It still galls a lot of people that a Strip festooned with a desperate neon exuberance, that preys on get-rich-quick dreams and advertises has-been headliners, could become an economically vital metropolis of 1.8 million people. Every year tens of thousands of recent immigrants realize the quintessential American desire to make it in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas found an economic-success formula that eludes so many other places: high growth combined with low costs. It’s been affordable to all but the lowest-paid service workers—and many of them are far better paid than they are elsewhere because Las Vegas is one of the most unionized cities in the country. Low taxes and hands-off regulators make it easy to start a business here, and easy for those businesses to expand. Rapid population growth (around 100,000 per year) adds new customers and new opportunities every day. 

For the full story and more images see the May 2005 issue of Architectural Record.

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