The Washoe County testing area, place by place

Whether a vehicle needs a yearly emissions test depends on where it is based, not on where the owner works or where the test is done. This guide walks the Washoe County boundary in plain language, using the wording on the Nevada DMV's own map page, and shows what to do if your address sits near an edge.

At a glance

• The line is drawn by the DMV: Reno, Sparks, Washoe Valley, most of the area west of Washoe Valley, and Washoe County south of the 40th parallel.
• The DMV names Incline Village, Crystal Bay, Sutcliffe, Nixon and Wadsworth as exempt, and lists vehicles based in Cold Creek as exempt too.
• The 40th parallel runs about midway through Pyramid Lake.
• If you are unsure, the DMV tells you to call the Reno Emissions Lab at (775) 684-3580.

How the DMV describes the area

The Nevada DMV does not publish the Washoe testing area as a list of ZIP codes. It publishes a map and a short written description. The testing area includes Reno, Sparks, Washoe Valley, most of the area west of Washoe Valley, and all of Washoe County south of the 40th degree of north latitude, which the DMV notes is about midway through Pyramid Lake.

That last phrase matters more than it first looks. It means the boundary is a line of latitude, so most of the populated southern half of the county falls inside it, and the thinly settled land to the north falls outside.

The places inside the line

Reno and Sparks anchor the area, and the neighborhoods around them come along with those two names. On this site, each of the places below has its own page with the drive time to our two Reno locations:

• North and west of downtown: Northwest Reno, Somersett, Mogul, Verdi and Caughlin Ranch.
• North valley: Stead, Cold Springs, Lemmon Valley and Golden Valley.
• Central and south: Midtown and downtown Reno, South Reno, Damonte Ranch and Hidden Valley.
• Sparks and beyond: Sparks, East Sparks, Spanish Springs and Washoe Valley.

The places the DMV names as exempt

The DMV's exempt list for Washoe County is short and specific: Incline Village, Crystal Bay, Sutcliffe, Nixon and Wadsworth. The DMV's exemption list also says vehicles based in Cold Creek are exempt. A vehicle based in one of those places does not need the yearly emissions test to register.

The exemption belongs to the place the vehicle is based. A car registered at an Incline Village address is covered by the exemption. A car registered in Reno is not, even if its owner spends the weekend at the lake.

What if the address is near an edge

The renewal notice is the quickest check. A notice that says a smog check is required is the DMV telling you the vehicle is in the testing area. If the notice and the map seem to disagree, or you have moved recently, the DMV's own instruction is to contact the Reno Emissions Lab at (775) 684-3580.

Do not guess from a mailing address alone. A rural parcel can have a mailing address in one town and sit on the other side of the 40th parallel. The DMV is the only office that can settle it, and one phone call is cheaper than a registration that gets held up.

A vehicle based inside the area but kept elsewhere

Some people register a car in Reno but use and maintain it somewhere else for months at a time, such as a student or a worker on assignment. For that case the DMV has the Emission Control Exemption Application, form EC 008. A vehicle based in a testing county but temporarily used and maintained outside Nevada, or in a non-testing area of the state, can register or renew with that application, in person or by mail, before the registration expires.

Nevada has no grace period, so the form has to be in before the expiration date. The form also carries a warning that false statements are a gross misdemeanor, so use it only when it is true. Our registered outside the testing area page covers the everyday version of this question.

How the Clark County area compares

For contrast, the other testing area in Nevada is the Las Vegas Valley, defined by hydrographic basin 212 plus a five-mile buffer. Washoe's description is by place names and a line of latitude; Clark's is by a drainage basin. Both areas share the same yearly requirement and the same model-year rules.