Esmeralda County vs Lander County

A side-by-side comparison of Esmeralda County and Lander County: population, income, housing, and more.

Esmeralda County and Lander County are counties in Nevada. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Lander County has the higher population (5,745 vs 962 in Esmeralda County). Lander County has the higher median home value ($210,500 vs $102,500 in Esmeralda County). Since 2019, Lander County's population has grown faster (+1.8% vs -0.7%).

Population, income & housing

	Esmeralda County	Lander County
Population	962	5,745
Median age	55.8 yrs	37.3 yrs
Median household income	—	$84,474
Median home value	$102,500	$210,500
Median gross rent	$1,319	$1,066
Housing units	727	2,797
Homeownership rate	47.7%	66.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.1%	16.6%
Unemployment rate	2.8%	9.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Esmeralda County	Lander County
Population	969 → 962 (-0.7%)	5,643 → 5,745 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$37,375 → $40,694 (+8.9%)	$88,030 → $84,474 (-4.0%)
Median home value	$65,000 → $102,500 (+57.7%)	$179,900 → $210,500 (+17.0%)
Median gross rent	$551 → $1,319 (+139.4%)	$842 → $1,066 (+26.6%)

Esmeralda County

Population

969962

Median household income

$37,375$40,694

Median home value

$65,000$102,500

Median gross rent

$551$1,319

Lander County

Population

5,6435,745

Median household income

$88,030$84,474

Median home value

$179,900$210,500

Median gross rent

$842$1,066

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Esmeralda County	Lander County
Under 5	2.7%	5.1%
5 to 17	6.4%	22.0%
18 to 24	1.0%	5.2%
25 to 34	8.2%	15.6%
35 to 44	8.2%	15.7%
45 to 54	19.6%	9.6%
55 to 64	27.2%	13.6%
65 to 74	18.1%	7.6%
75 and over	8.4%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Esmeralda County	Lander County
White (non-Hispanic)	65.2%	69.8%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	2.2%
Asian	1.4%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	2.8%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.4%	5.5%
Hispanic or Latino	26.4%	22.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Esmeralda County	Lander County
No high school diploma	22.7%	10.8%
High school graduate	22.1%	35.6%
Some college or associate's	31.1%	37.1%
Bachelor's degree	16.8%	6.9%
Graduate or professional degree	7.3%	9.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Esmeralda County	Lander County
Drove alone	71.4%	67.2%
Carpooled	4.2%	11.1%
Public transit	0.0%	15.6%
Walked	9.5%	4.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	13.8%	0.3%
Other means	1.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Esmeralda County	Lander County
1-unit, detached	42.4%	38.1%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	1.0%
2 to 4 units	1.7%	8.4%
5 to 19 units	4.3%	0.4%
20 or more units	20.2%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	31.5%	50.9%

Poverty & households

	Esmeralda County	Lander County
Poverty rate	19.4%	11.4%
Average household size	1.94	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	14	23
Median year structure built	1990	1990