Nevada County, California

Nevada County is a county in California, United States, set in the Sierra Nevada foothills and high country northeast of Sacramento. It had a population of 102,241 at the 2020 census and covers 958 square miles (2,480 km2) centred near 39°18′N 120°46′W.

Nevada City is the county seat and its postal code is 95959. The county contains three incorporated municipalities — the cities of Grass Valley and Nevada City plus the town of Truckee — alongside eleven census-designated places and dozens of unincorporated communities left over from the Gold Rush era. Nevada County observes Pacific time and carries FIPS code 06057.

Towns & Villages in Nevada County

Nevada County lists roughly 100 named places on the map, from the three incorporated municipalities down to census-designated places (CDPs) and a long roster of unincorporated mining camps, subdivisions and rural crossroads that never grew large enough to incorporate. The table below uses City and Town for the incorporated municipalities, CDP for U.S. Census Bureau-recognised communities, and Unincorp. for everything else.

Truckee is the county’s largest municipality by population even though Nevada City, 30 miles to the west, is the seat — the two sit on opposite sides of the Sierra crest and are separated by a roughly 45-minute drive on Interstate 80. Several table entries such as Blue Tent, Moores Flat, North Bloomfield, North Columbia, Omega, Orleans Flat, Red Dog, Relief, Sweetland, Woolsey Flat and You Bet are former hydraulic-mining camps from the 1850s–1880s gold rush; most survive today only as a scatter of homes along the ridge roads north of Nevada City.

ZIP Codes

• 95959 — Nevada City (also serves North Columbia and Malakoff Diggins)
• 95945 — Grass Valley (also serves Lake Wildwood and Lake of the Pines)
• 95949 — Grass Valley (Alta Sierra branch)
• 96161 — Truckee (also serves Donner Lake and Hirschdale)
• 95946 — Penn Valley
• 95960 — North San Juan
• 95986 — Washington
• 95728 — Soda Springs
• 95975 — Rough and Ready
• 95924 — Cedar Ridge
• 95712 — Chicago Park
• 95929 — French Corral
• 95724 — Norden (also serves Kingvale)

Many of the county’s smaller Gold Rush-era communities have no ZIP code of their own and are served by the nearest post office town listed above.

Geography

Nevada County rises from the rolling oak foothills around Penn Valley and Grass Valley, at roughly 2,300 feet, to the granite crest of the Sierra Nevada above Donner Summit, over 7,000 feet, in the space of about 30 miles. The Yuba River and its South, Middle and Deep Creek forks drain the western two-thirds of the county through steep canyons cut during the Gold Rush hydraulic-mining era; the Truckee River drains the eastern side, flowing out of Lake Tahoe’s basin toward Nevada. Interstate 80 climbs through the county’s eastern third over Donner Summit, one of the snowiest stretches of interstate highway in the country.

Nevada County borders Sierra County to the north, Placer County to the south, Yuba County to the west, and Nevada’s Washoe County to the east across the Sierra crest.

Demographics

Nevada County had 102,241 residents at the 2020 census, working out to roughly 107 people per square mile of land. Truckee, at 16,729 residents, is the largest single community; Grass Valley and Nevada City are the county’s two incorporated cities. The California statewide median household income was $95,521 in the 2023 American Community Survey; a verified county-level figure for Nevada County was not available for this profile, so no direct comparison is given.

Economy & Local Life

Tourism, outdoor recreation and second-home/retirement housing drive much of the eastern county around Truckee and Donner Summit, anchored by nearby Lake Tahoe ski resorts and Truckee’s historic downtown. The western county around Grass Valley and Nevada City runs on a mix of health care, small manufacturing, wineries and a long-running arts and tourism trade built on the towns’ preserved Gold Rush-era brick storefronts. Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital in Grass Valley is the county’s largest employer in that sector. Nevada City’s Constitution Day Parade and the Nevada County Fair in Grass Valley are the area’s best-known annual events.

History

Nevada County was organized on April 25, 1851, carved out of the original Yuba County during the Gold Rush, and takes its name from Nevada City, itself named for the Spanish word for “snow-covered.” The county was a center of hydraulic gold mining in the 1850s–1880s, a practice that scoured hillsides at North Bloomfield and Malakoff Diggins before California banned it in 1884 following downstream flood damage; the Malakoff Diggins site is now a state historic park. In the early 20th century the county pioneered long-distance telephone service and early hydroelectric power generation to serve its mining industry.

Getting There

Interstate 80 crosses the county west to east through Truckee and Donner Summit; State Route 49 runs north–south through Grass Valley and Nevada City; State Routes 20, 89, 174 and 267 serve secondary corridors.

• Sacramento — 60 miles southwest
• Reno, Nevada — 35 miles northeast of Truckee
• Auburn — 22 miles south
• Marysville — 25 miles west

Sacramento International Airport is the nearest major commercial airport; Reno-Tahoe International Airport is closer to the county’s eastern communities around Truckee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Nevada County, California?
It sits in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Northern California, northeast of Sacramento, straddling the range from the western foothills to the Nevada state line.

What is the population of Nevada County?
102,241 at the 2020 census.

How big is Nevada County?
958 square miles (2,480 km2) of land, plus 16 square miles of water.

What is the county seat of Nevada County?
Nevada City is the county seat.

How many towns are in Nevada County?
Three incorporated municipalities — the cities of Grass Valley and Nevada City and the town of Truckee — plus eleven census-designated places and dozens of smaller unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes are in Nevada County?
Major ZIP codes include 95959 (Nevada City), 95945 (Grass Valley), 96161 (Truckee), 95946 (Penn Valley) and 95728 (Soda Springs).

Why does Nevada County have so many former mining camp names on the map?
The county was a major hydraulic gold-mining district from the 1850s to the 1880s; camps like North Bloomfield, You Bet and Red Dog once had thousands of residents and now survive as small rural communities or ghost sites.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in California.