Nevada: Basic Facts and State Overview

Nevada is the seventh-largest state by area (110,572 sq miles) and one of the fastest-growing states in the US. Despite its large area, most of Nevada's 3.2 million residents live in the Las Vegas metro (75%) or the Reno-Sparks metro (15%).

Capital and Major Cities
Carson City is the capital (58,000). Las Vegas is the largest city (660,000; metro 2.3 million), followed by Henderson (330,000), Reno (270,000), North Las Vegas (270,000), Sparks (110,000), and Carson City. The Las Vegas metro has more than 2.3 million people.

Nickname and Motto
Nevada is "The Silver State" — the Comstock Lode silver discovery (1859) drove rapid settlement and led to statehood in 1864. The state motto is "Battle Born" — referring to Nevada becoming a state during the Civil War, fast-tracked for its silver resources. The state flower is the sagebrush.

Geography
Nevada sits almost entirely within the Great Basin — a series of parallel north-south mountain ranges separated by broad desert valleys, where rivers drain internally rather than to the ocean. The Basin and Range province gives Nevada its characteristic corrugated topography. Nevada is the most mountainous state in the contiguous US (over 300 named ranges) and the driest (average 9 inches of precipitation per year).

Economy
Nevada has no state income tax and no corporate income tax. Gaming and hospitality are the primary industries — Las Vegas generates more gaming revenue than any other market in the world. In recent decades, Nevada has aggressively diversified: Tesla's Gigafactory near Sparks, Switch data centers, Amazon fulfillment, and the Tahoe Tech hub have reduced dependence on gaming. Lithium mining (Nevada has the largest lithium deposits in the US) is becoming significant.

Notable Firsts
First state to legalize casino gambling (1931). First state to legalize no-fault divorce with a short residency requirement (driving the "quickie divorce" industry in Reno in the 1930s–50s). First state to legalize prostitution in rural counties (still legal in rural Nevada, illegal in Clark and Washoe counties).