Most Expensive Places To Live In Nevada For 2020

The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In Nevada For 2020

1. Reno

Reno is a city in the U.S. state of Nevada. It is in Northern Nevada, approximately 22 miles from Lake Tahoe. Known as "The Biggest Little City in the World", Reno is famous for its hotels and casinos and as the birthplace of Harrah's Entertainment. It is the county seat of Washoe County, in the northwestern part of the state. The city sits in a high desert at the foot of the Sierra Nevada and its downtown area occupies a valley informally known as the Truckee Meadows. It is named after Jesse L. Reno.

The median income in Reno comes in at $54,916 and the median home value is $299,700 for 2020.

2. Las Vegas

Las Vegas, officially the City of Las Vegas and often known simply as Vegas, is the 28th-most populated city in the United States, the most populated city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city, known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife. The Las Vegas Valley as a whole serves as the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada.

The median income in Las Vegas comes in at $54,694 and the median home value is $234,700 for 2020.

3. Sparks

Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. It was founded in 1904 and incorporated on March 15, 1905, and is located just east of Reno. The 2010 U.S. Census Bureau population count was 90,264. It is the fifth most populous city in Nevada. It is named after the late Nevada Governor John Sparks, a member of the Silver Party.

The median income in Sparks comes in at $60,785 and the median home value is $275,100 for 2020.

4. Henderson

Henderson, officially the City of Henderson, is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about 16 miles southeast of Las Vegas. It is the second-largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with an estimated population of 292,969 in 2016. The city is part of the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which spans the entire Las Vegas Valley. Henderson occupies the southeastern end of the valley, at an elevation of approximately 1,330 feet.

The median income in Henderson comes in at $69,940 and the median home value is $293,500 for 2020.

Carson City, officially the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City, is an independent city and the capital of the US state of Nevada, named after the mountain man Kit Carson. As of the 2010 census, the population was 55,274. The majority of the population of the town lives in Eagle Valley, on the eastern edge of the Carson Range, a branch of the Sierra Nevada, about 30 miles south of Reno. The town originated as a stopover for California bound emigrants, but developed into a city with the Comstock Lode, a silver strike in the mountains to the northeast. The city has served as the capital of Nevada since statehood in 1864 and for much of its history was a hub for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, although the tracks were removed in the 1950s. Prior to 1969, Carson City was the county seat of Ormsby County. In 1969, the county was abolished, and its territory merged with Carson City to form the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City. With the consolidation, the city limits today extend west across the Sierra Nevada to the California state line in the middle of Lake Tahoe. Like other independent cities in the United States, it is treated as a county-equivalent for census purposes.

The median income in Carson City comes in at $52,034 and the median home value is $242,200 for 2020.

6. North Las Vegas

North Las Vegas is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, in the Las Vegas Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 216,961, with an estimated population of 249,180 in 2017. The city was incorporated on May 16, 1946. It is in the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA and is the fourth largest city in the state of Nevada.

The median income in North Las Vegas comes in at $57,723 and the median home value is $208,100 for 2020.

Boulder City is a city in Clark County, Nevada. It is approximately 26 miles southeast of Las Vegas. As of the 2010 census, the population of Boulder City was 15,023.

The median income in Boulder City comes in at $60,870 and the median home value is $269,200 for 2020.

8. Mesquite

Mesquite is a U.S. city in Clark County, Nevada, adjacent to the Arizona state line and 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas on Interstate 15. As of 2015, the United States Census estimates that the city had a population of 17,496. The city is located in the Virgin River valley adjacent to the Virgin Mountains in the northeastern part of the Mojave Desert. It is home to a growing retirement community, as well as several casino resorts and golf courses.

The median income in Mesquite comes in at $50,597 and the median home value is $216,000 for 2020.

9. Fallon

Fallon is a city in Churchill County, Nevada, United States. The population was 8,606 at time of the 2010 census. Fallon is the county seat of Churchill County and is located in the Lahontan Valley.

Fallon and Churchill County are mostly agricultural areas. Although the area is arid, approximately 50,000 acres of its pastureland are irrigated with water from the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District. The principal crop grown is alfalfa for livestock feed. The "Heart O' Gold" cantaloupes of Churchill County were once distributed across the United States, but are now grown mostly for consumption in Nevada.

The median income in Fallon comes in at $42,934 and the median home value is $144,000 for 2020.

10. Fernley

Coordinates: 393555N 1191254W 39.59861; -119.21500 Fernley is a city in Lyon County, Nevada, United States, east of the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area. The city incorporated in 2001; prior to that it was a census-designated place. The population of the city was 19,368 at the 2010 census. Fernley is home to the Reno-Fernley Raceway.

The median income in Fernley comes in at $63,880 and the median home value is $187,200 for 2020.

How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Silver State For 2020

The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:

1. How much do money do I make?
2. How much do I have spend to live there?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.

For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.

With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2014-2018 around incomes and costs. They are:

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

We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).

You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Nevada to figure out which is the most expensive.

What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 19 places in Nevada that have more than 1,000 people.

The place with the highest cost of living in Nevada according to the data is Reno. You can download the data here.