Las Vegas Map
Most of the Las Vegas Strip is not in Las Vegas. The city proper counted about 679,000 people in 2024; the famous casinos sit in unincorporated Clark County just to the south.
Where is Las Vegas?
Las Vegas fills a bowl-shaped desert valley in southern Nevada, ringed by the Spring Mountains to the west and the Sheep and River ranges to the north and east. It is about 270 miles northeast of Los Angeles, roughly 300 miles northwest of Phoenix, and some 420 miles southwest of Salt Lake City — a long way from anywhere, which is part of how it started. Nevada runs on Pacific Time despite lying well inland, which keeps the state on California's clock rather than Arizona's or Utah's.
Las Vegas at a glance
| State | Nevada |
| County | Clark County |
| Population | 678,922 (2024 Census estimate) |
| Rank among US cities | No. 25 of the 100 largest |
| Time zone | Pacific Time |
| Region | West (Mountain division) |
Another 2,801 residents would lift Las Vegas past El Paso into No. 24; 5,464 fewer would put it behind Boston at No. 26. It leads the four Nevada entries, ahead of Henderson, North Las Vegas and Reno. One city government therefore accounts for about 21% of Nevada's 3.27 million people. It holds about 28% of Clark County's 2,398,871 residents.
Las Vegas in Nevada
Clark County holds around three-quarters of Nevada's population, and the state's three largest cities all sit inside it — Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas — along with the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester, which contain the Strip and the airport. That is why the Nevada county map looks so unbalanced with only 17 counties. Reno, 440 miles northwest, is the northern counterweight, and the capital is Carson City. More at the Nevada state page.
Springs, the Mojave and Lake Mead
The valley is named for the meadows that artesian springs once watered here — the one reliable green stop on the Old Spanish Trail across the Mojave Desert. Those springs are long since pumped dry, and the modern city runs on the Colorado River: Lake Mead, about 30 miles southeast behind Hoover Dam, supplies the great majority of its water, and the white bathtub ring on the canyon walls records how far the reservoir has dropped. The valley floor lies around 2,000 feet above sea level, with peaks nearly 12,000 feet high in view to the west.
Cities near Las Vegas
Nearby: Henderson, North Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Reno. The US map with cities shows how isolated this corner of the West really is.