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Las Vegas attracted interest from some wealthy Washington residents amid tax proposals reported in March 2025, but the available evidence does not show a mass move of millionaires to Nevada. Since then, Washington enacted a 9.90% tax on an individual’s income above $1 million, scheduled to begin in 2028. That is a tax on income over a threshold—not a tax on a person’s total wealth—and Nevada’s lack of an individual income tax is only one part of a household’s tax comparison.
What prompted the 2025 Las Vegas interest?
A March 28, 2025, GeekWire report by Kurt Schlosser described wealthy former Washington residents and people considering moves to Nevada, based on Bloomberg interviews and reporting. The proposals being debated in Washington at the time included a proposed 5% payroll tax on large employers and a proposed tax on certain financial assets held by people with more than $50 million in those assets. The report also referred to Washington’s capital-gains tax.
Those proposals were the context for the 2025 story; they should not be mistaken for the current status of Washington law. The report included a Las Vegas realtor’s account of helping Washington-connected wealthy clients look for homes priced at $8 million or more. That is evidence of reported interest and individual cases, not a representative count of people who moved.
What Washington enacted, and when it starts
Washington later enacted SB 6346 in 2026. The Washington State Legislature’s 2026 bill report specifies a 9.90% tax on an individual’s income above $1 million, beginning in calendar year 2028. It is not in effect yet as of October 2026.
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The distinction matters: the new tax is imposed on income above a threshold, rather than on the total value of a person’s assets. Calling it a “wealth tax” without that qualification can leave readers with the wrong idea about what the law taxes. The $1 million threshold also does not mean every millionaire will owe the tax; the stated base is an individual’s income above that amount.
How Nevada compares—and what the comparison leaves out
Nevada’s Department of Taxation says the state does not impose an individual income tax, including on wages and salaries. That is a meaningful difference for someone comparing state income-tax treatment, but it does not establish that Nevada is cheaper overall for a particular household.
| Question | Washington | Nevada |
|---|---|---|
| Individual income tax relevant to this comparison | A 9.90% tax on an individual’s income above $1 million is scheduled to start in calendar year 2028 under SB 6346. | No state individual income tax on wages and salaries, according to the Nevada Department of Taxation. |
| Other taxes noted by the state source | The 2025 GeekWire report also referred to Washington’s capital-gains tax; this comparison does not assess an individual household’s total Washington tax burden. | The state imposes other taxes, including sales and property taxes. Nevada also describes a Commerce Tax for businesses with annual gross revenue exceeding $4 million. |
| What this establishes | A scheduled tax on individual income above a threshold—not a tax on total accumulated wealth. | No individual state income tax, not an absence of all state or local taxes. |
The tax sources describe different tax types and bases, so a household should compare its own income, assets, property and spending rather than infer an overall winner from the individual income-tax rate alone. The available sources also do not establish that relocating to Nevada automatically removes every Washington tax liability.
Does the evidence show a millionaire exodus to Las Vegas?
No. The GeekWire account offers interviews and reported examples, but it does not provide a representative count of wealthy Washington residents who moved, a rate of movement, or proof that taxes caused a population-level exodus. A realtor’s account of home searches cannot establish how many people ultimately relocated or why.
Rank #3
Two broader data points offer context, but neither answers the specific question of how many Washington millionaires moved to Las Vegas for tax reasons:
- IRS migration statistics: The IRS uses year-to-year address changes on federal individual income tax returns and publishes state and county flows, with aggregate data that can be grouped by adjusted gross income and age. At the time the data were checked, the listed series ran through filing year 2022–2023—before the March 2025 report. These records show address changes, not people’s reasons for moving.
- U-Haul’s 2025 Growth Index: A January 2026 Nevada Governor’s Office release summarizing the index said Nevada ranked 20th, with arrivals making up 50.4% and departures 49.6% of one-way U-Haul traffic. The release named Washington among multiple states contributing residents to Nevada. These are statewide rental-truck figures, not a count of wealthy people, do not isolate Las Vegas, and do not identify why anyone moved.
Neither measure establishes a tax-driven flow of millionaires from Washington to the Las Vegas area. In particular, the U-Haul figures should not be presented as a count of affluent movers or as evidence about their motives.
Rank #4
What the 2025 coverage can—and cannot—tell you
The report captured a moment when proposed Washington taxes were part of conversations among some wealthy residents and people considering Nevada. It also included a strong opinion from Jeff Saling, head of StartUpNV, who described the proposed policy as an opportunity for Nevada. That remark reflects his view of the policy and Nevada’s prospects; it is not a migration statistic or a neutral assessment of the tax law.
For a person weighing a move, the useful takeaway is narrower than the headline language: Nevada has no state individual income tax, while Washington has enacted a tax on individual income above $1 million that is scheduled to start in 2028. The evidence cited here does not quantify how many wealthy Washingtonians have moved to Las Vegas because of taxes, and the full tax consequences of a move depend on individual circumstances.
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