Carson City, the state capital · Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0How Nevada stacks up
Only two states score lower overall: Nevada grades D−, 4 of 100. California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Arizona all do better on safety, schools and health. It struggles most with a renters’ market (60% of homes owner-occupied) and test scores below most states.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
46th of 51D10/100 Higher crime than most states. Nevada reports 384 violent crimes per 100,000 people, against 329 nationally. The town measure covers 60% of residents; many places have no police force of their own. Even its best town, Boulder City, ranks #1,027 of 3,410 nationally.
Counting property crime too (property + 4 × violent, the weighting our town grades use): 9th highest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 8 Nevada towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 60% of residents of Nevada’s 10,000+ towns.
Crime gathers in the larger cities
Its safest larger towns are Mesquite (#1,117), Henderson (#2,090) and Elko (#2,254), ranked against every U.S. town of 10,000+. At the other end are Las Vegas, Reno and Sparks, in the quarter of U.S. towns reporting the most crime per resident.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Nevada | 0% | 60% |
A big gap in the town figures
Each town’s figure is built from its own department’s FBI reports, so towns with gaps sit out rather than being estimated. Here the towns counted hold 60% of residents of towns of 10,000+. Enterprise, Spring Valley and Sunrise Manor are among 16 places that report no crime of their own; county or state police patrol them, and their crimes aren’t counted by town. Its neighbors are counted about as fully, 81% to 90%.
Schools
47th of 51D8/100 Schools are a real weak spot. On the Nation’s Report Card it ranks 13th lowest, with 28% of students at Proficient or better. Only 0% of residents live in a town in the national top quarter, led by Gardnerville Ranchos. It trails all of its neighbors on schools.
On-time graduation, 81.4% (9th lowest), weighs equally with test results in the grade.
It spends $14,868 per pupil, 18th lowest (context only; spending isn’t graded).
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 24 Nevada towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
30th of 51C+42/100 Pricier than the typical state. Taxes and prices disagree: 17th lowest tax bills, but home prices 7th highest against income. Nevada homeowners pay a typical $2,027 a year in property tax (17th lowest). Top-quarter towns are rare here; Elko comes closest at #829.
A typical home costs 5.6 years of median household income, 7th highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 24 Nevada towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
46th of 51D10/100 Health trails most states. About one adult in four here says their health is fair or poor (9th highest). Few residents live in a top-quarter town; its best showing is Summerlin South, #1,436 nationally. Every neighbor scores higher, California, Oregon and Idaho among them.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 24 Nevada towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
48th of 51D6/100 Among the lowest ownership in the country. Home ownership stands at 60%, the 4th lowest rate of the 50 states and D.C. 56% of residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Las Vegas and Reno.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 24 Nevada towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
27th of 51B−48/100 Middle of the pack on hazards. Compared with $155 nationally, FEMA expects $145 a year in damage per $100,000 of buildings here. FEMA puts 56% of the expected losses on inland flooding. North Las Vegas leads its towns at #752 nationally; 10% of residents live in top-quarter towns.
Federal major-disaster declarations, 2015–2025: 3, 3rd fewest.
Share of expected building damage: inland flooding 56%, earthquake 27%, wildfire 17%.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 24 Nevada towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
32nd of 51C+38/100 Commutes a bit longer than average. The average trip to work takes 24.8 minutes, 2 minutes shorter than the national average. 12% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 4% in a bottom-quarter one; Mesquite ranks highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 24 Nevada towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
4th of 51A94/100 Growing fast. Nevada grew 15.0% between 2010 and 2020, against 7.4% for the country. Its best town is Enterprise, #58 of 5,079, and 60% of residents live in top-quarter towns.
New homes permitted in 2025: 6.1 per 1,000 residents (15th most).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 24 Nevada towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Nevada compares to its neighbors
Each of its neighbors (California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Arizona) does better on safety, schools and health.
| Nevada | California | Oregon | Idaho | Utah | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | D− 449th of 51 | D− 051st of 51 | D 648th of 51 | A 906th of 51 | A+ 1001st of 51 |
| Safety | D 1037th official · 0% in top towns | D 1243rd official · 2% in top towns | C 3428th official · 1% in top towns | A 8611th official · 22% in top towns | A− 8414th official · 21% in top towns |
| Schools | D 839th official · 0% in top towns | B 6035th official · 17% in top towns | D 1443rd official · 2% in top towns | C− 2013th official · 0% in top towns | A− 763rd official · 8% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C+ 4217th official · 2% in top towns | D− 445th official · <1% in top towns | C− 2237th official · <1% in top towns | B− 5418th official · 10% in top towns | B 6222nd official · 25% in top towns |
| Health | D 1043rd official · 0% in top towns | C 3242nd official · 18% in top towns | C 3030th official · 9% in top towns | A− 7815th official · 36% in top towns | A 944th official · 48% in top towns |
| Housing | D 648th official · 5% in top towns | D− 449th official · 4% in top towns | D 843rd official · 4% in top towns | B+ 688th official · 8% in top towns | A 9413th official · 29% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | B− 4831st official · 10% in top towns | D− 450th official · <1% in top towns | C 3041st official · 6% in top towns | B+ 6829th official · 48% in top towns | C− 1636th official · <1% in top towns |
| Commute | C+ 3824th official · 12% in top towns | D 646th official · 3% in top towns | B 6415th official · 31% in top towns | A− 829th official · 53% in top towns | B+ 7210th official · 38% in top towns |
| Growth | A 945th official · 60% in top towns | C+ 4225th official · 14% in top towns | B+ 6612th official · 28% in top towns | A+ 1002nd official · 83% in top towns | A 881st official · 48% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work