Nevada County area

Population and density of Nevada County

The Census Bureau estimates that 101,911 people lived in Nevada County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #619 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #36 of 58 in California. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 102,234, the population has declined by 323 (−0.3%), compared with −0.5% for California as a whole.

With 957.8 square miles of land, that is 106 people per square mile (41 per km²), placing Nevada County #944 nationally for density and #32 in California. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the California median is 112. Put another way, there are about 6 acres of land per resident.

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Nevada County

3 incorporated places lie at least partly in Nevada County. Together they are home to 34,487 people (33.8%); the other 67,424 (66.2%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Truckee town, with 17,278 residents in the county. The county seat, Nevada City city, has 3,174 residents. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Truckee town grew fastest since then (+3.2%).

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each place inside Nevada County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer, for the whole place even where it extends into other counties. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

Nevada County is a central county of the Truckee-Grass Valley, CA Micropolitan Statistical Area. Nevada County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 957.8 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #193 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #32 by population. It belongs to the Sacramento-Roseville, CA Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

12 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Nevada County; 8 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

956029572895945959469594995959959609597595977959869611196161

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Nevada County

Nevada County shares a land border with 4 county equivalents, including 1 in Nevada. It has more land than 2 of them. The largest neighbor is Washoe County (6,315.9 mi²) and the smallest is Yuba County (632 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Nevada County forms a block of 10,266.2 mi² of land, of which it holds 9.3%.

How big is Nevada County compared with U.S. states?

Nevada County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.1 times as much. California’s county land could hold about 163 areas the size of Nevada County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 30.9 miles (49.8 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Nevada County?

Nevada County has more land than 2,489 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Nevada County at #813 nationally by total area, 80 places farther from the top than its land rank. Other county equivalents gain more area when their water measurements are included.

Its water share is 1.6%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.5 percentage points higher. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Nevada County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.