Nebraska county map

How Nebraska’s counties are laid out

Nebraska’s 93 counties cover 77,348 square miles. The pattern is lopsided: the eastern third, settled first along the Missouri River and the Platte, is a grid of small counties roughly 24 miles on a side, while the Sandhills and Panhandle in the west are divided into far larger, emptier counties. Of the 1,961,504 people counted in 2020, more than 900,000 live in Douglas, Sarpy and Lancaster counties around Omaha and Lincoln; a further row of mid-sized counties follows the Platte River and Interstate 80 west through Hall (Grand Island), Buffalo (Kearney), Dawson (Lexington) and Lincoln (North Platte).

The first eight counties were created by the territorial legislature in 1854: Burt, Cass, Dodge, Douglas, Otoe, Richardson, Washington and Forney (renamed Nemaha the following year), all fronting the Missouri. Counties were then added westward as the railroads and homesteaders advanced, and many were given the names of Civil War generals and Republican politicians of the day — Sherman, Sheridan, Grant, Logan, Custer, Garfield, Hayes, Arthur. Several northern counties (Boyd, Keya Paha, Knox, Cedar, Dixon, Dakota, Thurston) took in land that had belonged to Sioux, Ponca, Omaha and Winnebago reservations.

Nebraska is a split time-zone state. The Panhandle and the south-west — including Scotts Bluff, Box Butte, Dawes, Sioux, Sheridan, Cheyenne, Kimball, Banner, Morrill, Garden, Deuel, Keith, Perkins, Chase and Dundy counties — are on Mountain Time; the rest of the state, including Omaha, Lincoln and North Platte, is on Central Time. Cherry County is split between the two.

All 93 counties of Nebraska

Five county facts

• Largest by area: Cherry County, seat Valentine, about 6,000 square miles of Sandhills ranch land on the South Dakota line — the largest county in the state by a wide margin and larger than Connecticut. Custer, Holt, Lincoln and Sheridan counties are each over 2,400 square miles.
• Smallest by area: Sarpy County, seat Papillion, about 250 square miles wedged between Omaha and the Platte River. It is also the fastest-growing and third most populous county in the state.
• Most populous: Douglas County, seat Omaha, with about 585,000 people in 2020, followed by Lancaster County (Lincoln) with about 322,000 and Sarpy County with about 191,000. Together the three hold more than half of Nebraska’s population.
• Least populous: McPherson County, seat Tryon, with about 400 people in 2020; Arthur, Blaine and Loup counties are also under 700. All four are Sandhills counties with no incorporated town of more than a few hundred people.
• Oldest and newest: The eight Missouri River counties of 1854 are the oldest. Garden County, cut from Deuel County in 1909, was the last created; Arthur County, set up on paper in 1887, was not organised until 1913 and was the last to get a government. Nebraska has no independent cities; Omaha and Douglas County remain separate governments.

Reading the map

Press Streets and zoom in on the highlighted state to see county lines. The Platte River forms a clear diagonal line of county boundaries from North Platte east to Plattsmouth, and the North and South Platte rivers mark the Panhandle counties of Scotts Bluff, Morrill, Garden and Keith. The Niobrara River crosses the northern tier from Sioux County to Knox County, where it joins the Missouri. The Republican River runs along the Kansas border through Dundy, Hitchcock, Red Willow, Furnas, Harlan, Franklin, Webster and Nuckolls counties. The capital Lincoln is in Lancaster County; Omaha fills the eastern half of Douglas County against the Missouri. Boyd County, north of the Niobrara, is the only county that lies wholly north of the river.

Related maps

• Nebraska map — cities, borders and geography.
• Blank Nebraska map and printable Nebraska map.
• Lincoln, the state capital, in Lancaster County; Omaha, the largest city, in Douglas County.
• Neighbouring county maps: South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming.
• West North Central division · the Midwest · Great Plains region · Central and Mountain time zones.
• Geography: Missouri River, Great Plains.
• All US county maps.