Pahrump, an unincorporated town in Southern Nye County, was named the worst place to live in Nevada in a study published by 24/7 Wall St. The study ranked the worst place to live in every state based on 22 factors including poverty rates, deaths because of substance abuse disorders and median household income.
Here’s a deeper look at why 24/7 Wall St. named Pahrump as Nevada’s worst town and some pros to living in Pahrump as well.
The factors included how many residents experience poverty, lack of access to affordable housing and rates of substance abuse disorders and crime. 24/7 Wall St., which authored the article, pulled data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the FBI, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pahrump’s poverty rate is 14.4 percent, 2.1 percentage points above the statewide average rate of 12.5 percent.
Pahrump also experiences 32.4 deaths per 100,000 residents because of substance abuse disorders compared to 27.4 deaths per 100,000 throughout Nevada.
The median household value is $215,100, while statewide it’s $315,900.
Pahrump’s median household income is $53,743, compared to $65,686 statewide.
Pahrump, a town just shy of 45,000 residents, is 60 miles west of Las Vegas, on the border with California. It’s 60 miles east of Death Valley.
Sure! Every community has its plusses and minuses. Travel Nevada, the state agency that promotes tourism to every corner of the Silver State, had this to say:
“Although it’s only an hour’s drive from Las Vegas, this small city on the southern edge of Nye County is just far enough from the hustle and bustle to feel like a world unto itself. …
“All within range of Pahrump’s amenity-packed casinos, hotels and palatial RV resorts (are) the Lower 48’s largest, most infamous national park — the hottest, lowest, and driest place on the continent — the world’s rarest fish and the planet’s oldest trees; rugged, no-BS biker bars; elegant award-winning wineries and more.”
Here are the worst places to live in every state with their poverty rates:
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.
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