Nevada City vs Penn Valley

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

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

Nevada City has the higher population (3,168 vs 1,197 in Penn Valley). Nevada City has the higher median household income ($69,552 vs $62,966 in Penn Valley). Nevada City has the higher median home value ($607,300 vs $530,100 in Penn Valley).

Population, income & housing

	Nevada City	Penn Valley
Population	3,168	1,197
Median age	49.4 yrs	52.7 yrs
Median household income	$69,552	$62,966
Median home value	$607,300	$530,100
Median gross rent	$1,756	$1,608
Housing units	1,597	650
Homeownership rate	44.8%	63.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.0%	17.8%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Nevada City	Penn Valley
Population	3,144 → 3,168 (+0.8%)	1,341 → 1,197 (-10.7%)
Median household income	$42,059 → $69,552 (+65.4%)	$42,904 → $62,966 (+46.8%)
Median home value	$417,600 → $607,300 (+45.4%)	$315,200 → $530,100 (+68.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,100 → $1,756 (+59.6%)	$1,279 → $1,608 (+25.7%)

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

Penn Valley

Population

1,3411,197

Median household income

$42,904$62,966

Median home value

$315,200$530,100

Median gross rent

$1,279$1,608

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Nevada City	Penn Valley
Under 5	6.3%	3.3%
5 to 17	9.6%	7.9%
18 to 24	5.1%	0.0%
25 to 34	9.1%	16.4%
35 to 44	14.6%	19.3%
45 to 54	7.6%	3.3%
55 to 64	9.5%	14.3%
65 to 74	28.7%	21.8%
75 and over	9.5%	13.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Nevada City	Penn Valley
White (non-Hispanic)	91.1%	80.1%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.7%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.3%	9.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.5%	10.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Nevada City	Penn Valley
No high school diploma	3.5%	6.8%
High school graduate	11.6%	21.2%
Some college or associate's	45.9%	54.2%
Bachelor's degree	21.7%	16.0%
Graduate or professional degree	17.3%	1.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Nevada City	Penn Valley
Drove alone	58.8%	87.5%
Carpooled	1.6%	12.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	4.3%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	31.2%	0.0%
Other means	4.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Nevada City	Penn Valley
1-unit, detached	72.9%	58.6%
1-unit, attached	5.3%	2.2%
2 to 4 units	16.6%	10.5%
5 to 19 units	3.4%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.8%	28.8%

Poverty & households

	Nevada City	Penn Valley
Poverty rate	8.6%	11.9%
Average household size	2.30	2.20
Mean commute (minutes)	29	57
Median year structure built	1947	1977