List of counties in Nevada

Last updated

Independent city and Counties of Nevada
LocationState of Nevada
Number16 Counties
1 Independent city
Populations(Counties only): 736 (Esmeralda) – 2,336,573 (Clark)
Areas(Counties only): 264 square miles (680 km2) (Storey) – 18,147 square miles (47,000 km2) (Nye)
Government
Subdivisions
  • City, Community

There are 16 counties and one independent city in the U.S. state of Nevada. On November 25, 1861, the first Nevada Territorial Legislature established nine counties. [1] Nevada was admitted to the Union on October 31, 1864, with 11 counties. [1] In 1969, Ormsby County and Carson City were consolidated into a single municipal government known as Carson City. [1]

Contents

The FIPS county code is the five-digit Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code which uniquely identifies counties and county equivalents in the United States. [2] The three-digit number is unique to each individual county within a state, but to be unique within the entire United States, it must be prefixed by the state code. This means that, for example, while Churchill County, Nevada is 001, Alameda County, California and Baker County, Oregon are also 001. To uniquely identify Churchill County, Nevada, one must use the state code of 32 plus the county code of 001; therefore, the unique nationwide identifier for Churchill County, Nevada is 32001. The links in the column FIPS County Code are to the Census Bureau Info page for that county.


Counties

County
FIPS code [2] County seat [3] Est. [3] Origin [4] Etymology [1] [4] Population [5] Area [3] [6] Map
Carson City 510 ( Independent city )1969Founded 1858, consolidated with Ormsby county in 1969. Carson River, named in turn for Christopher Houston (Kit) Carson (1809–1868), the frontier scout and soldier.58,036144 sq mi
(373 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Carson City.svg
ChurchillCounty 001 Fallon 1861Original Sylvester Churchill (1783–1862), a general in the Mexican–American War.25,8034,929 sq mi
(12,766 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Churchill County.svg
ClarkCounty 003 Las Vegas 1909Lincoln County William A. Clark (1839–1925), former United States Senator from Montana, and builder of a railroad line through the area.2,336,5737,911 sq mi
(20,489 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Clark County.svg
DouglasCounty 005 Minden 1861Original Stephen Arnold Douglas (1813–1861), former United States Senator from Illinois.49,545710 sq mi
(1,839 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Douglas County.svg
ElkoCounty 007 Elko 1869Lander CountyA Shoshoni word meaning white woman. It is said, among the very old Shoshoni, that this is where they first saw a white woman.54,29317,182 sq mi
(44,501 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Elko County.svg
EsmeraldaCounty 009 Goldfield 1861OriginalEsmeralda Mining District, named in turn for the legend that a massive amount of emeralds was buried in what is now Nevada. Esmeralda is the Spanish and Portuguese word for emerald.7363,589 sq mi
(9,295 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Esmeralda County.svg
EurekaCounty 011 Eureka 1873Lander County Greek expression Eureka , meaning I have found it!, in reference to deposits of silver found in the vicinity.1,9174,176 sq mi
(10,816 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Eureka County.svg
HumboldtCounty 013 Winnemucca 1861Original Humboldt River, named in turn for Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), a German naturalist and explorer.17,1369,658 sq mi
(25,014 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Humboldt County.svg
LanderCounty 015 Battle Mountain 1862Churchill County & Humboldt County Frederick W. Lander (1821–1862), an American Civil War general and developer of the area.5,7695,798 sq mi
(15,017 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Lander County.svg
LincolnCounty 017 Pioche 1866Nye County and territory ceded by Arizona. Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth President of the United States.4,45210,635 sq mi
(27,545 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Lincoln County.svg
LyonCounty 019 Yerington 1861OriginalGeneral Nathaniel Lyon (1818–1861), who was killed in action at the Battle of Wilson's Creek.62,5831,994 sq mi
(5,164 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Lyon County.svg
MineralCounty 021 Hawthorne 1911Esmeralda County Mineral deposits in the area.4,5283,757 sq mi
(9,731 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Mineral County.svg
NyeCounty 023 Tonopah 1864Esmeralda County James W. Nye (1815–1876), a governor of the Nevada Territory and U.S. senator from Nevada.55,72018,147 sq mi
(47,001 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Nye County.svg
PershingCounty 027 Lovelock 1919Humboldt County John Joseph (Black Jack) Pershing (1860–1948), the World War I general.6,3646,009 sq mi
(15,563 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Pershing County.svg
StoreyCounty 029 Virginia City 1861Original Edward Farris Storey (1829–1860), a captain killed at Pyramid Lake in the 1860 Paiute War.4,177264 sq mi
(684 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Storey County.svg
WashoeCounty 031 Reno 1861OriginalThe Washoe, a small Indian tribe that inhabits the area.498,0226,342 sq mi
(16,426 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting Washoe County.svg
White PineCounty 033 Ely 1869Lander CountyHeavy growth of pine trees in the area, thought to be white pine.8,5228,877 sq mi
(22,991 km2)
Map of Nevada highlighting White Pine County.svg

Defunct counties

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carson City, Nevada</span> State capital of Nevada, United States

Carson City is an independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the 6th most populous city in the state. The majority of the city's population lives in Eagle Valley, on the eastern edge of the Carson Range, a branch of the Sierra Nevada, about 30 miles (50 km) south of Reno. The city is named after the mountain man Kit Carson. The town began as a stopover for California-bound immigrants, but developed into a city with the Comstock Lode, a silver strike in the mountains to the northeast. The city has served as Nevada's capital since statehood in 1864; for much of its history it was a hub for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, although the tracks were removed in 1950.

The Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) of the United States are a set of publicly announced standards that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed for use in computer systems of non-military United States government agencies and contractors. FIPS standards establish requirements for ensuring computer security and interoperability, and are intended for cases in which suitable industry standards do not already exist. Many FIPS specifications are modified versions of standards the technical communities use, such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The Federal Information Processing Standard Publication 6-4 is a five-digit Federal Information Processing Standards code which uniquely identified counties and county equivalents in the United States, certain U.S. possessions, and certain freely associated states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ormsby County, Nevada</span> Former county in Nevada, United States (1861–1969)

Ormsby County was a county in Nevada Territory from 1861 to 1864 and in the State of Nevada from 1864 until 1969. It contained Carson City, the county seat, and later, the state capital, founded two years earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Nevada</span>

The landlocked U.S. state of Nevada has a varied geography and is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province and is broken up by many north–south mountain ranges. Most of these ranges have endorheic valleys between them.

In the United States, an independent city is a city that is not in the territory of any county or counties and is considered a primary administrative division of its state. Independent cities are classified by the United States Census Bureau as "county equivalents" and may also have similar governmental powers to a consolidated city-county or a unitary authority. However, in the case of a consolidated city-county, a city and a county were merged into a unified jurisdiction in which the county at least nominally exists to this day, whereas an independent city was legally separated from any county or merged with a county that simultaneously ceased to exist even in name.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Political History of Nevada". Nevada State Library and Archives. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  2. 1 2 "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". US Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  3. 1 2 3 "NACo – Find a county". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on July 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
  4. 1 2 "Counties of Nevada". Nevada-History.org. Archived from the original on 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  5. "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Nevada". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  6. "Nevada QuickFacts". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2013-10-30. Retrieved 2007-08-16. (2000 Census)