Humboldt County area

Population and density of Humboldt County

The Census Bureau estimates that 17,267 people lived in Humboldt County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,026 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #9 of 17 in Nevada. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 17,287, the population has declined by 20 (−0.1%), compared with +5.7% for Nevada as a whole.

With 9,640.8 square miles of land, that is 1.8 people per square mile (0.69 per km²), placing Humboldt County #3,084 nationally for density and #10 in Nevada. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Nevada median is 3.2. Put another way, there are about 357 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 Humboldt County

1 incorporated place lies at least partly in Humboldt County. Together they are home to 8,307 people (48.1%); the other 8,960 (51.9%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Winnemucca city, with 8,307 residents in the county.

Metropolitan area

Humboldt County is a central county of the Winnemucca, NV Micropolitan Statistical Area. Humboldt County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 9,640.8 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #7 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #530 by population.

ZIP codes

9 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Humboldt County; 7 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

894048941289414894218942589426894388944589446

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 Humboldt County

Humboldt County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents, including 3 in Oregon and Idaho. It has more land than 4 of them. The largest neighbor is Elko County (17,173.3 mi²) and the smallest is Lander County (5,519.2 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Humboldt County forms a block of 72,376.2 mi² of land, of which it holds 13.3%.

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

Humboldt County has more land than 8 of the 50 states. It is about 1 times the land area of Vermont (9,217.3 mi²), while Maryland, the next larger state, has 1 times as much land (9,711 mi²). Nevada’s county land could hold about 11 areas the size of Humboldt County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 98.2 miles (158 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 Humboldt County?

Humboldt County has more land than 3,196 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 Humboldt County at #31 nationally by total area, 5 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 0.2%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1 percentage points lower. 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 Humboldt 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.