Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Reno's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Reno?
Your $100,000 in Reno has the same purchasing power as $92,678 in the average US city. You'd need $7,322 more here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Reno's cost index of 108, sorted by closest match.
Reno has a handful of real selling points, and they're not the kind of thing you find in a brochure. Nevada doesn't tax your paycheck and air quality you don't have to think about are the headliners, plus 1 more things worth knowing. The rest is below.
Living in Reno means no state income tax on your salary — Nevada is one of nine states that simply doesn't have one. On a $100k income that's typically thousands of dollars a year that stay in your account instead of going to a state revenue department.
Average AQI in Reno comes in around 43, well into the "good" band. Clean air isn't a thing you appreciate until you've lived somewhere it wasn't — and this is the side of that line you want to be on.
Average commute time in Reno runs around 21 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Reasons are pulled from Reno's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Reno gets a handful of meaningful snow days each year. Winters average about 27°F — cold enough for several inches at a time, warm enough for everything to melt between storms.
A real winter, but not a punishing one. Reno averages roughly 27°F in winter, with the coldest mornings dipping into the single digits a few times a year and most days landing somewhere between "chilly" and "actually cold".
Properly hot. Reno's summer averages around 90°F with daily highs that routinely break 100°F. The trick to summer here is starting the day at sunrise and staying inside through the worst of it.
Reno falls in roughly USDA Zone 8. The zone classification is based on average annual minimum temperatures, so it's the right lookup for whether perennials and trees will overwinter here. Note that this is approximate from our winter-temperature data — check the USDA map for the exact zone before betting an expensive plant on it.
Roughly 4,941 feet (1,506 m) above sea level. At that altitude, the first few days for a coastal visitor can feel mildly off — shorter breath on stairs, faster fatigue — but it normalizes quickly.
Middle of the pack. Reno comes in around 3,259 per 100,000, basically the national average. The interesting question is usually which neighborhood, not which city — that's where the real variation lives.
It's a middle-of-the-road US city on cost. Reno's index of 108 sits within a few points of the national average — your money buys roughly what it would in a typical American metro.
Reno's Walk Score is 3/100, firmly in the car-required tier. Transit Score is 0 out of 100. The layout assumes you'll drive to the grocery store, drive to work, drive everywhere.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $75,530 to live in Reno the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Reno runs about $1,360/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.