Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Smith Valley has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
35% of workers work from home; Nevada has 12%. Smith Valley has 239 jobs for 583 working residents. The two grades for Smith Valley are C− for jobs and income and D− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Smith Valley
Smith Valley workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 44 minutes each way, against 25 across Nevada. Over a year that’s about 337 hours of commuting, 146 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Home offices are common in Smith Valley
35% of Smith Valley workers work from home, against 12% across Nevada. Time on the road ↓
Smith Valley and Yerington trade workers both ways
Yerington is the top workplace for Smith Valley residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in Smith Valley come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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 583 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Smith Valley
On income, poverty and job access, Smith Valley is better than 24% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Smith Valley’s grade up (8.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.3%) is left out: Smith Valley’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Smith Valley could be anywhere from D− to B+.
About 44 minutes each way, longer than most of Nevada
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 14.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Smith Valley workers work from home, vs 12% across Nevada. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 391 commuters (the 35% 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.
23% of working residents work in Yerington
Where Smith Valley clocks in
23% of workers
13% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Smith Valley
On a workday 547 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 203 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Smith Valley on a workday afternoon, 19% 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.
Goods jobs make up 61% of work in Smith Valley
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Smith Valley, 2013 → 2023: 249 → 239. 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 Smith Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Smith Valley
About 32% 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.
Few in Smith Valley walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Smith Valley is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Smith Valley 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 598 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). 1.4% of Smith Valley households have no vehicle (Nevada 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Smith Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Smith Valley next to U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400: 3,585th of 5,343 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,062 | Osino NV | 1,341 | $93K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,274 | Kingsbury NV | 2,209 | $96K | 1.1% | 4.5% | 16% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,259 | Fallon Station NV | 1,399 | $67K | 1.2% | 0.0% | 0% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,583 | Albion NY | 2,069 | $60K | 9.9% | 13.4% | 4% | C− |
| 3,584 | Scott Township OH | 1,333 | $61K | 9.5% | 4.0% | <1% | C− |
| 3,585 | Smith Valley NV | 1,807 | $67K | 8.5% | 3.3% | 6% | C− |
| 3,586 | Bonneau Beach SC | 1,516 | $61K | 13.7% | 0.0% | 1% | C− |
| 3,587 | Rustburg VA | 1,417 | $73K | 22.3% | 7.5% | 5% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Smith 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 Smith Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Smith Valley?
$67,132 (±$44,775) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,260 across Nevada and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Smith Valley?
8.5%, against 12.4% across Nevada and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Smith Valley?
44 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Nevada and 26 nationally. 35% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Smith Valley work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Yerington (23%, 18 mi), Reno (13%, 59 mi), Carson City (4%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Smith Valley walkable?
Smith Valley is near the bottom of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Smith Valley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Smith Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Smith 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.