Storey County has one place in our table, Virginia City. This sheet sets the county against Nevada and the United States, gives its Forest Service wildfire ranking and tables the town's households, median year built, wildfire rank and elevation. With so few homes, every percentage here moves a lot when a few households change, so read them as approximate.
Housing: old county, old town
The county median home was built in 1989, and 36.4% of homes predate 1980, against 22.0% for Nevada. Homes built before 1960 are 12.1%, more than twice the state's 4.7%, and only 26.0% date from 2000 or later. Mobile homes are 19.0%, nearly four times Nevada's 5.2%. The median home value is $426,400.
The Virginia City row is older still: a median year of 1956, 336 households and an elevation of 6,198 feet. It is the one place on our sheets with a median home built before 1960.
Heating: bottled gas first
Bottled gas heats 43.0% of Storey County households, against 3.0% for Nevada and 4.9% for the nation, and wood heats 9.9%, against 1.0% and 1.4%. Together that is 52.9%, more than half of households relying on one of the two. Mineral County is higher still, at 62.8%.
For a homeowner that makes firewood a county-wide question. Our Virginia City firewood page points to the office for availability and pricing.
Wildfire: a small count, a high rank
The county ranks above 98.3% of US communities and above 81.2% of Nevada communities for risk to homes. Wildfire likelihood is 98.0% nationally. Of 3,201 counted buildings, 56.2% are directly exposed, 43.8% indirectly and 0.1% minimally, the highest direct share of any county here. Virginia City, as a place, ranks above 99.4% of US communities, higher than any other row in our tables.
That is why defensible space and lot clearing are the lead questions on this sheet. Older homes also point to tree removal.
Limits
The ACS estimate for 336 households carries a wide margin, the county has no other place in the table, and the Forest Service's counts of 3,201 buildings are small enough that a handful of buildings would move the shares.
The sheet cannot say anything about the mix of trees or the state of the slopes; it counts buildings and households.
Set against its neighbors, Storey's national wildfire rank of 98.3% is above Lyon's 93.0% and Washoe's 97.2%, from a much smaller base of buildings.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates (pulled October 1, 2026)
- USDA Forest Service: Wildfire Risk to Communities (tabular download dated April 15, 2026) (pulled October 1, 2026)
- NOAA NCEI: U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 (pulled October 1, 2026)
- National Interagency Fire Center: InterAgency Fire Perimeter History and WFIGS perimeters (pulled October 1, 2026)