{"id":8975,"date":"2023-10-11T17:50:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T17:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=8975"},"modified":"2026-08-08T22:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T22:53:15","slug":"sweetwater-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/sweetwater-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweetwater County, Wyoming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sweetwater County is a county in Wyoming, United States, about 90 miles west of Rawlins along
\nInterstate 80. It had a population of 42,272 at the 2020 census, an estimated 41,267 by 2025, and
\ncovers 10,427 square miles (27,010 km2) of land centred near 41\u00b040\u2032N 108\u00b053\u2032W — the largest
\ncounty by area in Wyoming and the eighth-largest in the country outside Alaska.<\/p>\n

Green River is the county seat; its postal code is 82935. Rock Springs is the county’s largest
\ncity. The county holds 2 cities, 4 incorporated towns and 13 census-designated places, plus a
\nhandful of smaller unincorporated communities and ghost towns, and it runs on Mountain Time. Its
\nFIPS code is 56037.<\/p>\n

Towns & Villages in Sweetwater County<\/h2>\n

Sweetwater County has 19 named places with regular Census recognition: 6 incorporated cities and
\ntowns and 13 census-designated places (CDPs) with no local government of their own. CDP stands for
\ncensus designated place — a populated area the Census Bureau tracks without a municipal
\ncharter. Population and ZIP figures marked — have no reliably current Census count.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Place<\/th>\nType<\/th>\nPop.<\/th>\nZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Green River<\/td>\nCity · seat<\/td>\n11,825<\/td>\n82935<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rock Springs<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n23,526<\/td>\n82901<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wamsutter<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n203<\/td>\n82336<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Superior<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n184<\/td>\n82945<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Granger<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n98<\/td>\n82934<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bairoil<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n68<\/td>\n82322<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
North Rock Springs<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n2,439<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Reliance<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n82943<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Farson<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n82932<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Eden<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n82932<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Little America<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n82929<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Point of Rocks<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n82942<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
McKinnon<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n82938<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Table Rock<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Arrowhead Springs<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Clearview Acres<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
James Town<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Purple Sage<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Washam<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Beyond those 19 places, the county carries several unincorporated communities with no CDP
\nboundary of their own — Blairtown, Creston, Quealy, Red Desert, Riner and Sweeney Ranch
\n— and a set of former settlements now counted as ghost towns: Bryan, Dines, Kanda, Linwood
\n(straddling the Utah line) and Winton. None has a current Census count or ZIP, so none is scored
\nin the table above.<\/p>\n

Geography<\/h2>\n

Most of Sweetwater County sits inside the Great Divide Basin, a closed drainage basin where the
\nContinental Divide splits and rejoins, so no water in the basin’s interior reaches either ocean.
\nThe Red Desert, a high-elevation sagebrush steppe, covers much of the northeast. The Green River
\nflows south through the county past its namesake city on its way to the Colorado River system, and
\nFlaming Gorge Reservoir touches the county’s southwest corner near the Utah line. Water makes up
\nabout 0.6% of the county’s total area, roughly 170 km2 out of 27,170 km2 total.<\/p>\n

Sweetwater County borders Fremont
\nCounty<\/a> to the north, Carbon
\nCounty<\/a> to the east, Moffat County,
\nColorado<\/a> to the south, Summit
\nCounty<\/a> and Daggett County, Utah<\/a> to
\nthe southwest, Uinta County<\/a> to the west,
\nand Lincoln County<\/a> and
\nSublette County<\/a> to the northwest.<\/p>\n

Demographics<\/h2>\n

Sweetwater County had a population of 42,272 at the 2020 census, the fourth-highest county total
\nin Wyoming, and an estimated 41,267 residents by 2025. Rock Springs and Green River together hold
\nmore than four in five county residents; North Rock Springs, a CDP adjoining Rock Springs proper,
\nadds another 2,439. Countywide density works out to about 4.1 people per square mile, reflecting
\nthe huge land area rather than a sparse population core — the two cities themselves are
\ncomparatively dense. Wyoming’s statewide median household income was $72,415 in 2023, per the
\nCensus Bureau’s American Community Survey.<\/p>\n

Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\n

Trona mining anchors the county economy. The deposit beneath Green River is the largest known
\ntrona reserve in the world, and several companies process it into soda ash for glass, detergent
\nand chemical manufacturing: Genesis Alkali, Tata Chemicals, Solvay, Ciner Wyoming and Church &
\nDwight all operate mines or plants in the Green River Basin. Oil and natural gas wells across the
\ncounty add a second energy-sector income stream. Rock Springs also carries a coal-mining legacy
\nthat drew Welsh, British, Irish and Scandinavian immigrant families in the 19th century, and it is
\nhome to Western Wyoming Community College. Rock Springs hosts an annual International Festival and
\nWyoming’s Big Show, both drawing visitors from across the region.<\/p>\n

History<\/h2>\n

The county was organized on December 17, 1867, originally as Carter County within the Dakota
\nTerritory, before Wyoming Territory itself existed. The Wyoming Territory legislature renamed it
\nSweetwater County in 1869 for the Sweetwater River, which rises in the Wind River Range to the
\nnorth. Green River was platted by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1867 and incorporated the following
\nyear; explorer John Wesley Powell launched his pioneering expedition down the Green and Colorado
\nrivers from the townsite on May 24, 1869. Rock Springs’ history includes a dark chapter: on
\nSeptember 2, 1885, white miners attacked their Chinese coworkers in a dispute rooted in
\nanti-immigrant hostility over wages and jobs, killing at least 28 people in what is remembered as
\nthe Rock Springs massacre.<\/p>\n

Getting There<\/h2>\n

Interstate 80 runs the full width of the county west to east, joined by U.S. Highways 30 and 191
\nand Wyoming Highways 28, 370, 371, 372, 414, 430, 530 and 789. There is no interstate running
\nnorth–south through the county.<\/p>\n