Grass Valley vs Nevada City

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

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

Grass Valley has the higher population (14,126 vs 3,168 in Nevada City). Nevada City has the higher median household income ($69,552 vs $48,850 in Grass Valley). Nevada City has the higher median home value ($607,300 vs $458,400 in Grass Valley).

Population, income & housing

	Grass Valley	Nevada City
Population	14,126	3,168
Median age	49.6 yrs	49.4 yrs
Median household income	$48,850	$69,552
Median home value	$458,400	$607,300
Median gross rent	$1,417	$1,756
Housing units	7,321	1,597
Homeownership rate	39.8%	44.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.0%	39.0%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Grass Valley	Nevada City
Population	12,891 → 14,126 (+9.6%)	3,144 → 3,168 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$37,548 → $48,850 (+30.1%)	$42,059 → $69,552 (+65.4%)
Median home value	$331,400 → $458,400 (+38.3%)	$417,600 → $607,300 (+45.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,076 → $1,417 (+31.7%)	$1,100 → $1,756 (+59.6%)

Grass Valley

Population

12,89114,126

Median household income

$37,548$48,850

Median home value

$331,400$458,400

Median gross rent

$1,076$1,417

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)

	Grass Valley	Nevada City
Under 5	5.8%	6.3%
5 to 17	13.3%	9.6%
18 to 24	4.4%	5.1%
25 to 34	13.0%	9.1%
35 to 44	8.4%	14.6%
45 to 54	12.3%	7.6%
55 to 64	12.8%	9.5%
65 to 74	14.2%	28.7%
75 and over	15.8%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Grass Valley	Nevada City
White (non-Hispanic)	79.5%	91.1%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	1.7%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	8.4%	5.3%
Hispanic or Latino	8.7%	2.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Grass Valley	Nevada City
No high school diploma	7.8%	3.5%
High school graduate	21.8%	11.6%
Some college or associate's	38.4%	45.9%
Bachelor's degree	18.9%	21.7%
Graduate or professional degree	13.2%	17.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Grass Valley	Nevada City
Drove alone	71.9%	58.8%
Carpooled	10.4%	1.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.6%	4.3%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.8%	31.2%
Other means	1.1%	4.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Grass Valley	Nevada City
1-unit, detached	50.4%	72.9%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	5.3%
2 to 4 units	13.5%	16.6%
5 to 19 units	12.1%	3.4%
20 or more units	14.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.3%	1.8%

Poverty & households

	Grass Valley	Nevada City
Poverty rate	20.7%	8.6%
Average household size	1.94	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	17	29
Median year structure built	1978	1947