State food-access profile · 17 counties

Food access in Nevada

How far Nevada residents live from a supermarket, where the food deserts are, and the SNAP, poverty, and vehicle-access context, from the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) and the Census ACS (2024).

Compiled by Plainfoodaccess, Food Access Editorial Process · June 23, 2026

23.0%
low-access pop.: 49
food-desert tracts: 12.7%
on SNAP: 17
counties

The statewide picture

About 620K Nevada residents - 23.0% - live in a low-access area, and 49 census tracts across the state are USDA-designated food deserts.

620K
low-access residents: 166K
food-desert residents: 7.1%
households, no vehicle: 12.4%
below poverty line

Shares are population-weighted across the state's tracts, not an average of county percentages. Low access = >1 mile (urban) / >10 miles (rural) from a supermarket.

Where Nevada stands nationally

Every state colored by its population-weighted low-access share, Nevada is ringed. Click any state to compare.

USDA Economic Research Service, Food Access Research Atlas (2019), population-weighted · Census ACS 2024 context

The USDA Food Access Research Atlas evaluates every census tract in Nevada against the same rule used nationwide: a tract is low-access when many residents live more than one mile from a supermarket in urban areas, or more than ten miles in rural areas. Across 17 counties and 3.2M residents, Nevada's population-weighted low-access share is 23.0%.

A tract becomes a food desert only when its low-access residents are also low-income. That applies to 49 tracts in Nevada, home to roughly 166K low-income, low-access residents. SNAP participation across the state averages 12.7% of households, and 7.1% of households have no vehicle, the transport gap that turns distance into a real barrier. The county table below is sorted with the highest low-access share first, so the top rows are where distance, income, and vehicle gaps most consistently overlap.

Counties

23.0%

Low-access (pop-weighted)

620K

Low-access residents

12.7%

Avg. SNAP

Esmeralda

97.2
Mineral

92.6
Nye

87.1
White Pine

54.5
Lincoln

52.6
Douglas

50.1
Eureka

46.8
Lyon

39.3

All counties in Nevada

County	Population	Low-access	SNAP	No vehicle	Poverty
Esmeralda County	1K	97.2%	27.8%	22.9%	12.4%
Mineral County	5K	92.6%	13.9%	5.1%	18.5%
Nye County	54K	87.1%	14.9%	5.6%	14.1%
White Pine County	9K	54.5%	8.5%	1.9%	8.2%
Lincoln County	4K	52.6%	4.6%	1.9%	5.0%
Douglas County	50K	50.1%	5.6%	3.3%	9.0%
Eureka County	2K	46.8%	2.6%	10.6%	24.9%
Lyon County	62K	39.3%	11.0%	2.3%	11.7%
Washoe County	497K	30.1%	10.5%	6.4%	10.7%
Clark County	2.3M	19.0%	13.6%	7.6%	13.0%
Churchill County	26K	18.9%	10.6%	3.9%	8.1%
Elko County	54K	16.1%	9.1%	5.6%	9.8%
Humboldt County	17K	15.7%	11.3%	3.2%	10.6%
Pershing County	6K	15.3%	9.3%	3.4%	11.8%
Lander County	6K	15.2%	11.5%	2.8%	10.7%
Carson City	58K	14.3%	10.3%	6.8%	10.3%
Storey County	4K	0.4%	4.4%	1.6%	7.1%

Source: USDA ERS Food Access Research Atlas (2019) + U.S. Census Bureau ACS (2024 5-year). Sorted by low-access share, highest first. USDA ERS Food Access Research Atlas (2019) + U.S. Census Bureau ACS (2024 5-year). Sorted by low-access share, highest first.

What this means for the state

23.0% of Nevada residents, about 620K people, live in a low-access area.
49 census tracts are USDA food deserts, home to roughly 166K low-income, low-access residents.
12.7% of households receive SNAP, and 7.1% have no vehicle.
Esmeralda County has the state's highest low-access share at 97.2%.

USDA low-access figures reflect the 2019 Atlas (2010 tract populations); SNAP, poverty, and vehicle context is the Census ACS 2024 5-year estimates.

Frequently Asked Questions

What share of Nevada has low food access?▼

23.0% of Nevada residents live in low-access areas (population-weighted across the state's tracts), per the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019).

How many food deserts are in Nevada?▼

49 census tracts in Nevada are USDA-designated food deserts, both low-access and low-income, home to roughly 166K low-income residents.

What is the SNAP participation rate in Nevada?▼

Across Nevada counties, an average of 12.7% of households receive SNAP (Census ACS 2024), though rates vary between urban and rural areas.

Which county in Nevada has the worst food access?▼

Esmeralda County has the highest low-access share in Nevada at 97.2%, with 27.8% SNAP participation.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service Food Access Research Atlas (2019 edition), 9,228 of roughly 71,700 U.S. census tracts meet the low-income, low-access food-desert threshold. The state and county figures on this page are aggregated from that tract-level data and joined to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2024 5-Year Estimates, released in December 2025. See our methodology for how the population-weighted shares are computed.

Data current as of 2026-06-23 (most recent source-data vintage).

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