Spring Valley, Nevada

Spring Valley butts right up against The Vegas Strip. That means if you work there you have an incredibly short commute. In fact, Spring Valley was created to serve as a bedroom community for people working on The Strip who needed housing. The second best part is that it is NOT a master-planned community. Most of the suburban towns around Vegas are master-planned and pretty cookie cutter in terms of housing. Spring Valley is much older than other cities and has more urban energy, and more diverse housing (albeit suburban style).

Here's a local with some notes on living in the area:
Las Vegas has very nice areas, mostly toward the edges of town… Summerlin, Southern Highlands, The Lakes, Spring Valley, Desert Shores. Even downtown has some nice new or newly renovated buildings if you like urban living. Near “The Strip” has many condo type high rise buildings that are extremely nice. I live in the Northwest part of Las Vegas that I find very pleasant. Most of the Las Vegas valley is “nice”. A quick drive through an area and it will be obvious whether you would want to live there or not. The valley is mostly suburban living except “Downtown” and along “The Strip” corridor.

For more reviews of what living in Spring Valley is like from locals check out: The Buzz

If you crave a master-planned, “neighborhood” structure then Spring Valley, or at least much of it won’t work for you. If being next to The Strip is just a bit crazy for you then much of Spring Valley won’t work for you. There are definitely some neighborhoods that are “planned” and more suburban style AND are farther from The Strip but again, much of the area has that mixed-use, more busy vibe.

Here's a local's note about living here:
My experience is that it’s a lot of middle to low income people of diverse backgrounds. Many who work the strip and these are good locations for getting to work quickly while still being safe neighborhoods. It does have not so great hotspots but I never had to deal with anything too uncomfortable.