From the “Mississippi of the West” to the “City of Second Chances”: Contextualizing the Racial and Ethnic Composition of Las Vegas

Las Vegas’ residential terrain has often been overlooked beyond the city’s history of extreme spatial and economic segregation in mid-1900s due to its development as a tourist city. This research reflects that 21st century through lens population geography, which demonstrates heavy in-migration Nevada after 1990 flooded landscape severe thus reshaped racial ethnic boundaries. A comparison between patterns distribution with access quality education well gated communities reveals historical barriers minority mobility persisted new, more fluid forms these waves immigration. Namely, overall geographical tendency Vegas subregions highest proportions high-quality educational institutions be areas majority white populations systems community privatization may represent new era flight. As such, this introduces 20th geography significant example how tools transfigure over time, especially environments undergoing immense demographic reorganization.