Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetNV-ELKO-NV · Elko, NV 20,624 pop · income 57th pct · 15 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Elko
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Elko on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Pittsburg · lowest
40,220
Pittsburg · lowest
40,220 median HH income
33.2% of the leader · rank #1
Grubbs · near
75,625
Grubbs · near
75,625 median HH income
62.4% of the leader · rank #2
Cynthiana · near
75,625
Cynthiana · near
75,625 median HH income
62.4% of the leader · rank #3
Letts · near
75,625
Letts · near
75,625 median HH income
62.4% of the leader · rank #4
Elko · this city
75,630
Elko · this city
75,630 median HH income
62.4% of the leader · rank #5
Dunmore · near
75,632
Dunmore · near
75,632 median HH income
62.4% of the leader · rank #6
Spanish Sprin… · highest
121,250
Spanish Sprin… · highest
121,250 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Elko on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 20,624.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Elko - the verdict
Elko ranks in the 57th percentile for household income and the 36th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
57th
percentile, household income
62nd
percentile, home value
67th
percentile, median rent
36th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Elko, NV
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 20,624 residents in Elko, a small city within Nevada. The typical household in Elko brings in $75,630 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.5%. Home values in Elko run a median of $285,400, and the median resident age is 34.3 years. 18.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 66.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 67 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 40% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1836.0 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Nevada tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Nevada scores 100.0 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,428 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Nevada's average monthly utility costs around $190 (state average). Workers in Elko report an average commute of 23.4 minutes, with 64.2% driving alone and 2.6% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 46.2 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Elko's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from reported crime to population change to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Elko, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Elko?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1836.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 19% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +464 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 67 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 15 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Elko?
Within Nevada, the closest population matches are Mesquite (21,314 residents, $74,439 income); Sun Valley (22,697 residents, $76,108 income); Fernley (23,631 residents, $87,991 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Groveland, FL (20,621 residents); Shafter, CA (20,618 residents); Parma Heights, OH (20,616 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Elko?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 23.4 minutes.
Public transit
12.0%
Work from home
2.6%
Drive alone
64.2%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 10,612 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Elko?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$75,630
Home value
$285,400
Value / income
3.8×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
The NCES join finds 14 public schools within the city match. 18.9% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
14
Bachelor's degree+
18.9%
Poverty estimate
9.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 9.5% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.0 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Nevada average
F
City profile score · Elko, NV
39/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income C
$75,630
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
9.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living D
100.0 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
18.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
398 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Elko profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 55/100 (C) · $75,630
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.5%
Cost of living: 40/100 (D) · 100.0 index
Bachelor's+ share: 31/100 (F) · 18.9%
Violent crime: 22/100 (F) · 398 /100k
Where Elko sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Elko's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Elko highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Elko, NV (this city): home $285,400, crime 1,836/100k
Shafter, CA : home $306,800, crime 1,644/100k
Parma Heights, OH : home $165,800, crime 361/100k
South St. Paul, MN : home $266,800, crime 1,671/100k
Saco, ME : home $370,300, crime 1,159/100k
Pittsburg, KS : home $110,800, crime 3,860/100k
Mesquite, NV : home $374,400, crime 1,129/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Elko compare to other US cities?
Where Elko sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income57% higher than other cities
Home value62% pricier than other cities
Median rent67% pricier than other cities
Safety36% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Nevada alone, Elko ranks #4 of 10 Nevada cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Elko against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Nevada only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Nevada-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Elko near the bottom of Nevada's cities
Among the 111 Nevada cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Elko ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Elko only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#54 of 101
47th percentile in Nevada
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 111
0th percentile in Nevada
Median Home Value
#59 of 97
39th percentile in Nevada
Poverty Rate
#31 of 111
72nd percentile in Nevada
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#54 of 111
51st percentile in Nevada
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Nevada only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
57th percentile nationally for median household income · 36th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Elko's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Elko's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Elko's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$285,40038th percentilemore affordable than 38% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Elko's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,971 of 15,516
More affordable than 36% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,763 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.8×, Elko sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,971 of 15,516 and #1,763 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$75,630Elko, NV median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Elko, NV median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Elko, NV.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)18.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
20,624
Median Income
$75,630
Median Home Value
$285,400
Median Age
34.3
Poverty Rate
9.5%
Labor force participation
66.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
18.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1836.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
397.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1438.1
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
14
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Elko's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
20,555 residents
2021
20,621 residents
2022
20,753 residents
2023
20,868 residents
2024
20,943 residents
2025
21,019 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
67
housing units authorized
Single-Family
67
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
48
48
0
$9.4M
2020
73
73
0
$14.5M
2021
100
100
0
$19.6M
2022
35
35
0
$8.4M
2023
43
37
6
$7.8M
2024
67
67
0
$12.9M
Permit volume increased 40% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
23.4 minutes
Drive Alone
64.2%
Carpool
15.8%
Public Transit
12.0%
Walk
3.7%
Work from Home
2.6%
Other
1.7%
Based on 10,612 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Nevada statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $190
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Nevada at $190 (electricity about $105 , water and sewer about $55 ).
These are Nevada statewide averages, not a meter reading for Elko. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Nevada's BEA cost-of-living index is 100.0 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Elko is $1,428/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Nevada statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 46.2 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Nevada statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Elko sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Elko compares to similar-size Nevada cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.