Fernley, Nevada

Area Profile

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

57out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 36% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 30% of 3,904 cities measured66
Schools1515th of 2,668 cities measured47
GrowthTop 12% of 2,973 cities measured74
Housing affordabilityTop 50% of 4,223 cities measured81
Climate4046th of 4,223 cities measured54
Physical resilience3773rd of 4,182 cities measured14
Access3098th of 4,226 cities measured83
Economic stability2177th of 4,226 cities measured60
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.1% and median household income $89,517, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

In the public schools here, 28% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 20.8 students for every teacher.

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

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
Churchill County
Nevada
Metro area
Fallon, NV
Nearest major airport
RNO
31 mi · Reno/Tahoe Intl
Median home value
$366,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.1% is lower than 59% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.1% over the past year, to 12,615 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$9,581$89,517Top 25%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,143$37,038Top 40%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.8%Top 43%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute29.6 minTop 36%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher16.4%Bottom 38%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment12,615Bottom 8%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)3.7%Top 10%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.1%Top 28%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force13,157Bottom 8%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation65.3%Top 33%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.3%Bottom 28%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.1%Bottom 41%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.93.2
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.1% 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
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.

28% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 39% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

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

Public schools
12
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
20.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
27.9%
Top 43% in Nevada
Reading proficiency
39.1%
Top 48% in Nevada
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Fernley High SchoolLyon1,32724.1
Churchill County High SchoolChurchill1,02521.4
Oasis Academy · charterState Sponsored Charter Schools79723.455%60%
Churchill County Middle SchoolChurchill70020.012%42%
Silverland Middle SchoolLyon67723.312%32%
Fernley Intermediate SchoolLyon65824.422%37%
Cottonwood Elementary SchoolLyon57220.424%27%
East Valley Elementary SchoolLyon51821.632%47%
E C Best ElementaryChurchill46517.942%32%
Numa Elementary SchoolChurchill45517.525%37%
Fernley Elementary SchoolLyon44215.827%26%
Lahontan Elementary SchoolChurchill43615.0

93.1% 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 $1,570 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
21.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,570
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$366,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.10Top 26%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.0%Bottom 42%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3679,141Top 7%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$124$1,570Top 19%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$9,626$366,700Top 21%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.0%Top 35%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.9%Bottom 23%of 32,0012024 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
74/ 100
Top 12% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, 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 11% since 2020, reaching 25,508 in 2024.

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

70% of recently permitted units 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 14% 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.
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 index61.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation4.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low22°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high96°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index44.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing44°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. 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

14 / 100
Physical resilience

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

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.

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 offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Churchill County records 3.7 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 18.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 21.8 per 100,000 residents in Churchill County.

Homicide
3.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
21.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
23.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

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 Churchill 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 Fernley rather than Fernley 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 and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. 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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 31 miles away.

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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Area Score
57
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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)
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.

ZIP codes in Fernley

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
8940625,739$79,16355
8940824,564$89,55255