Confused by the headline? No need to be. If you've ever been to Lake Tahoe, then you've fallen in love with its undeniably pristine beauty. It's possible you might have entertained the idea of living at Lake Tahoe until you picked up a real estate guide and laughed sarcastically all the way back to your hotel.

It's not cheap to live at the lake.

But there are three areas containing northern Nevada cities that are all within a 30 minute drive of Lake Tahoe's eastern shores, while California can barely boast of a handful of towns.

The largest metropolitan area near lake Tahoe is the city of Reno. And when we say metropolitan, we mean it. Reno is not just home to a scattering of casinos, it boasts a summer arts festival, a resident philharmonic, multiple facilities that host traveling Broadway plays and concert venues that host every single form of music conceivable.

Reno has a nationally ranked University (The University of Nevada) with all the sports trimmings one could hope for in a college town.

Like cuisine? Reno is ranked among the fifty best cities for foodies like you, and new eateries are opening up all the time. Did we mention Reno is a 25 minute drive (from the Summit Mall at the south end of town) to Lake Tahoe up over the Mount Rose Pass?

Thirty miles south of Reno, and just a 20 minute drive from Lake Tahoe's southeast shore is the Capitol of Nevada, Carson City. Carson is a smaller town with two sides to it; the hills, and the desert. As capitols go, Carson is a quiet city with great museums, parks and fun activities for the whole family.

Further south still, near the Nevada/California border lie the sleepy twin towns of Minden and Gardnerville. If you are looking for small town life within a 40 minute drive of Lake Tahoe, these are the places for you. Everyone goes to the Carson Valley Inn for coffee and pie, to the town's one movie theater for entertainment, and up over Kingsbury Grade for all Tahoe has to offer.