LAS VEGAS — James Watts, a third generation Las Vegan, and his partner, Lauren Tuvell, just fulfilled a dream that currently might feel out of reach for many long-time Nevada residents.

They bought a house.

But their purchase was hard-fought. Watts said they would tour a house, only to learn that somebody had already put an offer on it without ever having even seen it.

“[We] definitely got our hopes up and then dashed many times because we would go to a house and be like, ‘Oh my God, it’s perfect.’” he said. “Like, we’re going to put an offer in and then hear from the realtor that three offers are already in above asking.”

Finding a home to buy was difficult for Watts, unlike for some of the 40% of new Nevada residents coming from California.

Those newcomers have an average income level about 93% higher than Nevada residents who move within the state, according to a 2024 report by the Lied Center for Real Estate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The demand for more houses paired with those higher California incomes has made it more difficult for residents earning Nevada wages to keep up with the housing market — both in buying and renting.

“I don’t know what kind of money you must have to be able to put an offer on a house without even looking at it,” Watts said.

The cost of living here is likely to weigh on voters this year, so as part of NPR’s “We, The Voters” series, we asked locals how they’re experiencing higher costs.

Why is buying a home so expensive? Californians play a role, but that’s not all

Nevada realtor Cristine Bullard has seen how Californians moving here have driven up housing prices for the past 15 years.

“They sell their house there and they buy two here,” Bullard said. “They can easily pay cash” — often over the asking price.

“The average wage does not support anything close to the average [housing] prices here,” Bullard said. “There’s more people, you know, mom, dad and grandma buying the house together. The multigenerational has taken off so much here, and it’s because of things like that.”

Watts and Tuvell were able to make their purchase by getting a loan for $350,000 and locking in a 6.6% interest rate “which is really great for right now,” Watts said. They also scraped together $20,000 for a downpayment with the help of family members.

“Anybody that lives here, if you’re spending, you know, as much as you are in rent, you might as well buy,” Watts said. “I think if anyone has the ability to do it, they should do it.”

Renting has gotten harder, too

Corey Dillard, 55, makes around $30,000 annually as an Uber driver. Dillard said sometimes, he struggles to pay his rent of $800 — which used to be $650 when he moved in two years ago.

“If you work a lot of hours, you know, if you work 10 to 12 hours a day, then yes, it is possible,” he said.

He’s considered cost-burdened under federal guidelines, since he spends more than 30% of his monthly income on rent.

About 70% of low-income Nevadans are also considered to be cost-burdened by their housing costs, according to a 2024 report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Dillard wants to own a home one day and despite struggling with rent at times, thinks he can become a homeowner in the next three years if he finds a partner to split the costs.

Dillard said he’d want to be married before buying a home with a partner, but isn’t in any rush to find one.

“You know, I’m not searching high and low, but if it does come, and we’re on that level, I feel like you need to be married if you want to buy a house,” Dillard said.

Renters like him across the state are feeling the squeeze.

“We have a profound shortage of affordable housing in the state,” said Nicholas Barr, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Nevada is short 78,000 affordable rental housing units, according to an estimate from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Between 2019 and 2023, rent in the Las Vegas metro area increased by 34% — while wages during that period only increased by 14%, according to a 2024 report from housing listing site Zillow.

“I think it’s an interesting juxtaposition here to see this place, which does provide that needed service, but also, you know, kind of notoriously files a lot of evictions and in some cases uses eviction as a tool to discipline people into paying rent,” Barr said of a low-income housing complex where NPR interviewed him. “And, right over here, we can see the economic engine of the state, which are gaming companies and casinos.”

Solving the affordability problem

Bullard, the realtor, said the down payment is the hardest part about getting customers into homes. She said some down payment assistance programs exist — but they’re not enough to make a dent in the state’s lack of affordable housing. If the federal government decreased the price of land, she thinks it would be easier for people to buy homes.

Barr, the professor, said that even though Nevadans love to blame Californians for the price of housing — it’s not their fault alone.

“The reason we have an affordable housing shortage is not because of people that are from California,” Barr said. “But it is added pressure on the market, really more on the home buying market than the rental market, though.”

Barr said there are not sufficient market incentives for businesses to build affordable housing for low-income and homeless people.

Presidential candidates have talked about plans to address the soaring housing prices nationwide.

Former president Trump has said that building affordable housing brings down property values, and said that deporting immigrants would free up more housing.

Vice President Harris said she’ll build 3 million new housing units as well as give $25,000 to help first-time home buyers. Whether either of those plans will appeal to voters here remains to be seen.

Some Nevadans are turning to family to deal with high costs of living

Pollster Christi Lazaroff, 63, owns a condo she bought with her mom, who is 84 and retired.

She goes to open houses for inspiration on decor, and “to see what’s out there.” Eventually, she’d like to move the two of them into a bigger condo.

Lazaroff lives with her mother because of finances: she wouldn’t have been able to afford the condo without her mom, and likes living in a condo rather than a single-family home.

“I’ve seen how expensive it can be to take care of a house compared to a condo,” Lazaroff said. “It’s easier to maintain and clean and take care of when it’s just a condo.”

She considers herself lucky to have gotten the interest rate that she did.

“I can afford this more than I can afford rent,” Lazaroff said.

McKenna Ditterline, 22, lives at home with her mom and uncle to save up for a home.

“I would love to live in an apartment, honestly,” Ditterline said, “But my grandpa, my mom, everybody tells me, save up for a house instead of doing an apartment.”

She makes minimum wage, $12 an hour in Nevada, plus tips as a barista at an upscale coffee shop. Between gas, groceries, her three cats, car payments, insurance, and $200 in rent she pays her mom, she says it’s been hard saving up for the house.

“I would prefer to save up my money and live with my mom until I’m 40 if I have to, and then be able to buy a house just so that I own it and it’s under my name,” Ditterline said.

She says her approach to life at this stage is just to “ride the wave.”

“You can’t really control much that goes on in this world,” Ditterline said.“So I just kind of wake up, I pay the silly gas prices, I pay the silly grocery prices, I go to work, I do my thing, I go to sleep, I wake up, I do the same process every single day.”

She tells herself she’ll be able to live on her own eventually, and believes that she’ll figure it out, no matter how expensive things are.

This story was edited by Obed Manuel.