Lyon, NV - District Data

Original Research by School Decision on Lyon

Lyon County School District spans a large, mostly rural stretch of western Nevada, covering a string of communities that differ from one another in character and cost. The district serves students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade across roughly two dozen schools, including elementary campuses in Dayton, Fernley, Yerington, Silver Springs, and Smith Valley, intermediate and middle schools feeding into high schools in Dayton, Fernley, Yerington, Silver Stage, and Eagle Ridge, plus an adult education program and an online school called LyOnline. The enrollment is sizable for a rural district, and the student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic presence and smaller shares of American Indian or Alaska Native students, students identifying as two or more races, and a handful of other groups. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data and English-learner counts were not available in the data provided, which limits the picture of economic disadvantage and language support needs. A parent looking into those measures would want to ask the district directly.

On state assessments, Lyon County's results sit below what Nevada typically targets. In English language arts, roughly three out of ten tested students in grades three through eight reached proficiency. Math was lower, with closer to a quarter of students meeting the bar. Science was the weakest area, with only a small fraction of tested students demonstrating proficiency. Participation was strong across all three subjects, so the results reflect nearly the full tested population rather than a skewed subset. These are real soft spots. They do not by themselves define what a child's experience will be, but a parent considering this district should treat them as a prompt to ask what each school is doing to move the numbers and how their child would be supported at grade level.

The housing picture varies across the towns the district covers. Yerington, which carries the largest weight in the district's blended home-value figure, sits at the more affordable end, while Smith Valley and Wellington come in substantially higher. Dayton and Fernley fall in between. Taken together, the district's typical home value lands near the national benchmark and well below Nevada's state benchmark, which is pulled up by more expensive urban markets. Rents are available for a subset of zip codes and run moderate. The mortgage payment on a typical home at current rates would exceed the typical rent, so renting may be the more accessible entry point for families who are new to the area. Home values have been rising across most of the district's communities, with the steepest increases in Silver Springs and Smith.

What the district does offer is geographic breadth and a full grade continuum. A family living in Fernley, the district's largest population center along the Interstate 80 corridor, has access to elementary, intermediate, and high school options without leaving town. Families in Yerington, the county seat, have a similar self-contained pathway. Dayton, growing as a bedroom community closer to Carson City, has its own elementary, intermediate, and high school feeder pattern. Smaller communities like Silver Springs and Smith Valley have their own schools, though some are combined-grade or smaller campuses. An adult education program and an online option round out the offerings, giving older students and families some flexibility that a purely traditional district might not.

We looked for recent district-level changes that would matter to parents, things like bond measures, school closures, curriculum adoptions, or budget overrides. The search turned up only general district information without specific recent developments carrying lasting impact, so there is nothing to report there. State testing data beyond the current year was also not available, so we cannot say whether these proficiency levels represent a trend or a single snapshot. Graduation rate data was not provided, nor were course access details, staffing ratios, discipline figures, or program offerings like AP, career pathways, or dual credit. These gaps mean the portrait here is partial. A parent who wants to understand the full picture should ask the district or individual schools for that information directly.

What is clear is that Lyon County is a spread-out, affordable, rural-to-exurban district where the academic results on the state's own measure are modest. The communities are distinct enough that the experience varies by town, and the schools are close to home for most families. Whether it fits depends on what a family wants from a rural district and how much weight they place on the current proficiency numbers versus the daily school experience, which the available data does not fully capture.

See more original research from School Decision →

District Context

Officially reported figures, 2024-25.

Enrollment

9,085

Grades

PK–12

Schools

Student body

Hispanic 29%

Black 1%

White 58%

Asian 1%

Two+ 6%

Am. Indian / AK Native 3%

Hawaiian / Pac. Isl. 1%

By economic status

Percent proficient by grade, as reported

Economically disadvantaged

Not disadvantaged

ELA

Gr 38

30%

22%

Math

Gr 38

23%

15%

Schools in this District

21 schools are officially reported under this district.

Dayton Elementary School

Fernley Elementary School

Fernley High School

Smith Valley Schools

Yerington Elementary School

Yerington High School

Silver Stage Elementary School

Dayton High School

Fernley Intermediate School

Yerington Intermediate School

Dayton Intermediate School

Cottonwood Elementary School

Silver Stage Middle School

Sutro Elementary School

Silver Stage High School

East Valley Elementary School

Riverview Elementary School

Eagle Ridge High School

Silverland Middle School

Lyon County Adult Education

LyOnline

Academic Performance

Percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards, by grade.

Mathematics

1 grade reported

23%

Grades 3-8

English Language Arts

1 grade reported

29%

Grades 3-8

Science

1 grade reported

14%

Grades 3-8

Housing & Real Estate

Data as of April 2026 | District-weighted from constituent ZIP codes

Home Values

Typical home value$369,768

Year-over-year change+4.0%

Range across 9 ZIP codes$308K to $604K

vs. state typical0.83x

vs. national typical1.00x

Home value trend (12 months)

ZIP code home values (9 ZIP codes)

ZIP	City	Value	YoY	Weight
89447	Yerington	$313K	+3.8%	54.6%
89429	Silver Springs	$359K	+7.1%	15.1%
89444	Wellington	$536K	+5.3%	10.6%
89403	Dayton	$456K	+1.0%	8.3%
89408	Fernley	$399K	+1.2%	6.3%
89430	Smith	$604K	+5.9%	2.1%
89406	Fallon	$390K	+2.4%	1.7%
89706	Carson City	$451K	-0.5%	1.1%
89428	Silver City	$308K	+2.0%	0.1%

Rental Market

Typical monthly rent$1,680/mo

Year-over-year change+7.1%

Range across 3 ZIP codes$1,517 to $1,718/mo

Rent trend (12 months)

ZIP code rents (3 ZIP codes)

ZIP	City	Rent/mo	YoY	Weight
89408	Fernley	$1,718	+6.0%	6.3%
89406	Fallon	$1,517	+11.2%	1.7%
89706	Carson City	$1,716	—	1.1%

Affordability

Est. monthly mortgage (20% down at 6.48%)$1,866/mo

Home price / national median income4.4x

Annual rent / national median income24.1%

Est. mortgage exceeds rent by$186/mo

Comparison

State typical home value$447,225 (-2.0% YoY)

National typical home value$368,198 (+0.6% YoY)

State ZHVI trend (12 months)

National ZHVI trend (12 months)

Economic Context

30-year fixed mortgage rate6.48%

National unemployment rate4.3%

National median household income$83,730

CPI: Rent of shelter (index)447.05

30-year fixed mortgage rate (12 months)

National unemployment rate (12 months)

National median household income (12 months)

CPI: Rent of shelter (index) (12 months)

Sources: Zillow Home Value Index and Zillow Observed Rent Index (Zillow Group), Realtor.com via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)

Data Currently Unavailable

Civil Rights Data (CRDC)

This profile is derived exclusively from publicly available federal and state datasets. It may not reflect the most current information available. We encourage parents and families to supplement this data with information published directly on the school’s website, which may include more recent figures, additional programs, or updated enrollment data.