By Patrick Blennerhassett / Las Vegas Review-Journal
Fewer out-of-state residents, especially Californians, moved to Nevada last year, according to Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles driver’s license surrender data obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The DMV collected approximately 82,072 surrendered out-of-state driver’s licenses or IDs in 2025, a 14 percent drop from 2024 when 95,444 were surrendered. Californians surrendered 33,296 driver’s licenses or IDs last year in Nevada, a 14.6 percent drop from 2024 when 38,970 were surrendered. Even with the decline, Californians still accounted for more than 40 percent of all out-of-state licenses surrendered in Nevada.
Brian Bonnenfant, project manager for the Center for Regional Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the slowdown is part of a much larger national trend rather than a Nevada-specific development. The pandemic-era relocation frenzy that drove record migration numbers in 2021 and 2022 has largely faded as the broader U.S. population growth rate slows.
The high-water mark for Californians moving to Nevada was in 2021, when 47,376 surrendered their California licenses. That figure dropped to 42,569 in 2022, recovered slightly to 36,507 in 2023, rose to 38,970 in 2024, and fell again to 33,296 in 2025.
Multiple population projections from universities, research centers, and think tanks are forecasting that the U.S. will enter negative organic growth territory as soon as 2030, meaning more deaths than births nationally. Bonnenfant said state-level data already shows that close to 14 of Nevada’s 17 counties are seeing more deaths than births.
California’s own population fell by approximately 54,000 people in 2025, its first annual decline since the pandemic. Los Angeles suffered a 0.9 percent population drop over the same period.
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 29, 2026. Reported by Patrick Blennerhassett.