Fernley, Nevada

Area Profile

24,225 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Fernley, in Churchill County.

53out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 31% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 12 sources
OpportunityTop 34% of 4,199 cities measured64
Schools2,709th of 4,162 cities measured38
GrowthTop 10% of 4,224 cities measured74
Housing affordabilityTop 43% of 4,218 cities measured69
Climate4,048th of 4,225 cities measured54
Physical resilience3,817th of 4,226 cities measured14
Access3,140th of 4,226 cities measured83
Economic stability2,624th of 4,226 cities measured51
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.2% and median household income $89,517, putting employment conditions in the middle range of cities measured.

In the public schools here, 34% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 20.8 students for every teacher.

230 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, essentially level with the prior year — steady rather than turning.

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
24,225
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$89,517
Top 25% nationally
Density
197/sq mi
122.7 sq mi of land
Median age
36.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Nevada
Micro area
Nearest major airport
RNO
31 mi · Reno/Tahoe Intl
Median home value
$366,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.2%, lower than in 55% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.2% over the past year, to 12,611 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$9,5812024 ACS 5-Year$89,517Top 25%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,1432024 ACS 5-Year$37,038Top 40%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year13.2%Bottom 41%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±2.0 min2024 ACS 5-Year29.6 minBottom 36%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year16.4%Bottom 38%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year78.4%54th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202612,611Bottom 7%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+3.7%Top 10%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+0.2%Top 33%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202613,1647th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year77.8%Bottom 48%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year1.5%88th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.1%Bottom 47%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.2%Top 45%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year6.5%44th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/075.23.2
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.2% in July 2026. It has been rising, 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

202120222023202490k78k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $89,517 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.

34% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 48% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 20.8 students for every full-time teacher across 12 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
12
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
20.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
34.4%
Bottom 39% in Nevada
Reading proficiency
47.8%
Top 48% in Nevada
The 12 largest public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Fernley High SchoolLyon1,32724.123%44%
Churchill County High SchoolChurchill1,02521.424%51%
Oasis Academy · charterState Sponsored Charter Schools79723.461%74%
Churchill County Middle SchoolChurchill70020.017%38%
Silverland Middle SchoolLyon67723.335%51%
Fernley Intermediate SchoolLyon65824.438%46%
Cottonwood Elementary SchoolLyon57220.434%39%
East Valley Elementary SchoolLyon51821.652%52%
E C Best ElementaryChurchill46517.947%34%
Numa Elementary SchoolChurchill45517.535%50%
Fernley Elementary SchoolLyon44215.832%37%
Lahontan Elementary SchoolChurchill43615.0——

93.1% 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 $1,964 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.54% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,421, below the $1,570 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,421 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $56,800 a year, about 63% of the median household income here of $89,517.

The typical renter household here spends 28% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,570 a month.

A median home at $366,700 costs 3.7 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $99,801, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Rent as a share of income
28.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.7×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,421
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,570
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$366,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Fernley’s median household income of $89,517, 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%75th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Nevada’s figure2026 Q2+36.5%34th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Nevada’s figure2026 Q2+106.5%71st percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year3.7Bottom 22%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year72.0%42nd percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3672024 ACS 5-Year9,14193rd percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,083Top 28%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,976Top 41%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,421Top 36%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$1242024 ACS 5-Year$1,570Bottom 18%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$9,6262024 ACS 5-Year$366,70080th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1132024 ACS 5-Year$1,96455th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$5,6722024 ACS 5-Year$99,801Top 27%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.03%2024 ACS 5-Year0.54%14th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year28.2%Top 49%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±502024 ACS 5-Year6585th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.7%59th percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year3.1%27th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1562024 ACS 5-Year35286th percentileof 32,3302024 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

74/ 100
Top 10% of 4,224 published city profiles
The most recent move in permitting was upward, 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 11% since 2020, reaching 25,508 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before: 303 units authorized in 2025, up 67% on the prior year.

70% of the 230 units permitted over the past twelve months are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 9.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
230
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
9.5
Top 13% nationally
Year over year
+1%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
69.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202426k23k
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 rising for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

Housing units permitted per year

202020212022202320242025478109
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+178%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 96°F and January a low of 22°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 4.9 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 44, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station FALLON NAAS, 27.2 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND0.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year612024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals4.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals22°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals96°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year12024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year442024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals44°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
44
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
61
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

14 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and wildfire, with inland flooding alone responsible for 43% of it.

EarthquakeHigh
WildfireElevated
DroughtModerate
Inland floodingElevated
Heat waveModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. 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.

Churchill County has a modeled homicide rate of about 3.9 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 about 21.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 24.9 per 100,000 residents in Churchill County.

Homicide
3.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
21.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
24.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
24.2
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

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 the county around Fernley (Churchill County) rather than Fernley itself. 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. Either no municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — or its department did not report every month of the year. Either way 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.
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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Reno/Tahoe Intl at 31 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year93.0%Top 35%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle31 miBottom 26%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 20%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year4.4%Top 33%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Reno/Tahoe IntlRNO31 mi11,001 ft
Reno/SteadRTS37 mi9,000 ft
Lake TahoeTVL63 mi8,541 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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53
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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)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
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
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.

ZIP codes in Fernley

2 ZIP areas

Every ZIP area in Fernley with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Fernley closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
8940625,739$79,163$329,90051
8940824,564$89,552$366,500—