Pershing County area

Pershing County, Nevada covers 6,067.5 square miles: 6,036.6 square miles of land and 30.9 square miles of water. Its county seat is Lovelock. An estimated 6,421 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 320272026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area6,036.6 mi²
Water area30.9 mi²
Population (2025)6,421
People per mi²1.1

County outline

Generalized outline of Pershing County, Nevada
2025 Census cartographic boundary, fitted to this frame. County maps are not at a common scale. The 2026 area measurements below come from the separate Gazetteer release. Map source and limitations.

Where Pershing County is located

Pershing County highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 99.5% of Pershing County’s measured area and water for 0.5%. Its combined area converts to 15,714.6 square kilometers or approximately 3,883,169 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land6,036.58915,634.6943,863,417
Water30.86379.93519,752.3
Total6,067.45215,714.6293,883,169.3

How Pershing County compares

By original Census land area, Pershing County ranks #8 of 17 in Nevada and #59 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.094 times the Nevada county-equivalent median of 5,519.2 square miles. It accounts for 5.5% of the combined county land area in the state.

See the complete Nevada ranking · What counts as a county equivalent?

Population and density of Pershing County

The Census Bureau estimates that 6,421 people lived in Pershing County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,781 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #11 of 17 in Nevada. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 6,652, the population has declined by 231 (−3.5%), compared with +5.7% for Nevada as a whole.

With 6,036.6 square miles of land, that is 1.1 people per square mile (0.41 per km²), placing Pershing County #3,141 nationally for density and #13 in Nevada. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Nevada median is 3.2. Put another way, there are about 602 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate6,6356,4356,4396,3686,4656,421
Change—−200+4−71+97−44

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 Pershing County

1 incorporated place lies at least partly in Pershing County. Together they are home to 1,771 people (27.6%); the other 4,650 (72.4%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Lovelock city, with 1,771 residents in the county.

Metropolitan area

Pershing County is not part of any metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area in the Office of Management and Budget’s July 2023 delineation; 1,306 other county equivalents are also outside one. These areas are built around an urban core of at least 10,000 people plus the counties tied to it by commuting, so counties outside them are generally rural.

ZIP codes

3 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Pershing County; 2 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

894188941989445

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 Pershing County

Pershing County shares a land border with 4 county equivalents. It has more land than 2 of them. The largest neighbor is Humboldt County (9,640.8 mi²) and the smallest is Churchill County (4,950.2 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Pershing County forms a block of 32,462.7 mi² of land, of which it holds 18.6%.

Map of Pershing County and the 4 county equivalents that border it Humboldt County, Nevada: 9,640.8 mi² landChurchill County, Nevada: 4,950.2 mi² landWashoe County, Nevada: 6,315.9 mi² landLander County, Nevada: 5,519.2 mi² land
Pershing County (dark) and its bordering county equivalents. Select a neighbor to open its profile. Drawn from the 2025 Census cartographic boundaries in an equal-area projection. How borders are determined.
Bordering county equivalentLand mi²Size vs. PershingCompare
Humboldt County9,640.81.6× largerCompare
Washoe County6,315.9about the sameCompare
Lander County5,519.21.1× smallerCompare
Churchill County4,950.21.2× smallerCompare

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

Pershing County has more land than 3 of the 50 states. It is about 1.2 times the land area of Connecticut (4,842.5 mi²), while Hawaii, the next larger state, has 1.1 times as much land (6,422.6 mi²). Nevada’s county land could hold about 18 areas the size of Pershing County.

Land area: Pershing County and the closest-sized states
Connecticut4,842.5 mi²
Pershing County6,036.6 mi²
Hawaii6,422.6 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 77.7 miles (125 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 Pershing County?

Pershing County has more land than 3,163 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Pershing County6,036.6 mi²
Nevada median5,519.2 mi²
National median604.5 mi²

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 Pershing County at #64 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 0.5%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.7 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 Pershing County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#58Chaves County, New Mexico6,067.2Compare
#59Pershing County, Nevada6,036.6This county
#60Cherry County, Nebraska5,960.1Compare

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.

Representative coordinates

The Census internal point is 40.439639, -118.409477. It represents a location inside the geography; it is not necessarily the centroid or the address of a courthouse.

Source and precision

U.S. Census Bureau, 2026 Gazetteer Files, Counties. Original ALAND: 15,634,691,973 m²; AWATER: 79,934,815 m². Rankings use ALAND; exact ties use ascending GEOID. Tables preserve Census-published square miles to three decimals, with conversions based on those values.

Download the official county source ZIP ↗ · Methodology

Common questions

How big is Pershing County?

Pershing County, Nevada has 6,036.6 square miles (15,634.7 km²) of land and 30.9 square miles of water, for a total area of 6,067.5 square miles. It ranks #59 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Pershing County the largest county in Nevada?

No. Pershing County ranks #8 of 17 in Nevada by land area. The largest is Nye County, with 18,181.9 square miles of land.

What counties border Pershing County?

Pershing County shares a land border with Humboldt County, Churchill County, Washoe County, and Lander County.

What is the population of Pershing County?

The Census Bureau estimates Pershing County had 6,421 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,781 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 1.1 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Pershing County?

The county seat of Pershing County is Lovelock.

Is Pershing County part of a metropolitan area?

No. Pershing County is outside every metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area in the July 2023 OMB delineation.

How many ZIP codes are in Pershing County?

3 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Pershing County, and 2 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Pershing County compare with U.S. states?

It has more land than 3 of the 50 states, including Connecticut (4,842.5 square miles of land).

How many acres of land are in Pershing County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 3,863,417 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 3,883,169 acres. One square mile equals 640 acres.

Why might another source show a different area?

Check whether it reports land or total area, its Census vintage, and its rounding. Our guide explains how to reconcile county area figures.

Can this establish a property boundary?

No. Statistical measurements and generalized maps do not establish property lines. Consult the relevant local surveying or land-records authority.

Cite this county

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