There are sixteen counties and one independent city in the U.S. state of Nevada. On November 25, 1861, the first Nevada Territorial Legislature formed nine counties.[1] When Nevada joined the United States on October 31, 1864 it had eleven counties.[1]
County |
FIPS code[2] | County seat[3] | Established[3] | Origin[4] | Meaning of name[1][4] | Population (2020)[3][5] |
Area[3][6] | Map |
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Carson City | 510 | (Independent city) | 1969 | Founded 1858, combined with Ormsby County in 1969. | Carson River, named in turn for Christopher Houston (Kit) Carson (1809–1868), the frontier scout and soldier. | 58,639 | 145 sq mi (376 km2) |
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Churchill County | 001 | Fallon | 1861 | Original | Sylvester Churchill (1783–1862), a general in the Mexican-American War. | 25,516 | 4,950 sq mi (12,820 km2) |
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Clark County | 003 | Las Vegas | 1908 | Lincoln County | William A. Clark (1839–1925), former United States Senator from Montana, and builder of a rail-road line through the area. | 2,265,461 | 7,892 sq mi (20,440 km2) |
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Douglas County | 005 | Minden | 1861 | Original | Stephen Arnold Douglas (1813–1861), former United States Senator from Illinois. | 49,488 | 710 sq mi (1,839 km2) |
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Elko County | 007 | Elko | 1869 | Lander County | A Shoshoni word meaning white woman. It is said, among the very old Shoshoni, that this is where they first saw a white woman. | 53,702 | 17,173 sq mi (44,478 km2) |
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Esmeralda County | 009 | Goldfield | 1861 | Original | Esmeralda Mining District, named in turn for possibly the character Esmeralda of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Esmeralda is the Spanish and Portuguese word for emerald. | 729 | 3,582 sq mi (9,277 km2) |
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Eureka County | 011 | Eureka | 1873 | Lander County | Greek expression Eureka, meaning I have found it!, in reference to deposits of silver found in the vicinity. | 1,855 | 4,176 sq mi (10,816 km2) |
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Humboldt County | 013 | Winnemucca | 1861 | Original | Humboldt River, named in turn for Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), a German naturalist and explorer. | 17,285 | 9,641 sq mi (24,970 km2) |
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Lander County | 015 | Battle Mountain | 1861 | Original | Frederick W. Lander (1821–1862), an American Civil War general and developer of the area. | 5,519 | 5,494 sq mi (14,229 km2) |
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Lincoln County | 017 | Pioche | 1866 | Nye County and territory ceded by Arizona. | Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth President of the United States. | 4,499 | 10,633 sq mi (27,539 km2) |
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Lyon County | 019 | Yerington | 1861 | Original | General Nathaniel Lyon (1818–1861), who was killed in action at the Battle of Wilson's Creek. | 59,235 | 2,003 sq mi (5,188 km2) |
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Mineral County | 021 | Hawthorne | 1911 | Esmeralda County | Mineral deposits in the area. | 4,554 | 3,751 sq mi (9,715 km2) |
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Nye County | 023 | Tonopah | 1864 | Esmeralda County | James W. Nye (1815–1876), a governor of the Nevada Territory and U.S. senator from Nevada. | 51,591 | 18,182 sq mi (47,091 km2) |
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Pershing County | 027 | Lovelock | 1919 | Humboldt County | John Joseph (Black Jack) Pershing (1860–1948), the World War I general. | 6,037 | 6,009 sq mi (15,563 km2) |
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Storey County | 029 | Virginia City | 1861 | Original | Edward Farris Storey (1829–1860), a captain killed at Pyramid Lake in the 1860 Paiute War. | 4,104 | 264 sq mi (684 km2) |
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Washoe County | 031 | Reno | 1861 | Original | The Washo, a small Indian tribe that inhabits the area. | 486,492 | 6,316 sq mi (16,358 km2) |
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White Pine County | 033 | Ely | 1869 | Lander County | Heavy growth of pine trees in the area, thought to be white pine. | 9,080 | 8,887 sq mi (23,017 km2) |
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