A study of the socioeconomic conditions in Eureka County shows that county residents have the lowest average county-wide tax rate in Nevada, with the mining boom playing a large part in the overall economy. The study also shows that with a huge migrant work force, only one out of every four workers actually resides in the county.

The purpose of the report, Eureka County Nevada, Socioeconomic Conditions and Trends, 1992, is to document fundamental information on the county's historical and current socioeconomic status. The report includes information on population, housing, employment, income, local government fiscal conditions, and education.

The study was prepared by Planning Information Corporation for the Eureka County Board of Commissioners and funded through the Eureka County Nuclear Waste Repository Program. The report is part of baseline data collection efforts to determine what impacts the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository might have on Eureka County residents.

In general the study shows Eureka County to be in a fiscally strong condition, with per capita personal income exceeding that of the state as a whole by about fifty-seven percent since 1985. Nearly all of the increase came with the advent of the mining boom, a clear indicator of the county's reliance on the mining industry. In 1991, according to the report, mining (not including the construction of service jobs associated with the industry) accounted for almost eighty-two percent of all jobs in the county. Only five years earlier, mining had accounted for about sixty percent of the jobs in Eureka County.

The only other area that has shown significant growth is state and local government, which have added sixty-one jobs to their payrolls between 1986 and 1991. Total employment for the county rose from 1,290 positions in 1986 to 4,232 in 1991, an increase of about 230 percent.

But the growth in jobs has not led to increased growth in the resident labor force, perhaps due to the lack of housing near employment centers. Instead, Eureka county jobs have always attracted workers from outside the county. As a result, only one out of every four workers in Eureka County is a resident. The other three, transitional workers, reside outside of the county.

Information and numbers in the report come from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the Nevada Department of Taxation, the Nevada State Demographer's office, U.S. Department of Commerce, and other local, state, and federal agencies.