Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Carson City has higher unemployment (5.5%) than 68% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Carson City C+; getting around on foot earns it A−. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.5 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 9.1 in Las Vegas. About half work in Carson City itself; outside it, Reno draws the most (17%, 28 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Carson City
What’s behind Carson City’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carson City is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #22 of 42 in Nevada. Job access by car holds Carson City’s grade up (ahead of 52% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carson City could be anywhere from C to B−.
How many miles Carson City commutes
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Carson City on a workday afternoon
On a workday 13,561 residents head out to work, 11,456 work right here, and 16,078 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.10 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Carson City: the destinations
Where Carson City clocks in
17% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
65% of the jobs in Carson City pay over $3,333 a month
27,534 jobs are based in Carson City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carson City, 2013 → 2023: 25,171 → 27,534. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Carson City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 21 minutes in Carson City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carson City workers work from home, vs 12% across Nevada. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 23,715 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across Nevada: 80% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Carson City is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carson City is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #18 of 42 in Nevada. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.6% across Nevada.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 26,299 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 35% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 49% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.8% of Carson City households have no vehicle (Nevada 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Carson City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 749 U.S. towns of 41,000 to 79,000, Carson City comes 575th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Keller TX | 46,078 | $175K | 3.4% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 573 | Olympia WA | 56,724 | $81K | 14.0% | 7.3% | 34% | C+ |
| 574 | Greenacres FL | 44,736 | $70K | 14.8% | 6.6% | 4% | C+ |
| 575 | Carson City NV | 58,571 | $72K | 10.3% | 5.5% | 46% | C+ |
| 576 | Whitney NV | 47,221 | $67K | 14.6% | 6.9% | 1% | C+ |
| 577 | Haines City FL | 45,973 | $66K | 16.1% | 3.9% | 7% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 748 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 28% | D |
| 749 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Carson City, the top three, the last and three more from Nevada.
Work in the towns next to Carson City
The biggest share goes to Indian Hills (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Carson City workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carson City | – | C+ | A− | 21 min | $72,355 |
| Johnson Lane | under 2% | A | C+ | 23 min | $121,458 |
| Indian Hills | 2% | C+ | B− | 21 min | $78,278 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Carson City’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Carson City: questions
What is the median household income in Carson City?
$72,355 (±$3,090) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,260 across Nevada and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carson City?
10.3%, against 12.4% across Nevada and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carson City?
21 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Nevada and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carson City work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Reno (17%, 28 mi), Sparks (4%, 29 mi), Indian Hills (2%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carson City walkable?
Carson City is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carson City without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carson City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carson City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.