Best PlacesReno, NV Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Reno metro, 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.
Photo by Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via commons
Reno ranks 183rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $97,176, everyday costs sit below the national average, and a strong job market ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are disaster risk, tree cover, and car insurance costs.
The best neighborhoods in the Reno metro
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 Reno
The towns and districts of the Reno metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Washoe Valley
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Incline Village
More homes sit empty and homes cost more.
Downtown Reno
Biking is better, though fewer households have young kids.
Fernley
It is quieter and more residents vote.
Sun Valley & Spanish Springs
Streets are more car-dependent.
Lemmon Valley
Crime runs lower, though health care is harder to reach.
Sparks
Transit reaches more jobs, though schools score lower.
Dayton, Yerington & Silver Springs
Commutes are longer and health outcomes score lower.
Reno shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Reno's strengths and weaknesses
Reno lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low property taxes, state finances, and state infrastructure carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Disaster risk, tree cover, and car insurance costs hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Reno ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 94% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 165 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 86% of metro areas
Where Reno ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 11% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 16% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 17% of metro areas
- School gradeC, better than only 19% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Reno
A household needs to earn about $132,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Reno home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $97,176, 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 Reno's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Reno
Reno's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Reno.
Who works in Reno, and how
Work in Reno centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Reno
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Reno.
Is Reno growing, and who is moving in?
Reno has grown about 17% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Las Vegas, NV.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Reno go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Reno, month by month
Reno sees roughly 165 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 37° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 53° | 38° |
| July | 97° | 80° | 61° |
| October | 74° | 55° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Reno
The nearest airport, Reno/Tahoe International, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 111 miles away.
The best schools in and around Reno
Schools across Reno average a C, better than 19% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Ted Hunsberger ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- Caughlin Ranch ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Roy Gomm ElementaryA+ · 72% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marce Herz Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Darrel Swope Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Coral Academy Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Davidson AcademyA+ · 95% proficient
- Tmcc Magnet SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Nevada State High School Ii MeadowwoodA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Reno school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Reno 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 Reno against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Reno suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of metro areas and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Reno
Is Reno a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Reno ranks 183rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, state finances, and state infrastructure, and lowest on disaster risk and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Reno expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $532,131. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $97,176 median income, cost of living beats 83% of metro areas.
Is Reno safe?
Reno is safer than 17% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $524 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Reno?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 25. That works out to about 165 pleasant days a year, more than 91% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Reno?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Washoe Valley, Incline Village, and Downtown Reno. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Reno good for families?
Schools beat 19% of metro areas, crime safety beats 17%, and childcare runs $1,079 a month.
Is Reno good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 37% of metro areas. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Reno with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Reno. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Reno 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.
Reno detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Reno: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Reno: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Reno: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Reno: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Reno 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.