Alta Sierra vs Nevada City

A side-by-side comparison of Alta Sierra and Nevada City: population, income, housing, and more.

Alta Sierra and Nevada City are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Alta Sierra has the higher population (7,061 vs 3,168 in Nevada City). Alta Sierra has the higher median household income ($99,576 vs $69,552 in Nevada City). Nevada City has the higher median home value ($607,300 vs $560,600 in Alta Sierra).

Population, income & housing

	Alta Sierra	Nevada City
Population	7,061	3,168
Median age	55.4 yrs	49.4 yrs
Median household income	$99,576	$69,552
Median home value	$560,600	$607,300
Median gross rent	$2,033	$1,756
Housing units	3,052	1,597
Homeownership rate	86.4%	44.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	42.0%	39.0%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alta Sierra	Nevada City
Population	7,280 → 7,061 (-3.0%)	3,144 → 3,168 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$85,758 → $99,576 (+16.1%)	$42,059 → $69,552 (+65.4%)
Median home value	$395,700 → $560,600 (+41.7%)	$417,600 → $607,300 (+45.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,847 → $2,033 (+10.1%)	$1,100 → $1,756 (+59.6%)

Alta Sierra

Population

7,2807,061

Median household income

$85,758$99,576

Median home value

$395,700$560,600

Median gross rent

$1,847$2,033

Nevada City

Population

3,1443,168

Median household income

$42,059$69,552

Median home value

$417,600$607,300

Median gross rent

$1,100$1,756

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alta Sierra	Nevada City
Under 5	3.0%	6.3%
5 to 17	11.9%	9.6%
18 to 24	5.2%	5.1%
25 to 34	11.0%	9.1%
35 to 44	8.5%	14.6%
45 to 54	9.2%	7.6%
55 to 64	18.0%	9.5%
65 to 74	23.3%	28.7%
75 and over	10.1%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alta Sierra	Nevada City
White (non-Hispanic)	89.5%	91.1%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.1%	5.3%
Hispanic or Latino	7.3%	2.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alta Sierra	Nevada City
No high school diploma	3.5%	3.5%
High school graduate	18.3%	11.6%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	45.9%
Bachelor's degree	25.8%	21.7%
Graduate or professional degree	16.2%	17.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alta Sierra	Nevada City
Drove alone	68.3%	58.8%
Carpooled	9.7%	1.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	4.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	20.7%	31.2%
Other means	1.3%	4.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alta Sierra	Nevada City
1-unit, detached	94.8%	72.9%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	5.3%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	16.6%
5 to 19 units	0.5%	3.4%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.8%

Poverty & households

	Alta Sierra	Nevada City
Poverty rate	5.7%	8.6%
Average household size	2.41	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	29	29
Median year structure built	1984	1947