Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 3.0Earning a living in Ely
The trip to work takes 17 minutes on average (Nevada 25, U.S. 26). Jobs and income earn Ely C+; getting around on foot earns it A−. More than half work in Ely; the top destination outside it is Elko (3%, 119 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Ely apart on work
Ely is where the jobs are
Ely has 2,733 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Ely are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 25 across Nevada. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Nevada worker. Time on the road ↓
Ely makes and builds things
35% of the jobs based in Ely are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Ely residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Ely
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ely is better than 43% of U.S. towns, #21 of 42 in Nevada. The poverty rate holds Ely’s grade up (7.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ely could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Who works in Ely, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 661 residents head out to work, 1,035 work right here, and 1,698 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,000 people are in Ely on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Ely’s commute takes about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ely workers work from home, vs 12% across Nevada. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,831 commuters (the 9% 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.
In Ely, 35% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
2,733 jobs are based in Ely.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ely, 2013 → 2023: 2,556 → 2,733. 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 Ely’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who travels to work in Ely, and from where
Where Ely clocks in
3% of workers
1% 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.
Where in the region Ely works
About 25% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
Ely is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ely is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #20 of 42 in Nevada. Both inputs place Ely near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,010 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.7% of Ely households have no vehicle (Nevada 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Ely’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ely next to U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,300: 2,401st of 4,084 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,179 | Nellis AFB NV | 5,087 | $69K | 3.6% | 27.8% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,714 | Washoe Valley NV | 3,315 | $123K | 5.8% | 6.8% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,743 | Minden NV | 3,707 | $100K | 13.3% | 2.1% | 23% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,399 | Burlington CO | 3,164 | $74K | 9.2% | 2.8% | 49% | C+ |
| 2,400 | Norway MI | 2,815 | $64K | 13.9% | 0.0% | 13% | C+ |
| 2,401 | Ely NV | 3,946 | $78K | 7.6% | 3.9% | 61% | C+ |
| 2,402 | Hamilton NY | 4,078 | $67K | 13.0% | 2.4% | 48% | C+ |
| 2,403 | Mead Township OH | 5,245 | $55K | 10.2% | 1.7% | 8% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,084 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Ely, the top three, the last and three more from Nevada.
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 Ely: questions
What is the median household income in Ely?
$77,500 (±$13,532) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,260 across Nevada and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ely?
7.6%, against 12.4% across Nevada and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ely?
17 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Nevada and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ely work?
61% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elko (3%, 119 mi), McGill (2%, 11 mi), Winnemucca (1%, 191 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ely walkable?
Ely is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ely without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ely, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ely
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.