this is what I got useing google

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/In_which_state_is_Las_Vegas_located_in


I live in Canada and have never left Ontario ...

Is Nevada its own state or is Nevada a section within California ? (thinking NCR)

Nevada is one of the fifty states, the NCR has expanded outside the historic (for them) borders of California. Not by much in this regard, as Las Vegas is quite close to California (and Arizona).

Rather than wiki answers, I think you would have been served better by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_vegas.

Las Vegas is indeed located in Nevada, a state of its own. Most towns in the Mojave as it's seen in Fallout actually exist, and geographically, their locations make sense too (though the scale is different, of course). Did you know that, somewhere during the age of the Gold Rush, Boulder (which Boulder City is modeled after) had more inhabitants than Las Vegas? No? Now you do.

Once when I saw the sign for the Repconn HQ in Henderson, NV I decided to look it up on Google Earth. It's pretty cool, you can see all the towns like Goodsprings, Jean, Primm, and Nipton. I wouldn't want to do the walk between them in RL.