Elko County, NV

County Profile

54,047 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Elko County, NV.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

53out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 17% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 36% of 1,255 counties measured62
GrowthTop 38% of 1,226 counties measured56
Housing affordabilityTop 45% of 1,255 counties measured95
Climate1197th of 1,254 counties measured52
Physical resilience1254th of 1,255 counties measured1
Access1141st of 1,255 counties measured49
Economic stabilityTop 26% of 1,255 counties measured78
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.5% and median household income $86,487, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

Rent takes 16% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.5 times that income.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by wildfire, earthquake and heat wave.

At a glance

Population
54,047
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$86,487
Top 12% nationally
Density
3/sq mi
17173.3 sq mi of land
Median age
35.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Elko County
Nevada
Metro area
Elko, NV
Nearest major airport
ENV
75 mi · Wendover
Median home value
$301,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.5% is lower than 79% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 0.7% over the past year, to 26,670 employed residents.

Household income is higher than at least 88% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$5,461$86,487Top 12%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,821$39,139Top 29%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income$56,431Bottom 49%of 1,2062023
Poverty rate9.8%Bottom 23%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute30.6 minTop 21%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher17.8%Bottom 26%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment26,670Bottom 35%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.1%Bottom 45%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.7%Top 50%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force27,650Bottom 34%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation67.3%Top 10%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 16%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate3.5%Bottom 21%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.32.5
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.5% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202488k82k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $86,487 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

26% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 37% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 18.3 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
35
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
25.5%
Reading proficiency
37.1%
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Elko High SchoolElko1,40721.3
Spring Creek High SchoolElko88022.0
Spring Creek Middle SchoolElko70821.517%42%
Flagview Intermediate SchoolElko67421.120%37%
Adobe Middle SchoolElko66823.013%37%
Liberty Peak Elementary SchoolElko57917.037%48%
Southside Elementary SchoolElko51121.310%24%
Mountain View Elementary SchoolElko50716.939%47%
West Wendover Elementary SchoolElko41918.220%22%
Sage Elementary SchoolElko41316.532%39%
Spring Creek Elementary SchoolElko40016.040%43%
Elko Institute for Academic Achievement · charterState Sponsored Charter Schools39823.439%39%

48.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Nevada’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,164 takes 16% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.5 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
16.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,164
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$301,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.48Top 31%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate71.4%Bottom 35%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4222,177Top 32%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$67$1,164Top 19%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,999$301,400Top 19%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income16.2%Bottom 39%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate11.5%Bottom 37%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
56/ 100
Top 38% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 1% since 2020, reaching 54,363 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 8% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 2.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
139
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.6
Bottom 45% nationally
Year over year
+25%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
7.9%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202454k54k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20202021202220232024202519786
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−39%).

Weather & climate

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 92°F and January a low of 16°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 10.0 inches, including 41.2 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 23, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

0°20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ELKO RGNL AP, 31.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND1.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index51.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation10.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall41.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low16°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months41991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index23.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing45°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
23
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
51
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

1 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are wildfire, earthquake and heat wave.

WildfireHigh
EarthquakeElevated
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, avalanche, landslide, inland flooding, lightning, drought, cold wave, hail, strong wind, volcanic activity, tornado.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Elko County records 4.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 27.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 20.3 per 100,000 residents in Elko County.

Homicide
4.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
27.6
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
20.3
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
25.8
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Elko County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Elko County rather than Elko County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 75 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
WendoverENV75 mi10,002 ft
Joslin Fld/Magic Valley RgnlTWF103 mi8,704 ft
Brigham City RgnlBMC173 mi8,900 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.