8 Nevada Cities with Active Retirement Communities

Selected Listing of Active Retirement Communities

In Nevada

General:

Nevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there. "Sagebrush State" and "Battle Born State" are its alternative nicknames. In 1864, Nevada became the 36th state to enter the union, and the phrase "Battle Born" on the state flag reflects the state's entry on the Union side during the American Civil War. Its first nonnative settlement was called Mormon Station.

Nevada is the seventh-largest state in area, and geographically covers the Mojave Desert in the south to the Great Basin in the north. It is the most arid state in the Union. Approximately 86% of the state's land is owned by the U.S federal government under various jurisdictions both civilian and military. As of 2008, there were about 2.6 million residents, with over 85% of the population residing in the metropolitan areas of Las Vegas and Reno. The state is well known for its easy marriage and divorce proceedings, entertainment, legalized gambling and, in eight out of its 16 counties, legalized active brothels.

Geography:

Nevada is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many north-south mountain ranges. Most of these ranges have endorheic valleys between them, which belies the image portrayed by the term Great Basin.

The Humboldt River crosses from east to west across the northern part of the state, draining into the Humboldt Sink near Lovelock. Several rivers drain from the Sierra Nevada eastward, including the Walker, Truckee and Carson rivers.

The mountain ranges, some of which have peaks above 13,000 feet (4,000 m), harbor lush forests high above desert plains, creating sky islands for endemic species. The valleys are often no lower in elevation than 3,000 feet (900 m).

The southern third of the state, where the Las Vegas area is situated, is within the Mojave Desert. The area receives less rain in the winter but is closer to the Arizona Monsoon in the summer.

Nevada and California have by far the longest diagonal line (in respect to the cardinal directions) as a state boundary at just over 400 miles (640 km). This line begins in Lake Tahoe nearly 4 miles (6 km) offshore (in the direction of the boundary), and continues to the Colorado River where the Nevada, California, and Arizona boundaries merge 12 miles (19 km) southwest of the Laughlin Bridge.

The largest mountain range in the southern portion of the state is the Spring Mountain Range, just west of Las Vegas. The state's lowest point is along the Colorado River, south of Laughlin.

Nevada has 172 mountain summits with 2,000 feet (609m) of prominence. Nevada ranks second in the US, behind Alaska, and ahead of California, Montana, and Washington. This makes Nevada the "Most Mountainous" state in the country, at least by this measure.

Climate:

Nevada is made up of mostly desert and semiarid climate regions, daytime summer temperatures sometimes may rise as high as 125 °F (52 °C) and nighttime winter temperatures may reach as low as -50 °F (-45.6 °C). The winter season in the southern part of the state, however, tends to be of short duration and mild. Most parts of Nevada receive scarce precipitation during the year. Most rain falls on the lee side (east and northeast slopes) of the Sierra Nevada Range. The average annual rainfall per year is about 7 inches (18 cm); the wettest parts get around 40 inches (102 cm).

Las Vegas: Summer daytime highs average 94-104 degrees, and summer nighttime lows average 69-77 degrees. Winter daytime highs average 57-69 degrees, and winter nighttime lows average 37-47 degrees.

Reno: Summer daytime highs average 81-91 degrees, and summer nighttime lows average 43-51 degrees. Winter daytime highs average 45-57 degrees, and winter nighttime lows average 20-29 degrees.

Elko: Summer daytime highs average 78-89 degrees, and summer nighttime lows average 38-48 degrees. Winter daytime highs average 37-51 degrees, and winter nighttime lows average 13-26 degrees.

Demographics:

Mining shaped Nevada's economy for many years (see Silver mining in Nevada). When Mark Twain lived in Nevada during the period described in Roughing It, mining had led to an industry of speculation and immense wealth. However, both mining and population declined in the late 19th century. However, the rich silver strike at Tonopah in 1900, followed by strikes in Goldfield and Rhyolite, again put Nevada's population on an upward trend.

Unregulated gambling was common place in the early Nevada mining towns but outlawed in 1909 as part of a nation-wide anti-gaming crusade. Because of subsequent declines in mining output and the decline of the agricultural sector during the Great Depression, Nevada re-legalized gambling on March 19, 1931, with approval from the legislature. At the time, the leading proponents of gambling expected that it would be a short term fix until the state's economic base widened to include less cyclical industries. However, re-outlawing gambling has never been seriously considered since the industry has become Nevada's primary source of revenue today.

Over 80% of the state's area is owned by the federal government. The primary reason for this is that homesteads were not permitted in large enough sizes to be viable in the arid conditions that prevail throughout desert Nevada. Instead, early settlers would homestead land surrounding a water source, and then graze livestock on the adjacent public land, which is useless for agriculture without access to water (this pattern of ranching still prevails). The deficiencies in the Homestead Act as applied to Nevada were probably due to a lack of understanding of the Nevada environment, although some firebrands (so-called "Sagebrush Rebels") maintain that it was due to pressure from mining interests to keep land out of the hands of common folk. This debate continues to be argued among some state historians today.

From about the 1940s until 2003, Nevada was the fastest-growing state in the US percentage-wise. Between 1990 and 2000, Nevada's population increased 66.3%, while the USA's population increased 13.1%. Over two thirds of the population of the state live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area.

In 2010, illegal immigrants constituted an estimated 8.8% of the population. This was the highest percentage of any state in the country.

Taxation:

Nevada is also one of only a few states with no personal income tax and no corporate income tax.

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11 Nevada Cities with Active Retirement Communities:

Boulder City