Douglas County area

Population and density of Douglas County

The Census Bureau estimates that 50,111 people lived in Douglas County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,023 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #7 of 17 in Nevada. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 49,482, the population has grown by 629 (+1.3%), compared with +5.7% for Nevada as a whole.

With 710.5 square miles of land, that is 71 people per square mile (27 per km²), placing Douglas County #1,256 nationally for density and #4 in Nevada. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Nevada median is 3.2. Put another way, there are about 9.1 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 Douglas County

Douglas County has no incorporated cities, towns or villages. All 50,111 of its residents live in unincorporated communities, which the Census Bureau describes as census-designated places rather than municipalities.

Metropolitan area

Douglas County is a central county of the Gardnerville Ranchos, NV-CA Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2 county equivalents have 51,154 residents on 1,448.9 square miles of land; Douglas County accounts for 49% of the land and 98% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #116 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #217 by population. It belongs to the Reno-Carson City-Gardnerville Ranchos, NV-CA Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

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

894108941189413894238944489448894498946089705

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 Douglas County

Douglas County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents, including 4 in California. It has more land than 1 of them. The largest neighbor is Mono County (3,048.9 mi²) and the smallest is Carson City (144.5 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Douglas County forms a block of 9,760.6 mi² of land, of which it holds 7.3%.

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

Douglas County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.5 times as much. Nevada’s county land could hold about 155 areas the size of Douglas County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 26.7 miles (42.9 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 Douglas County?

Douglas County has more land than 1,930 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 Douglas County at #1,307 nationally by total area, 15 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 3.8%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 2.6 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 Douglas 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.