A leading local economist sees continued prosperity for Southern Nevada, even with several significant challenges ahead, kicking off Preview Las Vegas 2025 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Thursday.

Jeremy Aguero, principal for Las Vegas-based Applied Analysis, emphasized the value of experience as a draw to Southern Nevada, highlighting the continued appeal of sports and entertainment even while addressing issues like homelessness, housing affordability, population growth, debt and inflation.

“We’ve proven all of the skeptics wrong, we are not the greatest ghost town in the world, right? The idea that hockey will never work in the desert. Wrong and wrong,” he said. “It works here.”

About 1,500 people were registered for the Vegas Chamber’s largest networking event that featured dozens of booths of Las Vegas businesses as well as presentations by speakers forecasting what’s ahead for 2025.

Aguero suggested that if the public would respond to Las Vegas on issues of homelessness and health care the way they responded on turning the city into the sports and entertainment capital of the nation it could transform it to something greater than it is.

“And so if we think about it from that standpoint, I’d like you just to imagine for a moment, what if the same way we have had transformational changes relative to redefining our tourism industry, what if we were to do the same thing?” he said. “What if people came to Las Vegas the same way they come to see an event or do something else because of our world-class education system? What if the next public-private partnership we invested in as a community, the way we work together, will revolutionize our healthcare system? What if the next milestone we hit was the highest level of homeownership that we’ve ever had in our community? What if we measured everything we do in this community based on the value of the experience it delivers for the people and the businesses that are here?”

Statistically, Las Vegas has been running on all cylinders by many economic measures, Aguero said, even though it hasn’t been established as long as urban powerhouses like New York and Chicago. It reached a population base of 2 million in about 53 years compared with Orlando (56 years), Nashville (101 years) and Salt Lake City (105-plus years).

There are notable positives for Southern Nevada with a growing percentage of residents holding a bachelor’s degree or higher and resources like UNLV ready to help.

Satisfying visits

While homelessness and housing affordability are major challenges, Aguero noted that visitors to Las Vegas generally have great satisfaction with their visits — and that leads to more people of means considering moves here.

There are weaknesses in health care services, but he noted that operations like Intermountain Health, Cleveland Clinic and West Henderson Hospital are improving their visibility here.

Events like the Super Bowl, Formula One and college sports events raise the profile of Las Vegas as a prospective home to people who visit. He noted that the Raiders, which had one of their worst seasons ever in 2024, still command some of the highest ticket prices in the league, a testament to Las Vegas and its facilities.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I would suggest to you that the choices that we make here in 2025 relative to water and schools and our economy and all of those type of things are going to define us tomorrow,” Aguero concluded.

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