Demographics | 2010 US Census Data

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s 2010 United States Census Bureau data for Yerington, our community was comprised of:

• 3,048 residents with the two largest age groups being children under the age of 19 and adults between the ages of 45 and 59. At nearly 53 percent, there are more women in the city than men (47 percent).
• There were just over 1,300 households, with 36 percent of householders living alone, 27 percent had children under age 18, and 40 percent included adults 65 and older.
• There were 1,507 total housing units of which 1,302 were occupied.
• The medium household income (2013 inflation-adjusted dollars) was nearly $41,000.
• The largest racial groups were whites (80 percent), followed by American Indians and Alaskan Natives at nearly seven percent, other races at nearly nine percent, and those of two or more races at three percent. Those identifying as Hispanic or Latino came in at nearly 19 percent.

---

HISTORY

Mr. Henry Marvin Yerington

The City of Yerington was named after Mr. Henry Marvin Yerington, a well-known Nevada businessman who was active in mining and politics (as was his son James), at the state level. Yerington senior was the Nevada Executive Commissioner at the World’s Fair and attended President Theodore Roosevelt’s inauguration.
Popular lore holds that local citizens saw the economic value of being on the route of the Carson and Colorado Railway. The closest station to town was Wabuska, about 12 miles north of the town that was then known as Greenfield. The” Slim Princess” line traversed the northern portion of Mason Valley towards Schurz and beyond.
Residents hoped that a rail line along the west side of the Walker River would be approved to bring more commerce to the area. And—they surmised—one way to make this happen was to flatter the man who had the power to choose the route, which was H.M. Yerington. Hence, the story goes, the name of the town was changed, even though the railroad did not come to town.

---

Yerington Paiute Tribe (YPT)

Wovoka in Yerington (circa 19XX). Digital scan from original gelatin-silver snapshot in the Nevada Historical Society collection. ETH-00174

To learn more about YPT history and culture, see:

• The Northern Paiute Wikipedia page
• June 2015 YPT Newsletter
• Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone land Use in Northern Nevada:
  An Ethnographic/Ethnohistoric Overview (Bureau of Land Management report, 2003)

The Yerington Paiute Tribe (YPT), whose elders and families have lived on reservation and trust lands in the area since 1916, are valued members of the community.
One of the most famous members of the tribe was Wovoka(1856-1932), a Northern Paiute spiritual leader, prophet, and creator of the Ghost Dance.  Wovoka, which means “cutter” or
“wood cutter” in Paiute, believed practicing the dance reunited the living with the spirits of their dead.
First practiced among Nevada Paiute in 1889, the dance was adopted among many Native American peoples, notably the Lakota, soon after. Wovoka advocated for an end to white expansion and he urged the Paiute toward clean living, an honest life, nonviolence, and cross-cultural cooperation.

In 1992, about 700 Yerington citizens were YPT members. TheTribal Council offers a variety of services for members, including:

• Health, wellness, medical, nutrition, and human services for children, adults, and seniors
• Housing and housing assistance
• Environmental education on water and natural resource conservation
• Parenting meetings and committees, youth athletic and employment programs
• Career development assistance, like OSHA training, and entrepreneurship workshops
• Internet and WiFi services, tribal stores and commodities, notary services
• Tribal Police