List of counties in Nevada

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. When Nevada joined the United States on October 31, 1864 it had eleven counties.

Alphabetical list

County	FIPS code	County seat	Established	Origin	Meaning of name	Population (2020)	Area	Map
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Mineral County	021	Hawthorne	1911	Esmeralda County	Mineral deposits in the area.	4,554	3,751 sq mi (9,715 km2)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)

Former counties

• Bullfrog County, Nevada, formed in 1987 from part of Nye county. Creation declared unconstitutional and it was ended in 1989.
• Lake County, Nevada, one of the original nine counties formed in 1861. Renamed Roop county in 1862. Part became Lassen County, California in 1864. The rest was added in 1883 to Washoe county.
• Ormsby County, Nevada, one of the original nine counties formed in 1861. In 1969 added to Carson City, Nevada. It formed an independent city.