The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Nevada In 2023

The 10 cheapest places to live in Nevada for 2023

Located in east-central Nevada, Ely is far from any big cities. But don’t let that fool you into thinking there’s nothing to do here. Between a railway museum, a historic state park, a renaissance village, and a gambling hall, we’re not exaggerating when we say there’s something for everyone in Ely. And at rock-bottom prices, no less. The median rent in Ely is $903, the second lowest you’ll see on this list. Combined with a median income of $64,347, and Ely has the fourth best rent to income ratio in Nevada.

Known as the place “where the train stops and the Gold Rush begins,” Carlin is the second most affordable place to live in Nevada. From ghost towns to nature areas replete with fishing, biking, and camping opportunities, you’ll always have plenty to do in Carlin if you know where to look. While the rent is quite steep in Carlin at $1,025, the city has some of the cheapest homes on the market in Nevada at $165,200. Even more importantly, Carlin’s residents are the best-paid populace on this list, with a median income of $72,734. That means folks pay the smallest proportion of their income on homes statewide, so the mortgage gets paid off in Carlin before the new paint has time to dry.

Located 90 miles northeast of Reno, Lovelock ranks as the third cheapest place in Nevada. Lovelock got its name from the tradition of securing locks to a chain to signify unending love, so kind of makes sense that we named it one of the best cities for singles in Nevada. If you find someone special in this super-affordable city, definitely add a lock to the collection at Lover’s Lock Plaza. And when it’s time to really settle down, know that Lovelock has the cheapest homes for sale in Nevada, so you and your lock-mate won’t have to break the bank to buy a place together.

When you come to West Wendover, you’ll immediately feel a sense of welcome. Maybe it’s the friendly locals or the relaxed atmosphere…or maybe it’s Wendover Will, the 63-foot tall neon cowboy that greets people entering the city. In any case, West Wendover has the fifth cheapest homes in Nevada, at a median price of $180,600. And with a median rent of $725, West Wendover is safely in the top 5 for housing to income ratios, regardless of if you’re buying or renting.

West Wendover is located in northeastern Nevada, on the border of Utah.

With a population of 20,391, Elko is the largest city to make this list. And with that size comes plenty to do on a budget; from learning about Western history at the California Trail Center or Northeastern Nevada Museum or experiencing the natural beauty at Humboldt National Forest, there’s plenty to keep you occupied in Elko. Maybe that’s why we named it the best place to raise a family in Nevada.

Elko’s economy is heavily tied to gold mining, which means there’s always a risk of getting caught in the wrong end of a boom/bust cycle living here. In any case, Elko stands out with as having the second best-paid population on this list, with a median income of $80,148. This contributes to Elko having the third most affordable rent in Nevada, even with a median rent over $1,000/month.

Winnemucca ranks as the sixth most affordable place to live in Nevada. Homes are a bit pricier in Winnemucca than the preceding cities on this list, with a median price tag of $265,900. However, because Winnemucca is the richest place in Nevada, with a median income of $70,543, residents have an easy time getting their mortgages paid. And for such an affluent place, the median rent of $819 is crazy cheap. In fact, Winnemucca enjoys the best rent to income ratio in Nevada. Winnemucca is home to the Winnemucca Sand Dunes, the largest dunes in Nevada and a prime spot for ATVing.

Located an hour and a half southeast of Reno, Yerington ranks as the seventh cheapest place to call home in Nevada. Yerington has the second least expensive homes for sale statewide, with a median price of $149,500. Yerington residents also pay the ninth smallest percentage of their salaries on homes statewide. Which leaves plenty of money left over to take advantage of all the charming things to do in Yerington. On the downside, Yerington is the least affordable place for renters on this list.

Rounding out our list of cheapest places to live in Nevada is Fernley, a city located a half hour east of Reno. Fernley has the most expensive median rent on this list at $1,203, but that’s still well below the statewide average. And Fernley makes up for it by having the 12th cheapest homes in Nevada, with a median price tag of $281,300. And with countless casinos nearby, you’ll never lack for entertainment options in Fernley.

Mesquite is a show-off – it’s among the safest, most family-friendly, and all around best places to live in Nevada. Fnding out that it’s also one of the most affordable places in the state is just icing on the cake.

Mesquite offers gaming and nightlife that’s more relaxed than Las Vegas, outdoor adventures for everyone, and several golf courses in and around the city.

Being able to achieve a high quality of life with a low cost of living is just one reason that Mesquite is the fastest growing city in Nevada.

Homes in Mesquite sell for a median price of $278,900, while the median household income is $63,757. Even better, both those numbers went up by more than 5% from last year, so expect Mesquite to keep on improving. And if you want to give a Mesquite a try to make sure we’re not exaggerating, rent here is the sixth cheapest in Nevada at just $971.

Fallon, located in Churchill County, Nevada, is one of the most affordable places to live in the state. With a median home value of $191,900 and median rent of $1,017, the overall cost of living in Fallon is rated at 98.0 out of 100, which is lower than the national average.

One of the reasons why Fallon is a good place to live is due to its low unemployment rate of 4.21%, which is ranked 3rd best in the state. The area’s agriculture industry provides job opportunities for its residents. Despite being an arid area, approximately 50,000 acres of pastureland in Churchill County are irrigated with water from the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District.

Cheapest places to live in Nevada FAQs

Methodology: How we determined the most affordable places to live in the Silver State for 2023

Determining affordability for places in Nevada boils down to two factors:

1. How much money do I make?
2. How much does it cost to live here?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make to determine affordability. For example, imagine a place in Nevada where median incomes are $100,000 and housing costs $200,000 to buy. That’s more affordable than living in a place with a median income of $50,000 where houses cost $101,000. The ratio of income to home prices is higher in the first example.

With that logic in mind, we derived several cost of living statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2017-2021 for Nevada. The cost of living statistics are:

• Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
• Median Income / Median Rent (higher is better)
• Median Home Price

You can include median home price as a stand alone variable because high home prices generally correlate with higher costs for all goods and services (heating, electricity, food, etc). You then compare these cost of living metrics for each place in Nevada to figure out which is the least expensive.

We aggregate those rankings into a “Cost of Living Index” for each city in Nevada. The “Cost of Living Index” allows you to rank all of the 18 places in Nevada that have more than 1,000 people from least expensive to most expensive.

The place in Nevada with the lowest cost of living according to the data is Ely. You can download the entre cost of living data set for Nevada here.