How this list was compiled: Items made on 2026-09-26. Licence: public domain (work of the United States government, 17 U.S.C. 105): https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/data/tiger/tgrshp2023/TGRSHP2023_TechDoc_Ch1.pdf
The drawing: Drawn for this site from U.S. Census Bureau 2023 cartographic boundary file cb_2023_us_county_5m (scale 1:5,000,000), https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/GENZ2023/shp/cb_2023_us_county_5m.zip, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from U.S. Census Bureau 2023 cartographic boundary file cb_2023_us_state_5m (scale 1:5,000,000), https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/GENZ2023/shp/cb_2023_us_state_5m.zip, downloaded 2026-09-19. Albers equal-area conic projection, central meridian 98.2°W, standard parallels 40.5°N and 42.5°N. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (work of the United States government, 17 U.S.C. 105): https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/data/tiger/tgrshp2023/TGRSHP2023_TechDoc_Ch1.pdf
How it works
This Nebraska counties map quiz asks for all 93 by name on a blank map of the state: tap Cherry, the giant on the South Dakota line, or Sarpy, the smallest, just south of Omaha's Douglas County.
Read the full guide
Lincoln is not in Lincoln County
Lincoln, the capital, is in Lancaster County in the southeast. Lincoln County is far to the west, and its seat is North Platte. Kearney is the same trap: the city is the seat of Buffalo County, and Kearney County, seat Minden, is the next shape south.
Six neighbors, fifty names of its own
Kansas has 24 of Nebraska's county names, Missouri 21, Iowa 17, South Dakota 10, Colorado 9 and Wyoming 4; no name is in all six. Fifty of the 93 are found in no neighbor: Keya Paha, Box Butte, Red Willow, Nuckolls and Otoe, to name five. Typed, Keya Paha is right with or without the word County.
Start with the corners: Sioux, Kimball, Dundy and Richardson each touch two other states, and so do Otoe and Dakota on the Iowa side.
Dawes and Dawson are far apart: Dawes is in the northwest, Dawson halfway across, in the south.
Questions and answers
What is the smallest county in Nebraska?
Sarpy County, by area, and nothing on this map is drawn smaller. Its seat is Papillion, and only Douglas and Lancaster counties have more people.
Which Nebraska county has the fewest people?
McPherson County: 369 people in the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Arthur County, its neighbor to the west, has 396, and Blaine County 458.
Is it Scotts Bluff or Scottsbluff?
Both, for different places. The county is two words, Scotts Bluff, in the Census Bureau's county list this quiz follows; Scottsbluff, its largest city, is one word. The county seat is Gering.
Which Nebraska counties border Wyoming?
Four, down the west edge of the map from north to south: Sioux, Scotts Bluff, Banner and Kimball.