What makes Reno so special?

Midsize cities in the U.S. are seeing a renaissance as people from large metro areas are getting sick of the hustle and bustle by putting down roots in smaller cities like Reno, Nevada. Compared to big cities, you’ll find better priced housing, improved quality of life, and business opportunities galore. What is the secret of the Biggest Little City that makes it such a great place to settle down? We have five great reasons why!

1. YES to Business and Jobs; NO to Income Tax.

Just three short years ago, Tesla opened its Gigafactory and employed over 5,000 people. Soon after, other large companies followed suit like Apple, Switch, Microsoft, Intuit, and Patagonia. This movement created thousands of jobs for all

Five Reno startups were recognized by the city and state officials this month for raising funding and creating high-paying jobs.

From a company that caters to endurance athletes to one that specializes in the Internet of Things, Governor Brian Sandoval and Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve paid them a special recognition. Breadware, the Sufferfest, Talage, MyVR and Bombora have brought 125 new tech jobs to the area and raised more than $10 million in funding. Even better, the average annual wage for those jobs is $77,000.

“We’re at the brink of a fourth industrial revolution, a new economy,” Sandoval said. “This community… has to be at the foundation and at the beginning of this fourth industrial revolution so we can position this state as the new

Reno has a wide offering of concerts, theater, comedy and more this Spring! Click the linked headings below to purchase tickets for the event.

MUSIC

Starship featuring Mickey Thomas

March 3 @ 8pm

The Celebrity Showroom, The Nugget

Thomas was the lead voice on songs such as “Jane”, “No Way Out”, “We Built This City” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”. Rock out to these ‘80s commercial peaks!

Classix Five: Italian Festival

March 11 @4pm & March 13 @ 7:30pm

Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts

The Reno Philharmonic continues its season for its fans of Italian classical composers. They will welcome guest conductor Alvise Casellati, with selections from Verdi, Bellini, Puccini, Rota and others.

Boyz II Men

March

The Cyclocross National Championships were just held near the University of Nevada, Reno, over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.

Image Courtesy of Visit Reno-Tahoe

Las Vegas’ CrossVegas is one of the best-known cyclocross events in the U.S. and the first place that a World Cup was hosted, so it only makes sense that the event should come to Reno. Right? The 2018 USA Cyclocross National Championships took over Rancho San Rafael Regional Park from Tuesday, January 9 until Sunday, January 14.

Cyclocross is considered one of the fastest growing events in the world of cycling. Even the best racers get a challenge because of the tough conditions of the course. Reno has plenty of challenging terrain and natural obstacles for the 1,500 athletes

At the start of September, Amazon.com announced their plan to build a secondary North American headquarters.

The announcement has opened up a bidding war to be a second home for the online retailer.

“We expect HQ2 to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, in a press release issued by the company. “Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in up-front and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. We’re excited to find a second home.”

The state of Nevada has offered subsides, tax breaks and other incentives to land corporate footprints for Apple, Tesla, Panasonic, Switch and Google, along with others. The Amazon press release included a bulleted list of conditions for its new

Reno has been compared to Silicon Valley, however three successful startups explain why they favor the biggest little city.

Rising rents and crowded freeways have put tension on the American Dream in the Bay Area. Tech giants have staked their claim in the region and are enticing not only startups, but talented people who are striving for something more. U.S. Census data taken in the Bay Area showed an emigration in 2016. Educated tech workers are moving out of the area and many of them are coming here to Reno.

VentureBeat talked to three Reno startups about their growth outside of the tech metropolis of Silicon Valley.

TrainerRoad

Nate Pearson founded TrainerRoad on the simple idea that he was a broke college grad who couldn’t pay

Reno has repainted its image and now it’s challenging Silicon Valley with its attractive business structure.

“There was only one place to go, and that was up,” said Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve.

In 2011, unemployment peaked at nearly 14% when Governor Brian Sandoval signed a law aiming to diversify the state’s economy. He recognized that gambling wasn’t enough to support the state’s economy and a sustainable workforce.

Reno has scored some big wins, starting with a new, highly automated factory run by Ardagh Group SA. The factory produces 3.5 million cans of tomato paste and other food products in just one day. In 2014, Tesla chose Reno out of six other locations to build its greatly anticipated Gigafactory. The Gigafactory is the largest in

Outside Magazine listed Reno as one of its “25 of America’s Best Towns Ever”.

The popular publication is focused on the outdoors and included Seattle, Kansas City, Bend, Austin, Boise, Kona and Fort Collins in the list. Reno was listed as the “best low-key hideout” in America.

Outside Magazine quoted: “Reno is home to the world’s tallest climbing wall (164 feet at BaseCamp, located at the Whitney Peak Hotel), year-round desert mountain biking, a half-mile long downtown whitewater-kayaking park and the 55-degree chutes at Mount Rose Ski Resort, just 25 minutes uphill from the slot machines.”

Here are some of our favorite things about living in Reno.

Water, Water, Water!

Not only is Reno incredibly close to Lake Tahoe (only a 20-minute

Apple has announced that they will double the size of their already massive data center just east of Reno.

Apple executive Mike Foulkes announced last week that the tech giant will invest an additional $1 billion in expanding its data center at the Reno Technology Park. The park sits in the Truckee River canyon to the easy of Sparks and is host to Apple’s existing data center along with cloud services company Rackspace.

“We’re excited to announce Apple will be increasing our investment by an additional $1 billion,” Foulkes said, stressing that it will bring “hundreds of jobs in operations and construction.”

Northern Nevada is becoming a familiar home to the booming data storage industry. Demands for iCloud storage has been on the rise and

The University of Nevada, founded in 1874, is updating about a dozen of its buildings.

Located in Reno, NV, UNR offers dozens of undergraduate degrees and master’s programs, including business, education, medicine and engineering. The university also specializes in earthquake research and is home to hone of the largest earthquake-simulation laboratories in the country. Just this week, the new E.L. Wiegand Fitness Center opened – a $47.5 million project that includes a gym with three basketball courts, an indoor running track and state-of-the-art equipment. The Wiegand Fitness Center is the first of many new updates that the University has planned, or completed. Learn more below!

E.L. Wiegand Fitness Center, opened February 2017

For students,