LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Many in the Las Vegas Valley have seen their car insurance rates increase in recent months.
UNLV employee and car insurance customer Marde Closson says her auto insurance costs have gone up close to $100 per month.
“I think it’s ridiculous because my insurance company hasn’t had to pay out anything for me and my driving,” Closson says.
In order to raise rates here, auto insurance companies must first get approval from the Nevada Division of Insurance.
On Monday, the state approved what is slated to be a 16% (on average) rate increase for over 470,000 State Farm customers in the state, which will go into effect on May 6.
Later this month, rates for thousands of Farmers Insurance auto customers are slated to go up nearly 20%.
The driver, as with so many economic changes since the pandemic, is caused by multiple factors.
First, car insurance is expensive anyway here in Southern Nevada, partly because the roads are so crowded.
Many workers commute for second or third shift jobs, which means there are always cars on the roadways.
Also, automobile thefts are up. Partly due to social media trends that made it trendy to steal certain makes and models, auto thefts are up over 30% from last year to
this year, according to Metro Police.
But there are other factors — supply chain issues with auto parts, labor shortages within the repair industry, and medical claim cost increases.
In an email to Channel 13, Janet Ruiz of the Insurance Information Institute, says there are also more crashes in recent years.
“The cost of auto claims has soared since the pandemic began in 2020,” Ruiz says.
Nevada Insurance Commissioner Scott Kipper says it is possible that some of these market forces ease in the coming months, but he says that’s not likely to happen in the next 6-9 months.
He says, however, that there are some things car insurance customers can do to try to save some money.
“Make sure you have the right amount of coverage because sometimes you can have too much, especially as your automobile ages,” Kipper said. “Also, find out if you’re taking advantage of all of your available discounts. The third thing we tell people is just to shop around. There are over 100 carriers writing personal auto insurance lines in Nevada.”
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.
5 tornadoes confirmed in Illinois from Friday’s storms
An Indiana district turned to voters to fund more preschool seats. Here’s what happened next.
Vote: Who Should be Iowa’s High School Athlete of the Week? (4/19/2026)
Kansas Losing Momentum With Key Transfer Target After New Visits
Kentucky is poised to land either Donnie Freeman or Sebastian Rancik this weekend, per report
‘Growth pays for growth’: Entergy’s Fair Share Plus model to save Louisiana customers $2.8 billion
18 jaw-dropping views from Katahdin to help you plan for warmer weather
Maryland Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for April 18, 2026
