Grass Valley has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.0 for each
Hardly any work in Grass Valley; the top destination outside it is Lovelock (18%, 57 miles). 5 jobs are based in Grass Valley, against 262 working residents. Jobs and income earn Grass Valley B−; getting around on foot earns it B−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Grass Valley in brief
A big share show a job far from home
62% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Grass Valley’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Grass Valley is Lovelock, 57 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (48) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Grass Valley is a place people come home to
There are 5 jobs based in Grass Valley, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
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; with 262 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Grass Valley: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Grass Valley is better than 51% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Grass Valley’s grade up (2.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (4.7%) is left out: Grass Valley’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Grass Valley could be anywhere from C to B.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Grass Valley
About 62% 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.
Grass Valley by day and by night
On a workday 262 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 5 people come in from elsewhere.
About 880 people are in Grass Valley on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Grass Valley goes to work
Where Grass Valley clocks in
18% of workers
17% of workers
5% 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.
The kinds of work in Grass Valley
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grass Valley, 2013 → 2023: 4 → 5. 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 Grass Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Grass Valley: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grass Valley workers work from home, vs 12% across Nevada. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 626 commuters (the 11% 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.
Few in Grass Valley walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Grass Valley is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.6% across Nevada, on an EPA index of 1.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 702 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). 0.0% of Grass Valley households have no vehicle (Nevada 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 12% of Grass Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Grass Valley is 1,208th among 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Mogul NV | 1,050 | $145K | 2.3% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 366 | Verdi NV | 1,012 | $81K | 3.0% | 6.4% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 594 | Osino NV | 1,341 | $93K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,206 | Christiana PA | 1,096 | $75K | 13.1% | 1.9% | 1% | B− |
| 1,207 | Pine City Township MN | 1,399 | $86K | 5.4% | 2.3% | 1% | B− |
| 1,208 | Grass Valley NV | 1,134 | $80K | 2.5% | 4.7% | 0% | B− |
| 1,209 | Harristown IL | 1,247 | $72K | 9.5% | 5.5% | 4% | B− |
| 1,210 | Mishicot WI | 1,428 | $65K | 7.2% | 1.3% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Grass Valley, 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 Grass Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Grass Valley?
$80,368 (±$20,211) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,260 across Nevada and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Grass Valley?
2.5%, against 12.4% across Nevada and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grass Valley?
27 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Nevada and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grass Valley work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lovelock (18%, 57 mi), Winnemucca (17%, 12 mi), Sparks (5%, 133 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Grass Valley walkable?
Grass Valley is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 1.3 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grass Valley without a car?
12% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Grass Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grass Valley
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.