Las Vegas

**Las Vegas** is a city in the American state of Nevada. There were 641,903 people living in the city in 2020, and more than 2,000,000 people living in the metropolitan area. It is the largest city in Nevada. Las Vegas is also the county seat of Clark County.

Las Vegas is famous for its casinos and resort hotels. It is one of the world's most popular places for tourism.

## Politics

Las Vegas leans to the left. Three of the four congressional districts in Nevada include parts of Las Vegas, and all three congresspeople representing those districts are Democrats from Las Vegas.

## History

Native Americans were the first to reside in the area, specifically the Paiute tribe. It was first called _Las Vegas_ (which means _The Meadows_ in the Spanish language) by the Spanish. The city is known for its dry weather, as is the rest of southern Nevada. It is surrounded by desert.

The US Army built Fort Baker there in 1864. Las Vegas has natural springs, where people used to stop for water when they were going to Los Angeles or other places in California.

In 1905, 110 acres owned by William A. Clark, on which he built a railroad to Southern California were auctioned and Las Vegas was founded as a railroad town. Las Vegas officially became a city in 1911.

The Hispanic population in Las Vegas is growing and has rapidly increased. Most Latino Las Vegas residents are of Mexican, Cuban and Salvadoran descent. Las Vegas also has a small Puerto Rican, Belizean, Guatemalan, Spaniard, Peruvian, Colombian, Honduran, Nicaraguan and Argentine population. The most common European ancestries in Las Vegas are German, Irish, Italian, Polish, French, Scottish, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch and Welsh. Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian and Chinese are the most common Asian ancestries.

## People

There is a Mexican, African-American, Chinese, Greek, German, Korean, Japanese, Armenian, Arab, Italian, Jewish,  Iranian, Croatian, Polish, Filipino, Indian, Ethiopian and Chilean community in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas has a growing Hispanic population. Many Hispanics in Las Vegas are of Mexican, Cuban and Salvadoran ancestry.

Most of the foreign-born population were born in Mexico, the Philippines and El Salvador.

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Las Vegas
- **settlement type**: City
- **nicknames**: "Vegas", "Sin City", "City of Lights", "The Gambling Capital of the World", "The Entertainment Capital of the World", "Capital of Second Chances", "The Marriage Capital of the World", "The Silver City", "America's Playground"
- **image flag**: Flag of Las Vegas, Nevada.svg
- **image seal**: Seal of Las Vegas, Nevada.svg
- **subdivision type**: List of sovereign states, Country
- **subdivision name**: United States
- **subdivision type1**: U.S. state, State
- **subdivision name1**: Nevada
- **subdivision type2**: List of counties in Nevada, County
- **subdivision name2**: Clark County, Nevada, Clark
- **government type**: Council–manager
- **leader title**: List of mayors of Las Vegas, Mayor
- **leader name**: Shelley Berkley (Democratic Party (United States), D)
- **leader title1**: Mayor Pro Tem
- **leader name1**: Brian Knudsen (Democratic Party (United States), D)
- **leader title2**: City council
- **leader title3**: City manager
- **leader name3**: Mike Janssen
- **established title**: Founded
- **established date**: May 15, 1905
- **established title1**: Incorporated
- **established date1**: March 16, 1911
- **area total sq mi**: 141.91
- **area land sq mi**: 141.85
- **area water sq mi**: 0.05
- **population as of**: 2020 United States Census, 2020
- **population total**: 641903
- **population rank**: List of United States cities by population, 24th in the United States
List of cities in Nevada, 1st in Nevada
- **population urban**: 2,196,623 (List of United States urban areas, US: 21st)
- **population density urban km2**: 1,948.4
- **population density urban sq mi**: 5,046.3
- **population metro**: 2265461 (List of metropolitan statistical areas, US: 29th)
- **population density sq mi**: 4525.16
- **population density km2**: 1747.17
- **population demonym**: Las Vegan
- **demographics type2**: GDP
- **demographics2 title1**: Las Vegas (MSA)
- **demographics2 info1**: $160.7 billion (2022)
- **timezone1**: Pacific Standard Time Zone, PST
- **utc offset**: −08:00
- **timezone dst**: Pacific Daylight Time, PDT
- **utc offset dst**: −07:00
- **postal code type**: ZIP Codes
- **postal code**: 89044, 89054, 891xx
- **area code**: Area code 702, 702 & 725
- **elevation ft**: 2001
- **elevation m**: 610
- **blank name**: Federal Information Processing Standard, FIPS code
- **blank info**: 32-40000
- **blank1 name**: Geographic Names Information System, GNIS feature ID
- **blank1 info**: [http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:847388 847388]
- **unit pref**: Imperial
- **area total km2**: 367.53
- **area land km2**: 367.40
- **area water km2**: 0.14