a state university in the railroad town of Elko. The school opens in 1874, but lack of funding and students leads to its closure in 1885.

1887 The University of Nevada opens in Reno, receiving much of its support from Congressional land-grant money under the 1862 Morrill Act. The school remains small until the 1960s, when the legislature begins expanding the state’s higher-education system.

1896 Nevada’s silver industry strongly supports Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, a supporter of the free silver movement.

1897 The Corbett-Fitzsimmons prize fight takes place in Virginia City. Wealthy businessman Anton Phelps Stokes constructs Stokes Castle, a three-story tower made of native granite. The structure, still a private residence a century later, becomes a state landmark.

1900 Silver is discovered at Tonopah by rancher Jim Butler. The site becomes the nation’s richest lode of silver and gold until the 1920s.

1902 Gold is discovered at Goldfield.

1905 Nevada adopts its first state flag.

1906 US Steel president William Corey and his wife, Laura, obtain a divorce in Reno. The case brings immense national publicity to Nevada’s liberal divorce laws.

1910 Gambling is made illegal through the efforts of social reformers but continues despite the official ban.

1919 Four US Army airplanes complete the first flight across the Sierra Nevada mountains. The four-plane squadron starts its trip at Mather Field in Sacramento, California, and lands at a makeshift airfield a few miles east of Carson City.

1931 Nevada legalizes divorce, providing Reno and Las Vegas with a new industry and the distinction of being the nation’s “divorce capitals.” The same year, the state repeals the 1910 law against gambling, and Nevada soon becomes home to numerous casinos.

1936 The Boulder Dam is completed, damming the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona. Begun in 1931, the dam returns in 1947 to its original name, the Hoover Dam.

1941 The Las Vegas Strip is created when several motels open up along the highway.

1941–45 During World War II, the US Army Air Corps leases land from the city of Las Vegas to construct an aerial-gunnery school. The facility is called McCarren Field, after the state’s US senator. It is later renamed Las Vegas Air Force Base and then Nellis Air Force Base in honor of downed World War II aviator William H. Nellis.

1942 Actor Carole Lombard, wife of actor Clark Gable, dies in a plane crash in the Potosi Range while traveling to sell war bonds.

1946 Gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel opens the Flamingo Hotel along the Las Vegas strip.

1954 Oil is discovered in Nevada.

1956 The Thunderbirds, the US Air Force aerobatic team, is based at Nellis Air Force Base.

1957 The University of Nevada establishes a southern branch campus in Las Vegas. The school is renamed Nevada Southern University in 1965 and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in 1969.

1959 The legislature passes legislation to establish the Desert Research Institute at the University of Nevada, Reno.

1962 The US government conducts an underground hydrogen-bomb test at Yucca Flats.

1975 Nevada Public Radio is incorporated, going on the air in 1980 with flagship station KNPR in Las Vegas.

1987 The US Department of Energy creates immense controversy with its decision to store nuclear waste inside Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

2004 In the November elections, Nevada residents pass a bill that increases the state minimum wage to $6.15, a full dollar more than the national minimum wage.

2005 Las Vegas celebrates its centennial.

2009 The state government passes legislation recognizing same-sex domestic partnerships.

2010 Term limits for members of the Nevada legislature take effect.

2011 Brian Sandoval becomes the first Hispanic governor of Nevada.

2016 Nevada voters approve the legalization of the possession, transportation, and cultivation of personal use of marijuana

2020 The Raiders National Football League team moves from Los Angeles, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada.

FAMOUS PEOPLE

Eva Bertrand Adams, 1908–91 (Wonder) , Director of the US Mint.

Andre Agassi, 1970– (Las Vegas) , Tennis player.

Ben Alexander, 1911–69 (Goldfield) , Actor.

Walter S. Baring Jr., 1911–75 (Goldfield) , US Representative.

Helen Delich Bentley, 1923–2016 (Ruth) , Journalist; US representative from Maryland.

Alan H. Bible, 1909–88 (Lovelock) , US senator.

James H. Bilbray, 1938–2021 (Las Vegas) , US representative.

James E. Casey, 1888–1983 (Candelaria) , Founder of United Parcel Service (UPS).

Hobart Cavanaugh, 1886–1950 (Virginia City) , Actor.

Catherine Cortez Masto, 1964– (Las Vegas) , First Latina elected to US Senate; former Nevada attorney general.

Abby Dalton, 1932–2020 (Las Vegas) , Actor.

Michele Greene, 1962– (Las Vegas) , Actor.

Velma “Wild Horse Annie” Johnson, 1912–77 (Reno) , Animal-rights activist.

Paul Laxalt, 1922–2018 (Reno) , US senator; governor.

Robert Laxalt, 1924–2001 (Carson City) , Author.

Patrick A. McCarran, 1876–1954 (Reno) , US senator.

Pat Nixon, 1913–93 (Ely) , First lady of the United States.

nila northSun, 1951– (Schurz) , Native American poet and tribal historian.

Edna Purviance, 1895–1958 (Paradise) , Actor.

Harry M. Reid, 1939–2021 (Searchlight) , US senator.

Shamir [Shamir Bailey], 1994– (Las Vegas) , Singer.

Rutina Wesley, 1979– (Las Vegas) , Actor.

Jack Wilson [Wovoka], 1856–1932 (Esmeralda County) , Paiute Indian prophet; founder of the Ghost Dance religion.

Sarah Hopkins Winnemucca, c. 1844–91 (near Humboldt Lake) , Paiute author and interpreter.

TRIVIA

• Nevada became a state in 1864, at the height of the Civil War, mostly because President Lincoln needed additional votes in Congress to abolish slavery. With the help of Nevada's congressional delegation, Lincoln secured passage of the Thirteenth Amendment.
• Before becoming famous as Mark Twain, novelist Samuel Langhorne Clemens worked in the early 1860s as a reporter at Nevada's Territorial Enterprise newspaper. He occasionally stayed with his brother, Orion Clemens, who was secretary to the territorial governor.
• Edna Purviance, a native of Paradise, Nevada, starred as Charlie Chaplin's leading lady in over twenty films—more than any other actress.
• The Western television program Bonanza, which ran from the 1950s through the 1970s, was set in nineteenth-century Virginia City.
• The Hoover Dam, located on the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona, provides hydroelectric power to those states and to southern California.
• Nevada's arid climate makes it well suited for ranching but less so for crop production.
• Nevada is home to Area 51, a secretive government facility subject to many conspiracy theories and rumors about UFOs and extraterrestrials. The US government first officially acknowledged the site's existence in 2013 and declassified some information about it.

Bibliography

Gibson, Elizabeth. It Happened in Nevada: Remarkable Events That Shaped History. Globe Pequot, 2010.

Grayson, Donald K. The Great Basin: A Natural Prehistory. U of California P, 2011.

Monthly Revenue Report. Nevada Gaming Control Board, July 2023, gaming.nv.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=20093. Accessed 8 Sept. 2023.

"Nevada." QuickFacts, US Census Bureau, 1 July 2022, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/NV/PST045221. Accessed 8 Sept. 2023.

"Nevada: 2020 Census." United States Census Bureau, 25 Aug. 2021, www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/nevada-population-change-between-census-decade.html. Accessed 15 Oct. 2021.

"Nevada: State Profile and Energy Estimates." US Energy Information Administration, 20 Apr. 2023, www.eia.gov/state/?sid=NV. Accessed 8 Sept. 2023.

Nevada's Tourism, Gaming, and Entertainment Sector. Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development, 2022, goed.nv.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/tourism.pdf. Accessed 8 Sept. 2023.

Rothman, Hal K. The Making of Modern Nevada. U of Nevada P, 2010.

Teixeira, Ruy, editor. America’s New Swing Region: Changing Politics and Demographics in the Mountain West. Brookings Institution P, 2012.

Eric Badertscher