This page is general health information, not medical advice. It cannot tell you whether you have an infection. A clinician can, and the testing options on this site are a good place to start.

Free STD testing in Las Vegas exists, and you do not need insurance to use most of it. The Southern Nevada Health District runs a free walk-in service. A community health center at The Center offers free HIV testing. Several clinics set their fees by income.

This guide walks you through the process in order. You will pick an option, gather what to bring, confirm hours, go to the visit and follow up on results. It covers every free and sliding-scale option published for Las Vegas.

Prices and hours change. Each clinic's own page is the final word, so the steps below show you how to confirm before you go.

What you need before you start

Gather these first. Not every clinic asks for all of them, but having them ready avoids a second trip.

A photo ID. The Southern Nevada Health District says to bring a photo ID to its sexual health clinics.
Proof of income and your household size. The health district's fees are based on income and the number of people in your household, so these can lower your charge.
Your insurance card, if you have one. The Center says certain insurance is billed. The health district's mail-in kits do not accept insurance or Medicaid.
A short note about symptoms and timing. Write down any symptoms and the date of your most recent possible exposure. A clinician uses this to choose tests.
Your questions. Examples: how results arrive, who to call, and what follow-up looks like.
A phone you can answer. Clinics often use it to deliver results or arrange follow-up.

You also need about an hour for a clinic visit. Walk-in lines can run longer on busy days.

Step 1: Know the difference between free and sliding-scale

These two terms get mixed up, and the difference decides where you go.

Free means no charge for the service. In Las Vegas, that applies to the health district's Express Testing and to HIV testing at The Center's health center.

Sliding-scale means the charge depends on your income and household size. The health district says charges are based on both. It also says you will not be turned away because you cannot pay on the day of your visit.

Low-cost means a posted lower price without an income formula. The Center describes its STI screening this way.

If a page does not list a price, the clinic has not published one. In that case, call and ask before you go.

Step 2: Choose the option that fits your situation

Here is every option published for Las Vegas, with who it suits.

Southern Nevada Health District Express Testing (free)

The Southern Nevada Health District offers free Express Testing. It describes the service as a fast, walk-in option for people who do not have symptoms.

Two Las Vegas sites offer it:

Decatur, 280 S. Decatur Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89107. The health district lists Express Testing Monday through Thursday, 7:30 AM to 12 PM and 1 PM to 3:30 PM.
Fremont Public Health Center, 2830 E. Fremont St., Las Vegas, NV 89104. The health district lists Express Testing on Fridays, 7:30 AM to 4 PM.

The health district also lists free walk-in Express Testing at its Henderson center on Tuesdays and its Mesquite center on the fourth Monday. Both are outside Las Vegas city limits. They may be worth knowing about if you live or work on that side of the valley.

Express Testing is for people without symptoms. If you have symptoms, use the sexual health clinic described next.

Southern Nevada Health District Sexual Health Clinic (sliding scale)

The Sexual Health Clinic offers STI testing, HIV testing, rapid HIV testing and treatment. It lists PrEP and PEP, and the Decatur site lists doxy-PEP. Fees follow the sliding scale described above.

The health district says walk-ins for STI testing and treatment are available until capacity is reached. That means arriving early gives you a better chance of being seen.

Both locations use the same phone number, (702) 759-1700.

Decatur Main Facility, 280 S. Decatur Blvd. The clinic page lists Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and Tuesday 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
Fremont Public Health Center, 2830 E. Fremont St. The clinic page lists Tuesday 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The page asks you to arrive by 5:30 PM to allow time for processing.

The health district's own pages do not always agree on hours. Confirm by phone before you leave.

Arlene Cooper Community Health Center at The Center (free HIV testing, low-cost STI screening)

The LGBTQ Community Center of Southern Nevada runs the Arlene Cooper Community Health Center at 401 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89101. Its page says HIV testing is free and STI screening is low cost. It also says certain insurance is billed, and that treatment for STIs is provided on site.

The health center's page lists Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Saturday 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM, with Sunday closed. The site footer shows different hours, so confirm before you go.

Appointments are highly encouraged. Walk-in services are available for a limited number of patients each day. To book, call 702-802-5432. The Center's main line is (702) 733-9800.

The Center welcomes people of every gender and orientation.

Nevada Health Centers (sliding fee)

Nevada Health Centers lists STD testing at two Las Vegas sites. Its page describes a sliding-fee discount program based on family size and income.

Martin Luther King Family Health Center, 1799 Mount Mariah Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89106. Phone 702.383.1961 or 800.787.2568.
Nellis Family Medical Center, 691 N. Nellis Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89110. Phone 702.563.4662 or 800.787.2568.

You can find both on the Nevada Health Centers reproductive health page. The published pages do not say whether these sites take walk-ins, and they do not list hours here. Call first.

Nevada Health Centers also lists HIV testing, PrEP and PEP across its organization, with a PrEP navigator at 702-563-4618. That information is not specific to one site, so ask which location offers what you need.

UNLV Student Health Center (for students)

The UNLV Student Health Center lists testing for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. It serves UNLV students and is not a general-public clinic. Its page does not list prices here. Call 702-895-3370 to ask about cost.

Free at-home HIV testing

If getting to a clinic is hard, there are at-home options for HIV.

Collect2Protect from the Southern Nevada Health District. The health district's 2020 announcement described the HIV self-test kits as free, and the program is open to all Nevada residents. Its current page does not state prices, so confirm that on the program page. The program also offers mail-in gonorrhea and chlamydia kits that carry a fee, and it does not accept insurance or Medicaid. The page says results can be ready 7 to 10 business days after the lab receives the specimen.
Together TakeMeHome offers free mailed HIV self-tests to anyone 17 and older in the U.S. Its FAQ says you can order two self-tests every 90 days.

At-home tests check for specific infections. A clinic visit can cover more.

Step 3: Decide what to ask for

A clinician chooses tests based on your history, symptoms and the kind of sex you have. You can still go in with a general idea of what is commonly recommended.

The CDC's STI Treatment Guidelines (2021) recommend yearly chlamydia and gonorrhea screening for sexually active women under 25. They also recommend it for older women with risk factors.
The same guidelines recommend at least yearly screening for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. They suggest more frequent screening for people at higher risk, and screening at each site of contact, such as throat, rectum and urethra.
The CDC recommends everyone ages 13 to 64 get tested for HIV at least once. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends HIV screening for people ages 15 to 65.
Pregnant people are recommended for syphilis and HIV testing at the first prenatal visit, per CDC guidance. Nevada law, under NRS 442.010, requires a syphilis test at the first prenatal visit and again in the third trimester.

If you are not sure what to ask for, tell the staff your situation. You can say, “I would like a full screening. What do you recommend for me?”

The CDC also runs gettested.cdc.gov, where you can look up testing sites by ZIP code. It is a useful way to compare against the list here.

Step 4: Confirm hours, walk-in status and cost

This step prevents most wasted trips.

Call the number listed above. Ask whether they are taking walk-ins today and when they stop accepting new patients.
Ask what the visit will cost. Mention your income and household size if the clinic uses a sliding scale.
Ask whether Express Testing or a full visit fits you. Express Testing is for people without symptoms.
Ask how and when results arrive. Ask whether it is a phone call, a portal or an in-person visit.

The health district's pages and the clinic pages sometimes list different hours. When in doubt, trust the person on the phone and the clinic's own site over a third-party listing, including this one.

For a broader view of where to go and what visits typically cost, see our guide to STD testing in Las Vegas, where to get tested and what it costs. The local testing list on the home page also keeps the clinics in one place.

Step 5: Go to your visit

Arrive early. Walk-in services run until capacity is reached, and the Fremont clinic asks people to arrive by 5:30 PM.

At the visit, expect a few questions about your health and sexual history. These are routine. Staff ask so they can choose the right tests, not to judge you. You can be open about any gender of partner and any kind of sex.

Testing itself is usually quick. Depending on what a clinician orders, it may involve a urine sample, a swab or a blood draw. Rapid HIV testing is offered at several of the sites above.

If you have symptoms, say so at check-in. Symptom visits can follow a different route than Express Testing.

Step 6: Understand timing and results

Testing too soon after an exposure can miss an infection that a test would find later. The CDC publishes window periods for HIV, which is the time between exposure and when a test can detect it.

According to the CDC, a nucleic acid test can usually detect HIV 10 to 33 days after exposure.
An antigen/antibody test done on blood from a vein can usually detect it 18 to 45 days after exposure.
Antigen/antibody tests done on a fingerstick may take 18 to 90 days, and antibody tests may take 23 to 90 days.

The CDC's HIV pages explain this in more detail. For other infections, a clinician can tell you whether a repeat test makes sense based on your timing.

What results may look like:

A negative result means the test did not detect that infection at the time of testing. A clinician can tell you whether a repeat test is worth considering.
A positive result means a clinician will talk with you about next steps. Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis are bacterial infections that are curable with treatment from a clinician. Trichomoniasis is also curable with treatment from a clinician.
HIV and herpes are not curable, but both are treatable and manageable with care from a clinician. HPV is also not curable, though many HPV infections go away on their own, according to the CDC.

Clinicians in Nevada are required to report certain infections to the local health authority. Nevada Administrative Code chapter 441A lists chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV and syphilis among them. This is a standard public health practice.

In Nevada, a minor may consent to examination and treatment for any sexually transmitted disease, per NRS 129.060. The statute names no minimum age.

Step 7: Follow up

Get your results the way the clinic told you. If you have not heard back by the date they gave you, call the clinic.
Ask about partners. Nevada permits expedited partner therapy, which lets a clinician provide treatment for a partner in some cases, according to the CDC's legal status page. Ask a clinician whether it applies to you.
Ask about prevention. The health district and The Center both list PrEP and PEP. The health district also lists doxy-PEP, which the CDC addressed in its 2024 guidance. A clinician decides whether any of these fit you.
Plan your next test. Ask how often testing makes sense for you.

Tips and common mistakes to avoid

Going to Express Testing with symptoms. It is meant for people without them. Use the sexual health clinic instead.
Skipping the phone call. Hours differ between pages, and walk-in capacity fills up.
Arriving late in the day. Capacity can run out before closing.
Forgetting proof of income. It can lower a sliding-scale charge.
Assuming one test covers everything. Ask which infections are included. A throat or rectal swab is a separate test from a urine sample.
Testing right after an exposure and stopping there. Ask whether a repeat test is useful given the timing.
Letting cost keep you from going. The health district says no one is turned away because they cannot pay on the day of the visit.
Waiting out of embarrassment. Testing is routine health care. Staff do this every day and do not judge.

How common are STIs in Clark County?

Testing is common because infections are common. The Nevada Office of State Epidemiology reported these 2023 figures for Clark County in its Nevada 2023 STD Fast Facts:

Infection	Cases	Rate per 100,000 people
Chlamydia	12,563	525.2
Gonorrhea	5,768	241.1
Primary and secondary syphilis	554	23.2

Many infections cause no symptoms, so a test is the only way to find out your status. These numbers describe a community, not you.

What to expect, summarized

Most people find the process shorter and less awkward than they feared. A visit may be done in an hour or less, though walk-in waits vary. Results may arrive the same day for rapid HIV tests, or within days for lab tests. Mail-in kits can take longer, with the health district citing 7 to 10 business days after the lab receives the sample.

Your results may be negative, positive, or may suggest a repeat test. Any of these is a normal outcome, and the clinic staff can explain the next step.

Next step

Pick one option above, call to confirm hours and cost, and set a date. For free STD testing in Las Vegas, the health district's Express Testing is a straightforward place to begin if you have no symptoms. If you want to compare other sites, gettested.cdc.gov lists more by ZIP code.

Free STD Testing in Las Vegas: Every Free and Sliding-Scale Option