Brian Gordon, a principal at Applied Analysis, tells LVA that "there's a number of favorable attributes for seniors to relocate [to Las Vegas]: a favorable tax climate, the weather, the amenities in terms of entertainment. Health care is a key area for seniors" and that field is continuing to expand in Las Vegas to meet seniors' needs. He also cites the "relatively affordable cost of housing," particularly when contrasted with California and the East Coast.
However, Dana Serratta, executive director of Helping Hands, says those lower costs of living are a double-edged sword, since they will cause Social Security benefits to decline. For instance, if you've been living in a high-cost market (like, say, San Diego) and move to Las Vegas, your benefits could drop by 50 percent or more. "I can’t tell you how many seniors I talk to that are shocked by that when their Social Security changes," she said in an interview for KNPR's "State of Nevada" show, which last September 12 featured an extended segment examining The Lives Of Senior Citizens In Las Vegas. Its findings included some some sobering statistics, like the fact that "forty percent of Las Vegas Valley retirees live alone and 10 percent of seniors live below the poverty level." As Serrata pointed out to LVA, "we have a lot of property taxes and 'sin taxes' that are very high." And, in the case of the property taxes, there is no longer a senior-citizen exemption.
Not only is the birth rate not keeping pace with that of the aging population (17 percent of the population of Clark County is 60 or older), Serratta says that medical services are thinly scattered across the 500-square-mile Las Vegas Valley. "Instead of dealing with [chronic health issues], they're calling ambulances when they need to get to the hospital instead. It's putting a strain on our emergency services but also on health care in general." Financial assistance for prescription drug co-pays is available, but limited. The city frequently experiences air-quality issues, whether from desert dust, smoke from neighboring wildfires, or elevated levels of pollen and pollutants, so we would caution anyone who suffers from respiratory disorders or serious allergies -- which many people never experience prior to being exposed to Las Vegas' copious quantities of olive trees and mulberry bushes -- to take that into serious consideration before moving here.
Another issue Serratta deals with is what is somewhat euphemistically referred to as "food insecurity," where seniors either can't get access to food due to financial hardship, and/or constrained transportation and grocery stores that are simply too far from where they're living to be be a realistic option for someone elderly and infirm. (For all of Las Vegas' public transit, having a car in this area -- or at least guaranteed regular access to vehicular transportation -- really is a must.) Senior Nutritional Assistance Programs – or SNAP – top out at $22 a month -- not much help when you're living on a fixed income, not to mention what Serrotta describes as the "voluminous paperwork" that comes with it.
One of the health issues confronting residents in the Las Vegas area is the hardness of its water, high in calcium and magnesium. This won't simply encrust your plumbing fixtures; it can also result in a high incidence of unpleasant conditions including dermatitis and kidney stones. While filming in a downtown race and sports book more than a decade ago, an LVA staffer recalls making idle chitchat with a patron who turned out to be doctor specializing in the field of geriatric care. He'd relocated to Las Vegas specifically because of the abundance of potential patients, but painted a depressingly cynical picture of how many elderly visitors relocate to Las Vegas, hoping to enjoy the health benefits of the dry-heat climate, only to have their lives prematurely truncated "by all the salt in the buffet food they're comped for playing penny slots and bingo all day, since there's nothing else to do." (We're paraphrasing, but that was very much the gist.)
Offering a more upbeat perspective, local AARP Director of Communications Hilarie Grey says there are "very encouraging" developments, like "a very strong geriatrics program" at Touro University. But she notes that even vibrant seniors, if temporarily incapacitated, can easily be cut off from vital resources. Churches, and assistance programs like Three Square (a food bank serving 19,000 seniors a month), and Helping Hands, are necessary to bridge the gap between private citizens and the public sector – a crevasse into which one easily can fall if aged between 50 and 60.
Clark County has a Public Guardian's office, which helps cognitively impaired senior citizens with financial, medical, and social issues. As an example of the latter, outgoing Public Guardian Kathleen Buchanan told KNPR, "We get a lot of individuals who are hoarders. Is that healthy? Not really." She noted that the number of incapacitated seniors was increasing "dramatically," particularly as Baby Boomers come of retirement age. Even though Clark County doesn't have the resources to meet demand and only "the critical ones get addressed," Buchanan says of Nevada, "I think we are your model state" (by which we assume she means typical, as opposed to representing what other states should aspire to in the realm of services and care for the elderly).
The AARP Foundation has been kept busy helping seniors renegotiate underwater mortgages. Also, the Great Recession has eaten into the nest eggs that seniors had been keeping for their retirement. NV Energy has a senior-assistance program "but, again, the qualifications for that are very limiting," Grey told KNPR. Interestingly enough, however, apparently problem gambling rarely raises its head as an issue. (Though local gaming companies get props for charitable support and senior discounts.)
Both Grey and Serratta stressed the need to break through Vegas' chronic insularity, putting the onus on the need for individuals to get to know their neighbors and be familiar with available support services, but the nature of much of the available housing here is not particularly conducive to getting to know the neighbors, and the typical transient nature of this city makes it difficult to make and keep friends, regardless of what age you are.
The arrival of Uber and Lyft "offers more choice," says Grey, for transportation-strapped seniors (if they can afford to use them). AARP teaches social-media skills, too, which helps some to "feel more connected when you're really isolated." But while chatting with friends or distant family members online may help alleviate loneliness or a sense of isolation, it won't get you to a doctor's appointment or carry your groceries home for you.
Some help is coming in the form of the state's new Care Act, which enables hospitals to have patients designate caregivers, even if they're not family members. "Believe it or not, hospitals were discharging patients and just putting [them] in cabs," Grey told KNPR. Ensure that any caregiver is adequately trained in your specific aftercare needs, however, or you could find yourself right back in the hospital!
As for population movement, Internal Revenue Service records show almost 35,000 people leaving Clark County in 2014, versus an inflow of just over 43,000. Unfortunately, those numbers are not broken down by age group, however, and when we attempted to gain greater insight into these numbers from AARP Nevada, it didn't return LVA's phone calls, leaving us none the wiser.
Given all of the foregoing, you likely still face a difficult decision over whether or not to spend your dotage in Las Vegas. If you have a strong safety net, are in good health, mobile, and are willing and able to take initiative (as the person/couple who submitted this question appear to be), then you may find that Las Vegas has a lot to offer in terms of climate and entertainment -- from Karaoke and bingo to opera and ballet, via food, music, and arts-and-crafts festivals, farmers markets, museums, galleries, and some great public libraries. But we would emphasize that living here is not for the faint of heart, nor the infirm of constitution.
