Fernley vs Smith Valley

A side-by-side comparison of Fernley and Smith Valley: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Fernley has the higher population (23,631 vs 1,618 in Smith Valley). Fernley has the higher median household income ($87,991 vs $48,194 in Smith Valley). Smith Valley has the higher median home value ($691,900 vs $352,600 in Fernley).

Population, income & housing

	Fernley	Smith Valley
Population	23,631	1,618
Median age	35.8 yrs	65.1 yrs
Median household income	$87,991	$48,194
Median home value	$352,600	$691,900
Median gross rent	$1,463	—
Housing units	8,871	953
Homeownership rate	71.2%	83.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%	39.0%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	1.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fernley	Smith Valley
Population	20,068 → 23,631 (+17.8%)	1,627 → 1,618 (-0.6%)
Median household income	$62,929 → $87,991 (+39.8%)	$80,833 → $48,194 (-40.4%)
Median home value	$221,200 → $352,600 (+59.4%)	$344,100 → $691,900 (+101.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,147 → $1,463 (+27.6%)	—

Fernley

Population

20,06823,631

Median household income

$62,929$87,991

Median home value

$221,200$352,600

Median gross rent

$1,147$1,463

Smith Valley

Population

1,6271,618

Median household income

$80,833$48,194

Median home value

$344,100$691,900

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fernley	Smith Valley
Under 5	6.2%	3.9%
5 to 17	18.8%	3.9%
18 to 24	8.0%	0.8%
25 to 34	15.8%	9.3%
35 to 44	15.7%	7.7%
45 to 54	11.6%	5.2%
55 to 64	9.8%	18.9%
65 to 74	8.7%	35.3%
75 and over	5.4%	15.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fernley	Smith Valley
White (non-Hispanic)	68.8%	74.5%
Black or African American	1.3%	3.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.2%	0.6%
Asian	1.7%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.3%	8.7%
Hispanic or Latino	19.1%	11.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fernley	Smith Valley
No high school diploma	9.3%	1.8%
High school graduate	36.3%	19.4%
Some college or associate's	38.8%	39.8%
Bachelor's degree	11.3%	33.3%
Graduate or professional degree	4.3%	5.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fernley	Smith Valley
Drove alone	77.0%	62.0%
Carpooled	13.0%	9.5%
Public transit	2.4%	0.0%
Walked	1.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.0%	28.6%
Other means	0.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fernley	Smith Valley
1-unit, detached	76.4%	91.2%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	4.4%	0.0%
20 or more units	1.3%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	11.0%	8.8%

Poverty & households

	Fernley	Smith Valley
Poverty rate	11.3%	11.2%
Average household size	2.76	1.87
Mean commute (minutes)	29	34
Median year structure built	2001	2003