NV · Silver State · West · admitted 1864 (#36)
Nevada map
Nevada highlighted on the US map, with its capital Carson City near Lake Tahoe and largest city Las Vegas in the far south. Three-quarters of the state's people live in Clark County.
- Capital
- Carson City
- Largest city
- Las Vegas
- Population (2020)
- 3,104,614
- Area
- 110,572 sq mi
- Counties
- 17
- Time zone
- Pacific (West Wendover on Mountain)
- Region
- West · Mountain
- Statehood
- October 31, 1864
Where Nevada is
Nevada is the wedge-shaped state in the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and Utah. It stretches about 490 miles north to south and about 320 miles east to west at the top, narrowing to a point at the Colorado River in the south. Clockwise from the north: Oregon and Idaho along the 42nd parallel, Utah along a meridian to the east, Arizona to the southeast across the Colorado River, and California along the long diagonal to the southwest and west. It is the seventh-largest state by area and the driest, with most of its area above 4,000 ft.
Major cities
| City | Region of state | Population (2020) |
|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas | Clark County, south | 641,903 |
| Henderson | Las Vegas Valley | 317,610 |
| Reno | Truckee Meadows, northwest | 264,165 |
| North Las Vegas | Las Vegas Valley | 262,527 |
| Sparks | Truckee Meadows, northwest | 108,445 |
| Carson City (capital) | Western edge, near Lake Tahoe | 58,639 |
Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas are contiguous; Clark County alone held about 2.27 million people in 2020. Reno and Sparks form the second cluster, 450 miles away by road in the northwest.
Geography
- Highest point — Boundary Peak, 13,140 ft, in the White Mountains on the California line; Wheeler Peak (13,063 ft) in Great Basin National Park is the highest summit entirely within Nevada.
- Basin and Range — more than 150 north–south mountain ranges separated by flat valleys; almost none of the state's rivers reach the sea.
- Humboldt River — about 300 miles across the north from near Wells to the Humboldt Sink; Interstate 80 follows it.
- Lakes — Lake Tahoe on the California line (the state line runs through it), Pyramid Lake and Walker Lake, both terminal lakes, and Lake Mead, the reservoir behind Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.
- Deserts — the Great Basin Desert covers most of the state; the Mojave Desert covers the southern tip around Las Vegas. See the deserts map.
- Lowest point — about 480 ft on the Colorado River at the Arizona line south of Laughlin.
Borders
All of Nevada's borders except the Colorado River are surveyed lines. The 42nd parallel forms the border with Oregon and Idaho. The eastern border with Utah is a meridian (about 114°03'W), with the town of West Wendover keeping Mountain Time to match its Utah neighbor Wendover. The California border is two straight segments: 120°W south from the Oregon line to Lake Tahoe, then a diagonal running southeast about 400 miles to the Colorado River. The short Arizona border follows the Colorado River, including the shoreline of Lake Mead.
Regions of Nevada
Southern Nevada (Las Vegas Valley, Laughlin, Pahrump), Western Nevada (Reno–Sparks, Carson City, Lake Tahoe, Fallon), and the sparsely settled Northern and Central Nevada of Elko, Winnemucca, Ely and Tonopah, often called rural Nevada. Nye County, the third-largest county in the contiguous US, covers the center of the state.
Related maps
- Nevada county map — all 16 counties plus the consolidated municipality of Carson City.
- Blank Nevada map — outline for printing.
- Printable Nevada map.
- Carson City — the capital, 30 miles south of Reno.
- Neighbors: Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, California.
- West, Mountain division, Southwest, Pacific Time Zone.
- Geography: Sierra Nevada, Mojave Desert, Colorado River.