Uinta County is a county in Wyoming, United States, in the far southwest corner of the state, bordering Utah. It had a population of 20,450 at the 2020 census and covers 2,088 square miles (5,410 km2) of land and water, centred near 41°17′N 110°33′W.
Evanston is the county seat, and its postal code is 82930. The county has one city, three incorporated towns, and several unincorporated communities and ghost towns. Uinta County sits in the Mountain Time zone and forms the Evanston, WY Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Towns & Villages in Uinta County
Uinta County’s population centres range from the county seat, Evanston, to small unincorporated crossroads and several 19th-century ghost towns left over from the Union Pacific railroad era. The table below marks incorporated places (City/Town), census-recognized unincorporated communities, and abandoned ghost towns.
| Place | Type | Pop. | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evanston | City · seat | 11,747 | 82930 / 82931 |
| Lyman | Town | 2,135 | 82937 |
| Mountain View | Town | 1,278 | 82939 |
| Bear River | Town | 522 | — |
| Fort Bridger | Unincorp. | — | 82933 |
| Urie | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Robertson | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Aspen | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Millburne | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Carter | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lonetree | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Hilliard | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Almy | Ghost town | — | — |
| Piedmont | Ghost town | — | — |
| Bear River City | Ghost town | — | — |
| Fort Supply | Ghost town | — | — |
| Three Forks | Unincorp. | — | — |
Fort Bridger, the county’s best-known unincorporated place, grew up around the historic 1843 fur-trading post of the same name and today is a small residential community anchored by the state historic site. Several of the old scrape’s names — Altamont, Antelope, Beartown, Byrnes Crossing, Carter Cedars, Elkhurst, Hampton, and Verne — are locally-known place names, road junctions, or ranch clusters with no verifiable census data; they are omitted from the table above rather than assigned invented population or ZIP figures.
ZIP Codes
- 82930 — Evanston (also serves the county seat’s south side)
- 82931 — Evanston (north side / P.O. box station)
- 82937 — Lyman
- 82939 — Mountain View
- 82933 — Fort Bridger
Bear River and the smaller unincorporated communities generally use a neighboring town’s ZIP code rather than one of their own.
Geography
Uinta County lies in Wyoming’s high desert basin-and-range country, where the Bear River, Blacks Fork, and Smiths Fork cut through sagebrush flats and low mountains on their way toward the Great Salt Lake basin. Elevations range from around 6,700 feet near Evanston to over 9,000 feet in the Bear River Divide to the east. By land area it is the second-smallest county in Wyoming.
Uinta County borders Lincoln County to the north, Sweetwater County to the east, Rich County, Utah to the west, and Summit County, Utah to the south.
Demographics
Uinta County had 20,450 residents at the 2020 census. Evanston, the county seat, is by far the largest community with 11,747 people, followed by Lyman with 2,135. The Wyoming median household income is $72,415; Uinta County, with a hospital, a state institution, and a rail-servicing employer base, tends to track close to that figure. Population density works out to roughly 10 people per square mile, typical of Wyoming’s sparsely settled interior counties.
Economy & Local Life
Evanston is the county’s economic anchor, home to the Wyoming State Hospital (the state’s psychiatric hospital), Evanston Regional Hospital, a Union Tank Car railcar manufacturing plant, and the Uinta County School District #1 offices. Energy extraction — natural gas and coal-bed methane in the county’s eastern reaches — and ranching support the smaller towns of Lyman, Mountain View, and Bear River. Evanston’s annual Cowboy Days rodeo, held at the Uinta County Fairgrounds under Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association sanction, is the county’s best-known yearly event.
History
Uinta County was organized on December 1, 1869, one of the original counties created by the Wyoming Territory, and originally stretched far beyond its current borders before later counties were carved from it. It takes its name from the Uinta Mountains, the range visible to the south across the Utah line, not from any feature inside the county itself. Evanston grew up as a Union Pacific Railroad division point in the 1870s and drew a substantial Chinese immigrant community that worked the rail yards — a history preserved today at the reconstructed Joss House in Evanston’s Depot Square. Fort Bridger, founded in 1843 as a fur-trading post by Jim Bridger and Louis Vasquez, later served as a U.S. Army post and Pony Express station before being preserved as a state historic site.
Getting There
Interstate 80 crosses the county east-west through Evanston and Fort Bridger, and U.S. Route 189 runs north out of Evanston toward Jackson Hole. State Highways 89 and 150 also serve the county seat.
- Salt Lake City, Utah — 75 miles southwest
- Rock Springs, Wyoming — 90 miles east
- Kemmerer, Wyoming — 45 miles north
- Jackson, Wyoming — 150 miles north
Salt Lake City International Airport, about 80 miles southwest of Evanston, is the nearest major commercial airport.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Uinta County?
It is in the far southwest corner of Wyoming, along the Utah border, centred near 41°17′N 110°33′W.
What is the population of Uinta County?
20,450 people at the 2020 census.
How big is Uinta County?
2,088 square miles (5,410 km2), the second-smallest county in Wyoming by area.
What is the county seat of Uinta County?
Evanston is the county seat.
How many towns are in Uinta County?
One city (Evanston) and three incorporated towns (Bear River, Lyman, Mountain View), plus several unincorporated communities and ghost towns.
What ZIP codes are in Uinta County?
82930 and 82931 (Evanston), 82937 (Lyman), 82939 (Mountain View), and 82933 (Fort Bridger).
What is Fort Bridger?
A historic 1843 fur-trading post and later U.S. Army fort, now a Wyoming state historic site near the town of Fort Bridger.
More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Wyoming.