Nebraska County Map: All 93 Counties

Under Nebraska Revised Statutes Section 23-148, counties may be organized under either the commissioner system or the township-supervisor system. In the 66 commissioner counties (predominant in western and central Nebraska), administrative authority is held by a 3- or 5-member Board of County Commissioners, and no township layer exists.

In the 27 supervisor counties (such as Platte, Adams, Gage, and Buffalo), voters historically favored grassroots Midwestern township democracy. These counties are divided into seven supervisor districts, with underlying civil townships electing township boards to manage township gravel roads and cemetery trusts.

Both systems are responsible for assessing ad valorem real estate taxes, maintaining county bridges, financing the county sheriff and jail, and administering state and federal elections through elected county clerks.

Covering nearly 6,000 square miles across north-central Nebraska along the South Dakota border, Cherry County is the largest county in Nebraska and the fifth-largest county in the United States outside Alaska. It is larger than Connecticut and Delaware combined.

Geologically, Cherry County lies at the core of the Nebraska Sandhills, the largest sand dune formation in the Western Hemisphere, blanketed by native prairie grasses and resting directly atop the massive Ogallala Aquifer. With over 160,000 head of beef cattle and fewer than 6,000 human residents, cattle outnumber humans by nearly 30 to 1.

In stark contrast, over 55% of Nebraska's population resides in just two eastern urban counties: Douglas (Omaha) and Lancaster (Lincoln, the state capital and home of the University of Nebraska), creating dramatic legislative dynamics in the state Unicameral.