Buying Land in Lincoln County, Wyoming

Zoning Runs Through Community Plan Areas, Not One Countywide Map

Lincoln County's Land Use Regulations zone Star Valley community by community rather than with one uniform map: Alpine, Etna, Freedom, Thayne, Upper Valley, Star Valley Ranch, and a Multiple Use area each have their own Community Plan Area with its own Rural Zone and, in some areas, Mixed Use designations -- and the specific prohibited uses genuinely differ between them (Thayne bans both truck stops and man camps in its Rural Zone; Upper Valley bans only truck stops). See our dedicated zoning page for the full list of areas and what each one actually restricts; confirm the applicable area and its rules directly with the county rather than assuming county-wide uniformity. The Kemmerer area in the south, by contrast, doesn't use this Community Plan Area system at all.

TerraPower's Nuclear Plant Is Reshaping the Kemmerer Area

TerraPower purchased roughly 60 acres near Kemmerer in 2023 -- close to PacifiCorp's Naughton coal and gas power plant, which is being retired -- to build the Natrium Reactor Demonstration Project, a 345-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor and the first commercial nuclear reactor under construction in Wyoming. Construction of the plant's non-nuclear components began in 2024, and the project broke ground on its nuclear island in 2026, with completion targeted around 2031. The project is expected to bring roughly 1,600 workers at peak construction and around 250 permanent full-time jobs once operational.

For anyone considering land near Kemmerer, that's a real, multi-year economic event: expect meaningful pressure on local housing and rental demand during the construction period, along with the kind of longer-term stability a large permanent employer brings once the plant is operating. Land-value and rental-market effects from a project like this tend to play out over years, not months -- worth factoring into both a near-term and longer-term view of the area.

From Dairy Country to Growth Corridor: Star Valley's Changing Character

Star Valley earned the nickname "Little Switzerland" for its Swiss-immigrant dairy heritage, anchored for decades by the Star Valley Cheese Factory in Thayne, which opened in 1949 and closed in 2005 as the number of local dairy producers dwindled. That closure reflected a broader shift already underway: northern Lincoln County's economy has been moving from agriculture toward construction and residential development, particularly in the southern part of the valley near Alpine, as growth pressure spills over from neighboring Jackson Hole (Teton County).

That context matters for a land buyer: the historically agricultural, rural character of parts of Star Valley is not static, and it's part of why the county's own Community Plan Area zoning now explicitly restricts certain heavier uses (like truck stops and man camps) in some Rural Zones -- an attempt to hold onto that character even as development pressure increases around it. Confirm current zoning and any pending rezoning applications for a specific parcel rather than assuming its agricultural surroundings will stay that way indefinitely.

A Real, If Older, Building Code -- Handled From Two Different Offices

Unlike several neighboring Wyoming counties that have adopted no building code at all, Lincoln County requires construction in unincorporated areas to be engineered to the 2006 International Residential Code and requires a building permit -- a real, if dated, standard that's worth understanding if you're expecting a more current code (for financing, insurance, or resale purposes, an older adopted edition can matter).

Lincoln County is also geographically split, and its Planning and Engineering function reflects that: there's a Kemmerer office serving the southern part of the county and a separate Afton office serving Star Valley in the north, with the Afton office sometimes closed for site inspections on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the spring-through-fall construction season. Confirm which office actually serves your specific parcel before showing up in person.