Nebraska Counties Map: Click All 93 Counties

How many counties are in Nebraska?

Nebraska has 93 counties. Ten states have more, and 39 have fewer.

Nebraska has 93 counties. Cherry County, in the grass-covered Sandhills, is the largest, bigger than Connecticut. Douglas County (Omaha) and Lancaster County (Lincoln, the capital) hold a large share of the state's people in the east.

How Nebraska's counties were formed

The Nebraska Territory's first eight counties were created in 1854 along the Missouri River, including Douglas, Cass and Richardson. Settlers moved west under the Homestead Act, and the Sandhills and Panhandle were divided in the 1880s. Arthur County, carved from McPherson County and organized in 1913, is Nebraska's last organized county. Its 2020 population was 434.

Nebraska regions and the counties in each

Nebraska splits into four regions. Eastern Nebraska holds Douglas (Omaha), Sarpy and Lancaster (Lincoln). Central Nebraska follows the Platte River west through Hall (Grand Island), Buffalo (Kearney) and Lincoln (North Platte) counties, where sandhill cranes gather each spring. The Sandhills, one of the largest grass-covered dune areas in the world, cover Cherry, Grant, Hooker, Thomas and Arthur counties. The Panhandle includes Scotts Bluff and Morrill counties, with Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff on the Oregon Trail.

Notable places on the Nebraska county map

Panorama Point, the state's highest point at 5,424 feet, is in Kimball County in the southwest corner of the Panhandle. Chimney Rock, the most-mentioned landmark in Oregon Trail diaries, is in Morrill County, and Scotts Bluff National Monument is in Scotts Bluff County. Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is in Sioux County, and Carhenge, a copy of Stonehenge made from old cars, is near Alliance in Box Butte County.

Nebraska counties map: the biggest and smallest

Cherry County is the largest county in Nebraska, with 5,960 square miles of land, about 8% of the state. That's more land than the whole state of Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. Sarpy County is the smallest, at 238 square miles.

The smallest counties by land area are Sarpy County (238 sq mi), Dakota County (264 sq mi) and Douglas County (326 sq mi).

Which counties in Nebraska have the most people?

Douglas County has the most people, about 601,158 in the Census Bureau's July 2024 estimate, or 30% of everyone in Nebraska. The three biggest counties together hold 57% of the state's 2,005,465 people. McPherson County has the fewest, about 376.

The most crowded is Douglas County, with about 1,842 people per square mile. The emptiest is McPherson County, with less than one person per square mile. Comparing the two is a quick way to show children that a big county on the map isn't always a big county in people.

What county is Lincoln in?

Lincoln, the capital of Nebraska, is in Lancaster County. Lancaster County ranks 2nd of 93 by population. Nebraska is called the Cornhusker State, and it became the 37th state in 1867.

Counties on the Nebraska border

Learning the edge of the map first gives children a frame to fill in. Nebraska shares a border with Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota and Wyoming.

How Nebraska's counties compare with other states

Nebraska ranks 15th among the 50 states in land area and 37th in population. Its average county covers about 826 square miles and holds about 21,564 people. Across the 50 states, the average county-level area covers about 1,139 square miles and holds about 109,381 people, so Nebraska's counties are smaller than usual in size. Small counties pack more names into the same space, so zooming in helps.

Landmarks for learning the counties of Nebraska

• Douglas and Sarpy counties sit on the Missouri River on the eastern edge.
• The Sandhills counties, including Cherry, fill the north-central part of the state.
• The Panhandle counties stretch west to Wyoming and Colorado.

With 93 counties, work one region at a time: study it with names on, then take a Practice round and stop when you've found that group. Then print the Nebraska county map worksheet to check that it sticks on paper.

All 93 Nebraska counties

Every county on the map, A to Z, with its land area and July 2024 population estimate.

Nebraska geography for homeschoolers

Pair this map with the Midwest states and capitals quiz and the US states quiz. If you teach at home, see homeschooling in nebraska, and check nebraska school choice to see whether a program may help pay for Nebraska history and geography curriculum. Each program decides what it covers.