So... Las Vegas isn't really in Las Vegas. Most people who live here don't know that. And most people who live here don't live in Las Vegas. About 650,000 people live in Las Vegas proper. That's represented by the green areas of the map above. The blue area is North Las Vegas - which is an actual city, not a description. Almost 300,000 people live there. A bit more than that live in Henderson, which is shown on the map as purple. But the orange part? That is the biggest area on the map? That's unincorporated Clark County. Which has more than a million people. Who don't live in Las Vegas.

Fun fact, also: the Strip is not in Las Vegas.

It was fun exploring this with our students, and with historians Sondra Cosgrove and Michael Green. The first step to understanding how to be a citizen in Southern Nevada is to understand how the governments in Southern Nevada operate. If you want a street light to be fixed, you need to know where you live in order to call the right people to fix it. Frequently, people are angry because they can't vote for Mayor of Las Vegas. And, of course, journalists outside of Vegas swoop in when there's a political forum or a mass shooting and all ask to speak to the Mayor - even though that job may not have jurisdiction for what's being reported.

We encourage you to explore Clark County at https://maps.clarkcountynv.gov/openweb. Where do you live? Who owned the house you grew up in? We'd love to hear what you find on our Instagram page, CivicsRadioLV. Upload a video about what you've discovered.

Other Links:
The Clark County Commission
The Las Vegas Mayor's Office
The Las Vegas City Council
City of Las Vegas
The North Las Vegas Mayor's Office
The North Las Vegas City Council
The City of Henderson
The Henderson Mayor and City Council

As you heard, Unincorporated Clark County has many different townships - sort of like Eastern cities have neighborhoods. There are boards for each township, but they aren't cities, and the government is Clark County. Still, if something needs to be done in your neighborhood, it might be helpful to head to a township meeting.

The townships in Unincorporated Clark County are:
Paradise Township
Paradise Township Board
Enterprise Township
Enterprise Township Board
Winchester Township
Winchester Township Board
Spring Valley Township
Spring Valley Board
Sunrise Manor Township
Sunrise Manor Board
Whitney Township
Whitney Township Board

Clark County also has this handy map that you can customize.