Billionaires are fleeing California for Nevada — and not for the nightlife

• Billionaires are planting roots in Nevada amid fears of a California wealth tax.
• Nevada, with its generous tax advantages, is welcoming the ultrawealthy with open arms.
• The influx of wealthy people is rapidly changing the state's luxury market.

The most expensive condo sale in the Las Vegas area closed in early January for $21 million. If the sale of the 5,000-square-foot penthouse about 15 miles from the Las Vegas Strip had closed just a little more than a week earlier, it potentially could have saved the buyer a few hundred million dollars.

"He was looking for a while, and at the last minute, there was a little bit of a hiccup," real estate agent Ivan Sher told Business Insider of the sale. "He was actually even under contract significantly before then."

That "he" is billionaire Don Hankey, the chairman of Hankey Group and a lifelong Californian worth a reported $8.2 billion.

Hankey is one of a handful of Californians who have decided leave the state due to the proposed Billionaire Tax Act — a bill that would subject California residents worth more than $1 billion to a one-time tax worth 5% of their assets. For someone like Hankey, that's about $410 million.

"I just felt a little bit like I wasn't wanted," Hankey told Forbes of why he chose to leave California.

While Hankey may still be on the hook for the billionaire tax — the bill will be on the ballot in November 2026 and would retroactively tax individuals who were living in California on January 1, 2026 if passed — Nevada has welcomed Hankey and other high-net-worth individuals with open arms.

For the ultrawealthy ready to ditch California, but not the West Coast, Nevada offers a happy medium. With tax perks similar to Florida's — no income tax and low property taxes — Nevada is slowly becoming the next nerve center for the rich.

Nevada's luxury market is growing

Sher, who repped Hankey's $21 million penthouse sale on both sides as the founder of real estate agency IS Luxury, said that while Las Vegas' luxury market was already heating up, the news out of California kicked it into a higher gear.

"If people were to ask me what percentage of my buyers were from California, I'd say probably about 25%, and then for the first few years after COVID, that number was closer to 80%," Sher said. "As soon as that billionaire tax was proposed, the exodus began again — but at a much higher level."

The Las Vegas metropolitan area had about 331 millionaire households in 2019, according to RentCafe data. In 2023, that number jumped 166% to 879 households.

Natalia Harris has been selling ultra-luxury real estate in the Las Vegas area for the last five years. In that time, she said the definition of "ultra-luxury" has changed in the Silver State.

"Back then, a home that was $10 million was 'Wow' for Vegas — that was at the top of the price point," Harris told Business Insider. "Now we have three new listings that we just brought to market last week that are all between $11 million and $20 million."

Zain Aziz, the founder of technology firm Atom and one of Harris' high-net-worth clients, moved to the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nevada, in 2025. He said leaving the high taxes and hectic lifestyle of Silicon Valley behind was bittersweet.

"You don't really want to get punished if you do good and you create more jobs," Aziz said. "I believe the Las Vegas Valley has become more and more what's synonymous with what California used to be — which was free-spirited and 'Come and achieve the impossible,'" he added.

Aziz isn't the only one taking his assets elsewhere. Google cofounder Sergey Brin recently spent $42 million on a Lake Tahoe home on the Nevada side, according to Bloomberg. Larry Page, Google's other cofounder, found a tax haven on the East Coast, buying two properties totaling about $173 million in South Florida.

Billionaire Larry Ellison, who owns homes across the country and the world, bought a handful of properties in Lake Tahoe near the California-Nevada border. He also recently sold his San Francisco home for $45 million in the largest sale in the area in 2025, according to the San Francisco Standard.

Ultra-rich Californians would rather do business one state over

Has California lost its juice?

Aziz, who also moved his business to Nevada, said the culture that built California giants like Oracle and Google no longer exists there — it's budding in the next state over.

"There's no longer that innovative culture, and I believe where it exists is Vegas," Aziz said. "I think that a lot of people from California who are chasing that are going to move to Vegas primarily because of the proximity to California."

For lifelong Californians not fully ready to leave the state's sunny weather and stellar beaches behind, Las Vegas is a less than two-hour flight to Los Angeles or San Francisco.

It also helps that certain areas of Nevada can offer a taste of home. Harris described the MacDonald Highlands neighborhood of Las Vegas, which is about 15 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, as the Hollywood Hills of Vegas, offering stunning mountain views that give way to a sparkling cityscape beneath.

For Aziz, the developments in Nevada represent promise.

"This will become the hub for the wealthiest," he said. "The city wants that."