Formed January 1, 1864 (10th county)
Nye County (51,590), Tonopah* (2,179), Pahrump* (44,738)
The tan and red brick Modern 1996 facility replaced a pleasant 1905 structure. It is on Radar Road at Smokey Valley Road. HCA Architects provided the building designs. United States Highway 6 is two blocks south. There was also an 1876 courthouse in Belmont. Ione (1864), Belmont (1867), and Tonopah (1905) have all been the county seat. The county was organized on January 1, 1864 from Esmeralda County as the 10th county. It is named for United States Senator James W. Nye. Tonopah is Native American for “brush springs.”
Nye County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, an attorney, a treasurer and a clerk (executive). It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.) Two District Court Judges serve Nye and Esmeralda counties and Three Justice Court Judges serve Nye County (judicial.) The county is in the center of the state. It extends south to border California. Reno, Nevada is northwest and Las Vegas, Nevada is southeast of the county. The county center is 55.8 miles East-Southeast of Tonopah nearer Warm Springs. The county is surrounded clockwise by Eureka, White Pine, Lincoln, and Clark counties and California and Esmeralda, Mineral, Churchill, and Lander counties.
The area of the city is 18141 square miles. It is 1 out of 17 in the state. It ranks 6 out of 17 in population in the state. It has a density of 2.8 persons per square mile making it 9 out of 17 in the state. Nye County has 0.0% of its population in its incorporated areas since there are no incorporated cities. United States Highway 6 passes through the county east to west from White Pine County to Esmeralda County. United States Highway 95 enters from Esmeralda County, west, exits back into Esmeralda County, reenters and finally exits southeast into Clark County. The county looks like a funnel. Tonopah is located on the northwest border of the county. Pahrump is on the southeast border of the county. Tonopah is the county seat and Pahrump is the largest populated area. Tonopah is 4.2% of the county population while Pahrump is 86.7% of the county population. The county is pronounced NIE. The county seat is pronounced TOE-NO-PA. This county is in the Pahrump Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Tonopah (unincorporated)
