Washoe County area

Population and density of Washoe County

The Census Bureau estimates that 509,386 people lived in Washoe County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #147 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #2 of 17 in Nevada. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 486,491, the population has grown by 22,895 (+4.7%), compared with +5.7% for Nevada as a whole.

With 6,315.9 square miles of land, that is 81 people per square mile (31 per km²), placing Washoe County #1,151 nationally for density and #3 in Nevada. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Nevada median is 3.2. Put another way, there are about 7.9 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 Washoe County

2 incorporated places lie at least partly in Washoe County. Together they are home to 395,523 people (77.6%); the other 113,863 (22.4%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Reno city, with 283,621 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Reno city grew fastest since then (+7.4%).

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

Metropolitan area

Washoe County is a central county of the Reno, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 3 county equivalents have 578,734 residents on 8,582.7 square miles of land; Washoe County accounts for 73.6% of the land and 88% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #12 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #102 by population. It belongs to the Reno-Carson City-Gardnerville Ranchos, NV-CA Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

28 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Washoe County; 26 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

89402894058941289424894318943389434894368943989441894428945089451895018950289503895068950889509895108951189512895198952189523895578970389704

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 Washoe County

Washoe County shares a land border with 13 county equivalents, including 7 in California and Oregon. It has more land than 10 of them. The largest neighbor is Harney County (10,134.5 mi²) and the smallest is Carson City (144.5 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Washoe County forms a block of 59,435.8 mi² of land, of which it holds 10.6%.

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

Washoe County has more land than 3 of the 50 states. It is about 1.3 times the land area of Connecticut (4,842.5 mi²), while Hawaii, the next larger state, has 1 times as much land (6,422.6 mi²). Nevada’s county land could hold about 17 areas the size of Washoe County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 79.5 miles (127.9 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 Washoe County?

Washoe County has more land than 3,169 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 Washoe County at #58 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 3.4%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 2.3 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 Washoe 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.