Truckee and Nevada County migration to Washoe County

Nevada County, California includes Truckee and Donner Lake, while Placer County includes Tahoe City, Kings Beach and Auburn. The table above shows the yearly inflow from those two counties into Washoe County, which holds Reno and Sparks, from the Census county-to-county flows for 2016-2020.

• Largest flowNevada County, California
• Moved from Nevada County, CA to Washoe County, per yearabout 389
• Moved from Placer County, CA to Washoe County, per yearabout 247

Data: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS county-to-county migration flows 2016-2020 (5-year, yearly averages with margins of error).

What the two rows say

Nevada County sends about 389 people a year with a margin of error of 159, so the true figure most likely falls between about 230 and 550. Placer County sends about 247 with a margin of 131, a range of roughly 116 to 378. Both are firm enough to show a real flow from the north-shore Tahoe area into Washoe County, though not firm enough to say one county sends more than the other, because their ranges overlap.

Only the inbound direction is drawn here. In the Washoe outbound table on the Reno movers page, Placer County appears at about 585 a year with a margin of 447, and Nevada County does not make the top 25.

The Truckee and Tahoe side of the move

The ACS 2020-2024 housing figures for the north shore show the cost of mountain living: Truckee has 6,860 households, 26.6 percent of them renting, a median year built of 1989 and a median home value of $947,900. Kings Beach has 1,133 households with 37.2 percent renting and a median home value of $772,100; Sunnyside-Tahoe City has 673 households and a median home value of $1,019,300. Incline Village, on the Nevada shore, has 4,008 households and a median home value of $1,454,600.

Population estimates show Nevada County, California growing from 99,606 in 2020 to 101,911 in 2025, about 2.3 percent, while Placer County grew from 402,950 to 442,081, about 9.7 percent.

Snow, passes and the drive

Free-flow drives from the warehouse are Truckee 36 miles and about 48 minutes, Kings Beach 45 miles and about 59 minutes, and Sunnyside-Tahoe City 52 miles and about 1 hour 11 minutes. I-80 crosses Donner Summit at about 7,200 feet, listed in the data with no seasonal winter closure, but storms bring chain controls and temporary closures that change by the hour. Check winter driving and chain control and the live pages at nvroads.com and Caltrans QuickMap before a winter move date.

NOAA's normals show why. The Truckee Ranger Station averages 206.6 inches of snow a year and the Tahoe City station 179.0 inches, against 20.9 inches at the Reno airport. January alone brings 43.6 inches in Truckee.

Planning a move across the Sierra

A move between Truckee, Tahoe City or Kings Beach and Reno or Sparks crosses the state line, which makes it an interstate move under federal authority. These pages cover the two ends: movers in Truckee and Lake Tahoe and Truckee.

Mountain properties often have steep driveways, snow berms and limited parking in winter, which the in-home estimator will note during the walk-through.

Limits of these numbers

County flows count people, not households. They do not separate Truckee from the rest of Nevada County or Tahoe City from the rest of Placer County, and they cannot say whether a mover kept a second home. They also average 2016-2020, so later shifts will not show yet.