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.

54out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 31% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
OpportunityTop 19% of 1,463 counties measured71
GrowthTop 33% of 1,453 counties measured60
Housing affordabilityTop 6% of 1,462 counties measured87
Climate1,391st of 1,463 counties measured52
Physical resilience1,462nd of 1,463 counties measured1
Access1,329th of 1,463 counties measured49
Economic stabilityTop 35% of 1,463 counties measured70
The quick read

Elko County ranks in the top 19% of counties measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.3% and median household income of $86,487.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most counties measured: rent takes 24% of renter income and the median home is 3.0 times what its owners earn.

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

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
54,047
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$86,487
Top 12% nationally
Density
3/sq mi
17,173.3 sq mi of land
Median age
35.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Elko County
Nevada
Micro area
Nearest major airport
ENV
75 mi · Wendover
Median home value
$301,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.3%, lower than in 81% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 0.8% over the past year, to 26,944 employed residents.

Median household income of $86,487 is higher than in 88% of measured US counties.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$60,17154th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$68,90275th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$5,4612024 ACS 5-Year$86,487Top 12%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,8212024 ACS 5-Year$39,139Top 29%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$56,431Top 50%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year9.2%Top 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.7 min2024 ACS 5-Year30.6 minBottom 21%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year17.8%Bottom 26%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year63.0%5th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202626,944Bottom 42%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+1.3%Top 34%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+0.8%Top 23%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202627,87242nd percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year80.1%Top 27%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year10.0%99th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.6%Top 23%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20263.3%Top 19%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year5.3%20th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/074.32.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.3% in July 2026. It has been falling for the last 2 months, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. 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.

31% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 44% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 18.4 students for every full-time teacher across 27 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
35
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.4
across 27 of them
Math proficiency
31.4%
2018-19 school year
Reading proficiency
44.0%
2018-19 school year
The 12 largest of 35 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Elko High SchoolElko1,40721.320%42%
Spring Creek High SchoolElko88022.024%50%
Spring Creek Middle SchoolElko70821.534%48%
Flagview Intermediate SchoolElko67421.135%44%
Adobe Middle SchoolElko66823.033%41%
Liberty Peak Elementary SchoolElko57917.0——
Southside Elementary SchoolElko51121.341%43%
Mountain View Elementary SchoolElko50716.958%60%
West Wendover Elementary SchoolElko41918.217%27%
Sage Elementary SchoolElko41316.538%46%
Spring Creek Elementary SchoolElko40016.048%62%
Elko Institute for Academic Achievement · charterState Sponsored Charter Schools39823.442%37%

48.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Nevada’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Nevada is up 37% over five years, and up 4.7% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $1,492 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.50% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,530, some 31% above the $1,164 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,530 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $61,200 a year, about 71% of the median household income here of $86,487.

The typical renter household here spends 24% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,164 a month.

A median home at $301,400 costs 3.0 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $100,315, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Rent as a share of income
23.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.0×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,530
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,164
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$301,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Elko County’s median household income of $86,487, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Nevada’s figure2026 Q2+4.7%71st percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Nevada’s figure2026 Q2+36.5%20th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Nevada’s figure2026 Q2+106.5%71st percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year3.0Bottom 29%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year71.4%35th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±422024 ACS 5-Year22,17768th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,166Bottom 29%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,933Bottom 25%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,530Bottom 24%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$672024 ACS 5-Year$1,164Bottom 19%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,9992024 ACS 5-Year$301,40081st percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1122024 ACS 5-Year$1,49246th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$5,0602024 ACS 5-Year$100,315Top 13%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.04%2024 ACS 5-Year0.50%16th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year23.7%Top 18%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±2162024 ACS 5-Year63964th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year2.9%52nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year8.6%47th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±3502024 ACS 5-Year2,55062nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

60/ 100
Top 33% of 1,453 published county profiles
The most recent move in permitting was downward, in a series running from 2020 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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: 109 units authorized in 2025, 9% below the prior year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 139 units permitted over the past twelve months, only 8% are in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Elko County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $60,171, below the $68,902 of households that moved out.

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

Units permitted
139
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.6
Bottom 46% 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. It has been holding roughly steady, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
−0.2%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
71%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$60,171
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$68,902
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Washoe County, NV 175 people · 7.2% of arrivals
  2. Clark County, NV 125 people · 5.1% of arrivals
  3. Tooele County, UT 116 people · 4.8% of arrivals
  4. Salt Lake County, UT 89 people · 3.6% of arrivals
  5. Humboldt County, NV 82 people · 3.4% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Washoe County, NV 188 people · 7.4% of departures
  2. Clark County, NV 154 people · 6.1% of departures
  3. Twin Falls County, ID 100 people · 4.0% of departures
  4. Salt Lake County, UT 93 people · 3.7% of departures
  5. Humboldt County, NV 81 people · 3.2% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

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 index2024 calendar year512024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals10.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals41.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals16°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals41991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year12024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year232024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals45°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. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

1 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are wildfire, inland flooding and earthquake, with wildfire alone responsible for 83% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

WildfireHigh
EarthquakeElevated
Heat waveModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

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

Elko County has a modeled homicide rate of about 4.6 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 31.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 23.9 per 100,000 residents in Elko County.

Homicide
4.6
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
31.3
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
23.9
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
29.5
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Elko County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

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

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year89.3%Top 31%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle75 miBottom 12%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle1Bottom 3%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year7.7%Top 29%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
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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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.