Internet access in Churchill County, NV, by the numbers

Churchill is Fallon and farmland. About 25,800 people live in the county, roughly 9,500 of them in the city, and the rest on ranches, in small settlements and along the highways. The table has three rows that matter: the county, Fallon and ZIP 89406.

Highlights

• No subscription: 8.6 percent of households, 823 of them, against 5.3 percent for Nevada (ACS 2020-2024, B28002).
• No computer: 5.1 percent of households, the highest of the six counties.
• Satellite: 6.2 percent, 591 households; phone-only: 8.0 percent.
• Businesses: 485 establishments with 5,689 employees (County Business Patterns 2023).

The data

U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B28002 (internet subscriptions), retrieved 2026-10-02. Small places (under about 2,000 people) are rounded and read as about; a 0% or 100% there is a sampling artifact and is not printed. Households can report more than one type.

Satellite share by place, ranked

• Fallon4.6%

Ranked among places with reliable estimates only.

What is the Churchill County row?

Of 9,516 households, 79.1 percent report a cable, fiber or DSL subscription, 8.0 percent a phone data plan only, 6.2 percent satellite and 8.6 percent nothing (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B28002). The county's median household income is 79,163 dollars, and 20.2 percent of residents are 65 or over (ACS 2020-2024, B19013 and B01001). The wired share is above Nevada's 76.6 percent, and so is the no-subscription share.

What does the no-subscription number mean?

It means the household answered that nobody there pays for internet at home. The ACS does not ask why, and the data cannot say whether a provider could reach the house, whether the price was a barrier or whether the household simply does not want one. Of the 823 households, the 5.1 percent that also report no computer are a separate group (ACS 2020-2024, B28001).

How does Fallon compare?

Fallon reports 78.2 percent wired, 11.9 percent phone-only, 4.6 percent satellite and 7.2 percent no subscription on 3,815 households. ZIP 89406, which includes the farmland around the city, is a little higher on none, 8.6 percent, and its work-from-home share is 6.1 percent against Nevada's 11.9 percent (ACS 2020-2024, B28002 and B08301). The Fallon business page is here and the town page is here.

What reported service in 2021?

The FCC's June 2021 Form 477 filing lists CC Communications on fiber in 770 census blocks and on copper in several hundred more, Charter cable in 817 blocks, and fixed wireless and satellite companies in thousands (FCC Form 477, June 2021, historical). CC Communications says on its own site (read 10/15/26) that 98 percent of Churchill County is already fiber-connected. The county record sets the published facts side by side.

What is planned in Churchill County?

Nevada's provisional High Speed NV plan lists three projects, about 18.5 million dollars in all. Hot Spot Broadband holds the Fallon project at about 18.4 million dollars with an estimated end in November 2026, and Amazon Kuiper holds Sheckler Reservoir and Stillwater (Nevada OSIT BEAD Final Proposal data, read 10/15/26). NTIA approved the revised plan on January 8, 2026. The list is subject to change and High Desert is not a subgrantee. See the Churchill County BEAD page.

How does Churchill compare with the other five counties?

On no subscription, the five others read 4.1 percent in Storey, 4.5 in Lyon, 4.9 in Douglas, 5.6 in Washoe and 5.8 in Carson City, against 8.6 in Churchill (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B28002). That is nearly double the Lyon figure. On satellite Churchill is low, 6.2 percent against Lyon's 12.0, so the households without a subscription are not the ones who turned to a dish. The ACS does not say what they use or whether they want a connection.

What do the three plans look like against these numbers?

High Desert lists Bronze at $50 a month, Silver at $75 and Gold at $99, with up to 500, 800 and 1 Gig down, up to 200 Mbps up and no contracts (hdiss.net, read 10/15/26). The agreement sets a data transfer limit for each service level, sent by email, and payment on install day is a labor charge plus the prorated month. The day-one guide walks through it.

Where does a tower link come in?

In farmland, a tower link answers the question of a building far from any line. It still needs a clear path, and a barn, a row of poplars or a rise in the field can decide it. Send the address and a person looks at the path from the nearest tower, then calls back.

What does the FCC's December 2025 data add for Churchill County?

For Churchill County, the FCC Broadband Data Collection replaces the 2021 Form 477 snapshot with location-level filings. As of December 31, 2025 (files read October 16, 2026), the county has 10,465 broadband serviceable locations. The largest land-based rows: Verizon, licensed fixed wireless, 7,910 locations (top tier up to 300 Mbps down); Spectrum, cable, 7,373 locations (top tier up to 1,000 Mbps down); CC Communications Broadband, fiber to the premises, 7,186 locations (top tier up to 1,000 Mbps down); Hot Spot Broadband, unlicensed fixed wireless, 2,578 locations (top tier up to 100 Mbps down); T-Mobile, licensed fixed wireless, 2,072 locations (top tier up to 100 Mbps down); CC Communications Broadband, copper (DSL), 676 locations (top tier up to 35 Mbps down).

Across every filer in Churchill County, at least one company reported a fixed wireless tier of 100/20 or better at 6,161 of the 10,465 locations on the map, and a cable, fiber or DSL tier at that level at 8,755. At 858 locations a fixed wireless filing was the only land-based 100/20 option listed; separately, 765 had no land-based filing at 25/3 or better, leaving satellite as the only reported option. The Churchill County location counts are buildings, not homes or customers, and they come from each company's own filing to the FCC.

How do income and age shape the Churchill County numbers?

Two newer Census tables add who is behind the Churchill County subscription numbers. There, 66 percent of households earning under $35,000 a year report broadband, against 98.8 percent of those at $75,000 or more (table B28004; Nevada 81.5 percent and 96.6 percent). Among residents 65 and over, 85 percent live in a home with broadband and 9.5 percent live in a home with no computer (table B28005; Nevada 88.1 percent and 5.7 percent). Housing built in 2010 or later is 7.9 percent of units, and housing from before 1990 50.5 percent (table B25034). All Churchill County figures are from the Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year, pulled October 16, 2026.

Method

Figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates (tables B28002, B28001, B08301, B25024, B01001 and B19013), retrieved 2026-10-02, and from County and ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023. They are survey estimates with margins of error. Places under about 2,000 people are rounded to whole percents and read as about; a 0 or 100 percent for a tiny place is left out as a sampling artifact. The ACS has no fixed wireless line, so a household on a tower link is counted under cable, fiber or DSL or under other service. The ACS asks about subscriptions, not about whether a provider could serve the address.