Pretty sure this is one of those pieces written by someone who has never been there. We semi-retired in Reno 3 years ago as we all (coincidentally) heard of this kovid krap the first time around. It was great for the better part of the first year being so different from the upper Midwest where we are from.
But after awhile you begin to miss water, green things that grow - anything besides desert life. Then came two summers of the Kalifornia wildfires where you couldn’t leave the house and some hiking areas in Carson City were death sentences from the heavy smoke. Our area was quite nice only a few homes from the Truckee River but when the kovid nonsense started so came the Californians and the homeless that ruined everything. Had to kick these scumbags off the porch a few times, their shopping carts everywhere and the list goes on. There have always been autos with CA plates there, but not 8 of 10 in an intersection. Tiny worthless homes that would be teardowns anywhere else were suddenly bought at outrageous prices yet no one ever moves in, yep there is no state income tax in Nevada and Californians were “working from home,” yeah right.
So we moved back to the Great Lake state, most water in 50 light years, endless green around and rather bucolic in its own way, never thought we’d miss winter!
Also having lived outside of Detroit for many decades there is no other place on Earth that can out manufacture that area (economy aside) and have no idea how the author came up with their stats, the population of the Detroit/Ann Arbor area is greater than the entire state of Nevada.
It is however a great place for a vacation but not to live there for many people unless they prepare ahead of time for desert life, homeless drug addicts and the California invasion, that was our experience anyway - mileage may differ for others.
Yes, I like walking in desert at night but that’s about it.
When people complain of rain and storms here in western Arkansas/eastern Oklahoma I ask them if they’d rather live in a desert.
When I left NYC twenty-one years ago, one of the requirements for where I would live was, "four seasons." I soon found out there are actually five. I'd not known of "Mud"...but I learned! 😄
I have lived in the American South West. And I greatly prefer living where it is green and where it rains. I live in a green state now.