54,363 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.3% since 2020)
17,173 square miles of land · 3 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
16 active community water systems list Elko County in the area they serve, reporting 47,111 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| ELKO CITY OF groundwater · local government · NV0000272 | 23,000 served |
| GREAT BASIN WATER CO SPRING CREEK groundwater · private · NV0000036 | 9,340 served |
| WEST WENDOVER WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · NV0000246 | 4,535 served |
| GREAT BASIN WATER CO SPRING CREEK MHP groundwater · private · NV0005027 | 3,640 served |
| CARLIN UTILITIES groundwater · local government · NV0000014 | 2,500 served |
| WELLS MUNICIPAL WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · NV0000245 | 1,300 served |
| JACKPOT WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · NV0000088 | 1,240 served |
| RUBY DOME HOLDINGS DBA ELKO RV PARK groundwater · private · NV0002075 | 357 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 189 people were held in Elko County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 537 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 130.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
1 school district has its office in Elko County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $144.8 million — $132.3 million to run schools, about $13,020 per student, plus $11.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $21.6 million local (mostly property tax), $108.4 million state, $19.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $606,000.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Elko County about $74.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
221 bridges in Elko County: 94 in good condition, 122 fair, and 5 poor (2.3%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| IDAHO ST over DRY WASH · built 1974 | 6,700 vehicles a day |
| I 80 over UPRR · built 1976 | 3,150 vehicles a day |
| SR 229/HALLECK RD over HUMBOLDT RIVER · built 1965 | 260 vehicles a day |
| 1096: MARYS RIVER over MARYS RIVER · built 1991 | 30 vehicles a day |
| FR EL49 over UPRR · built 1933 | 12 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $129.2 million of work in Elko County in fiscal 2025, about $2,406 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Nevada are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Elko County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Elko County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Nevada: the state government and every county in Nevada.
Nearby counties: Twin Falls County, ID (91 mi) · Eureka County (93 mi) · Owyhee County, ID (108 mi) · Cassia County, ID (119 mi) · Jerome County, ID (121 mi) · White Pine County (121 mi).