The city of Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, NV: Zones of transition and other trends

The reported total crimes for Las Vegas' city center in 2008 included 131 murders, 606 rapes, 3,732 robberies, and 5,320 assaults. The rates per 1,000 residents for these crimes averaged 0.27 for murder, 1.27 for rapes, 7.79 for robberies, and 11.11 for assaults. Yet for the nation as a whole, the rates per 1,000 residents for these crimes were 0.06 for murders, 0.32 for rapes, 1.41 for robberies, and 2.91 for assaults. The chance of being a victim of a violent crime in Las Vegas' city center was 1 in 49; while in Nevada as a whole the chance was 1 in 136. On the city's posted crime rate index, of which a rating of 100 was the safest, the city center rated a zero (Las Vegas City Center, 2009, Neighborhood Scout)

In contrast, the outer-lying Las Vegas Blue Diamond suburb is ranked 85 on the crime index. However, although its rate of violent crime may be less impressive than the city center, on a ranking of reported property crimes it averages 175 per 1,000 residents, versus 126.31 for the city itself. This may reflect the fact that Blue Diamond is a residential neighborhood, thus making burglaries more likely than violent crimes (Blue Diamond/Goodsprings, 2009, Neighborhood Scout). But the rate of such property crimes is impressive, and not in a 'good' way.

In fact, crime rates have increased, all over Las Vegas. In 2004, Las Vegas saw a 20% increase in property crimes in 2003, "nearly double the increase from the previous year and in contrast to a national trend, according to FBI statistics. Meanwhile, violent crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and assault, saw an overall rise of only 2% -- lagging behind the area's growth...just above 4%" (Curreri 2004).

Housing sales and start-ups of new areas have been forestalled: "Housing remains the weak sector in an otherwise growing economy, both nationally and in Nevada" (Las Vegas area and city statistics, demographics, and trends, 2009, Appraisers of Las Vegas.). The general trend in Las Vegas has been a merging of retail and residential spaces and a generalized but differentiated increase in crime. "Over the next two decades, new [housing and retail] projects are expected to have different, unique elements and multiple use profit centers. A perfect example of this new wave is another project on the new 'South Strip,' which also broke ground in July 2006, Urban Village. Urban Village will be a 50-acre, $1.5 billion project of brownstones, lofts, condo hotel units, and flats" (Las Vegas area and city statistics, demographics, and trends, 2009, Appraisers of Las Vegas.). Land use in general has increasingly serviced the luxury tourism market, rather than residential areas, which may partially account for the high crime rate -- many people with few ties to the area pass through Las Vegas. But residential and tourist housing areas have been increasingly blurred, often occupying the same physical spaces, not just the same neighborhoods.