Census-designated place · Nye County, Nevada

Tonopah, Nevada

Tonopah is a census-designated place in Nye County, Nevada, part of the Pahrump, NV metro area. It has 1,910 residents. Tonopah, Nevada has a quality-of-life score of 16 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,073 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Nevada it ranks #56 of 67 cities and towns. It ranks best on public transit commuters (high), unemployment rate (low) and uninsured residents (under 65) (low). It ranks worst on food environment index (low), suicide rate (high) and drug overdose deaths (high).

16Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,073 of 15,651 cities and towns
Nevada: #56 of 67 in NV
Population: 1,910 (2020-2024)
Land area: 9 mi²
Density: 206.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 3273600

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety20#12,514/15,637
Economy56#6,870/15,631
Housing63#5,534/14,977
Health2#15,344/15,609
Healthcare17#12,954/15,650
Environment87#1,946/15,453
Education4#15,065/15,649
Infrastructure34#10,316/15,650
Community1#15,446/15,651
Leisure & amenities9#14,319/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Tonopah, Nevada ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Nye County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Public transit commuters · high20.4%
100/100Nevada 2.2%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301
Unemployment rate · low0.0%
98/100Nevada 5.3%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025
Uninsured residents (under 65) · low0.0%
98/100Nevada 13.7%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low4.7 µg/m³
98/100Nevada 6.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyNye County value
Median Air Quality Index · low26
96/100Nevada 572025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyNye County value
Job growth · high2.9%
93/100Nevada 2.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataNye County value

Weaknesses

Food environment index · low4.2
0/100Nevada 7.3United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNye County value
Suicide rate · high41.3 /100k
1/100Nevada 20.5 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataNye County value
Drug overdose deaths · high43.1 /100k
2/100Nevada 32.0 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataNye County value
Firearm deaths · high30.5 /100k
2/100Nevada 16.8 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataNye County value
Access to exercise opportunities · low29.8%
2/100Nevada 91.4%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNye County value
Frequent mental distress · high23.1%
2/100Nevada 19.4%United States 18.6%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Average commute timeWorsening
10.6 min (2015-2019) → 33.2 min (2020-2024)
+213%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
64.3% (2015-2019) → 86.3% (2020-2024)
+22 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Public transit commutersImproving
1.7% (2015-2019) → 20.4% (2020-2024)
+19 pts5 yearsCensus table B08301US 5.0% → 3.2%
Child poverty rateImproving
18.6% (2015-2019) → 0.0% (2020-2024)
−19 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Unemployment rateImproving
14.3% (2015-2019) → 0.0% (2020-2024)
−14 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
4.2% (2015-2019) → 17.7% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Tonopah, Nevada improved on 1 of 7 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 5 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Broadband+22 points64.3% → 86.3%

Declined1

Commute+22.6 min10.6 min → 33.2 min

All 7 measures

Change of every measure of Tonopah, Nevada between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	10.6 min2015-2019	33.2 min2020-2024	+22.6 min	Declined	0%
Broadband subscriptions	64.3%2015-2019	86.3%2020-2024	+22 points	Improved	93%
Effective property tax rate	0.50%2015-2019	0.57%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	8%
High school diploma or higher	92.9%2015-2019	97.9%2020-2024	+5 points	Within the margin of error	82%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3652015-2019	0.4382020-2024	+0.073	Within the margin of error	9%
Median household income	$36,4292015-2019	$47,0312020-2024	+29%	Within the margin of error	53%
Rent as share of income	26.2%2015-2019	28.3%2020-2024	+2.1 points	Within the margin of error	39%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Tonopah, Nevada five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Tonopah, Nevada in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Tonopah, Nevada itself moved −16.1 points in standing on average over the same 7 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

1,910 residents (±395)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,039 households (±225)

Tonopah, Nevada
Nevada share

Under $25k14%†141
$25k–50k50%†519
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,039 households (±225)

Tonopah, Nevada
Nevada share

Own63%657
Rent37%†382

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+22.5 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

954 workers (±425)

Tonopah, Nevada
Nevada share

Drive alone41%†393
Carpool27%†260
Public transit

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Pahrump, NV

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Nye County, the county holding most of Tonopah's residents.

Nye County has 862 employer establishments, 154 for every 10,000 residents (0.62× the US rate of 248; 0.64× Nevada's), with 10,673 paid employees at an average annual pay of $59,701. The Census Bureau also counts 3,300 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 862; 3,300 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 154; US 248 · Nevada 241
Paid employees: 10,673
Average annual pay: $59,701; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Nye County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	89	15.9	0.76×Fewer than typical	574	$77,373	137
Specialty trade contractors	68	12.2	0.79×Fewer than typical	407	$42,767	137
Restaurants and other eating places	64	11.4	0.62×Fewer than typical	791	$19,432	18
Lessors of real estate	54	9.7	0.78×Fewer than typical	80	$46,363	286
Limited-service restaurants	33	5.9	0.74×Fewer than typical	463	$19,283	6
Real estate agents and brokers	33	5.9	1.21×About typical	37	$49,973	115
Gasoline stations	32	5.7	1.77×More than typical	288	$29,892	—
Offices of other health practitioners	32	5.7	0.94×About typical	127	$35,016	49
Building equipment contractors	30	5.4	0.89×About typical	164	$49,860	25
Services to buildings and dwellings	30	5.4	0.80×Fewer than typical	98	$30,122	243
Offices of physicians	23	4.1	0.64×Fewer than typical	209	$120,675	11
Truck transportation	23	4.1	0.81×About typical	58	$39,379	101

Rank places for an industry Open Nye County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 55,914 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

No federal contract obligations recorded here in FY2026.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Tonopah is mostly in Nye County.

See federal money in Nye County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Tonopah, Nevada is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Steven HorsfordD-NV-4 · 100% of residentsWith party 92%Missed 1.5%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Nye County7100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Pahrump, NV6

Other cities and towns in Nye County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/3273600

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends