Best PlacesDouglas County, NV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Douglas County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Douglas County ranks 785th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Douglas County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Douglas County
The parts of Douglas County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Johnson Lane
Local pay stretches further, crime runs lower, and incomes run higher.
Minden & Stateline
More adults hold degrees, though more homes sit empty.
Indian Hills
Tree cover is thicker, though fewer households have young kids.
Gardnerville
Biking is better and homes cost less.
Gardnerville Ranchos
Prices have run up less, though health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Douglas County run from about the 18th to the 87th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Douglas County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Douglas County ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 98% of counties
- Household income$95,834 median, better than 90% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of counties
Where Douglas County ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 25% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Douglas County
A household needs to earn about $173,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Douglas County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $95,834, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Douglas County's effective rate of 0.46%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Douglas County
Douglas County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Douglas County.
Who works in Douglas County, and how
Work in Douglas County centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Douglas County
Douglas County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Douglas County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Douglas County growing, and who is moving in?
Douglas County has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Sacramento, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Douglas County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Douglas County, month by month
Douglas County sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 32° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 48° | 30° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 49° |
| October | 70° | 49° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Douglas County
The nearest airport, Reno/Tahoe International, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Douglas County
Schools across Douglas County average a C+, better than 52% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Pinon Hills Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Minden Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Jacks Valley Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carson Valley Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Pau Wa Lu Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- George Whittell High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Douglas High SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Douglas Nevada OnlineC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Douglas County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Douglas County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Douglas County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Douglas County suits
Families
Schools land around the 52nd percentile and crime safety beats 60%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of counties and 13% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 69% of counties, health care access beats 89%, and it is quieter than 59%.
Common questions about living in Douglas County
Is Douglas County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Douglas County ranks 785th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on civic engagement, state infrastructure, and high incomes, and lowest on disaster risk and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Douglas County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $694,370. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $95,834 median income, cost of living beats 78% of counties.
Is Douglas County safe?
Yes, Douglas County is safer than 60% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $395 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Douglas County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 46 with lows near 21. That works out to about 112 pleasant days a year, more than 69% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Douglas County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Johnson Lane, Minden & Stateline, and Indian Hills. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Douglas County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Douglas County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Douglas County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Douglas County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Douglas County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Douglas County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Douglas County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Douglas County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Douglas County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.