Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0For more than half of its working residents, Sun Valley is a commute to Reno
Home is the office for 4% of workers; Nevada has 12%. The two grades for Sun Valley are C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Only 2% work in Sun Valley itself; outside it, Reno draws the most (52%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sun Valley and work: the main findings
Jobs in Sun Valley have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Sun Valley went from 483 in 2013 to 968 in 2023, +100%. The jobs ↓
Sun Valley is a place people come home to
There are 968 jobs based in Sun Valley, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Sun Valley has about 13,000 people in it, 40% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Most Sun Valley residents work close to home
73% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Sun Valley
59% of Sun Valley residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 31% of the jobs based in Sun Valley pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 98% leave town for their job. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Sun Valley’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sun Valley is better than 35% of U.S. towns, #29 of 42 in Nevada. Job access by car holds Sun Valley’s grade up (ahead of 64% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sun Valley could be anywhere from C− to B−.
What the 968 jobs in Sun Valley are
968 jobs are based in Sun Valley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sun Valley, 2013 → 2023: 483 → 968. 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 Sun Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Sun Valley on a workday afternoon
On a workday 9,576 residents head out to work, 232 work right here, and 736 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Sun Valley on a workday afternoon, 40% fewer than live here.
0.10 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Sun Valley
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.
Out of Sun Valley to work: where people go
Where Sun Valley clocks in
52% of workers
19% of workers
3% 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 trip to work from Sun Valley: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sun Valley workers work from home, vs 12% across Nevada. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,214 commuters (the 5% 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 Sun Valley, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sun Valley is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns, #24 of 42 in Nevada. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% 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 9,651 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 92% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 18% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 72% 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). 5.0% of Sun Valley households have no vehicle (Nevada 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sun Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Sun Valley is 1,311th of 1,658 U.S. towns of 16,000 to 30,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 373 | Spanish Springs NV | 17,980 | $128K | 2.9% | 2.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,309 | Terrell TX | 23,921 | $66K | 15.9% | 7.6% | 18% | C+ |
| 1,310 | Liberty Township OH | 21,208 | $57K | 18.6% | 4.7% | 11% | C+ |
| 1,311 | Sun Valley NV | 22,228 | $77K | 16.8% | 6.7% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,312 | Sanger CA | 27,228 | $78K | 15.8% | 9.1% | 15% | C+ |
| 1,313 | Conyers GA | 20,377 | $63K | 13.4% | 9.4% | 10% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,333 | Elko NV | 21,019 | $79K | 13.8% | 5.2% | 56% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,381 | Fernley NV | 26,214 | $90K | 12.8% | 5.5% | 20% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,658 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Sun Valley, the top three, the last and three more from Nevada.
The towns next door employ 74% of Sun Valley
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sun Valley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun Valley | – | C+ | B+ | 26 min | $77,446 |
| Spanish Springs | 3% | A | C− | 33 min | $127,658 |
| Golden Valley | under 1% | B+ | C− | 29 min | $93,456 |
| Sparks | 19% | B | A− | 24 min | $89,056 |
| Reno | 52% | B− | A | 20 min | $80,760 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Reno. Darker towns draw more of Sun Valley’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 Sun Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Sun Valley?
$77,446 (±$5,808) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,260 across Nevada and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sun Valley?
16.8%, against 12.4% across Nevada and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sun Valley?
26 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Nevada and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sun Valley work?
2% work in town.
Is Sun Valley walkable?
Sun Valley is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sun Valley without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 18% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sun Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sun 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.