List of counties in Utah


There are 29 counties in the U.S. state of Utah. There were originally seven counties established under the provisional State of Deseret in 1849: Davis, Iron, Sanpete, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah, and Weber. The Territory of Utah was created in 1851 with the first territorial legislature meeting from 1851-1852. The first legislature re-created the original counties from the State of Deseret under territorial law as well as establishing three additional counties: Juab, Millard, and Washington. All other counties were established between 1854 and 1894 by the Utah Territorial Legislature under territorial law except for the last two counties formed, Daggett and Duchesne. They were created by popular vote and by gubernatorial proclamation after Utah became a state. Present-day Duchesne County encompassed an Indian reservation that was created in 1861. The reservation was opened to homesteaders in 1905 and the county was created in 1913. Due to dangerous roads, mountainous terrain, and bad weather preventing travel via a direct route, 19th century residents in present-day Daggett County had to travel on both stage and rail to conduct business in Vernal, the county seat for Uintah County a mere away. In 1917, all Uintah County residents voted to create Daggett County.
Based on the 2010 United States Census data, the population of Utah was 2,763,885. Just over 75% of Utah's population is concentrated along four Wasatch Front counties of Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, and Weber. Salt Lake County was the largest county in the state with a population of 1,029,655, followed by Utah County with 516,564, Davis County with 306,479 and Weber County with 231,236. Daggett County was the least populated with 1,059 people. The largest county in land area is San Juan County with and Davis County is the smallest with.
The Federal Information Processing Standard code, which is used by the United States government to uniquely identify states and counties, is provided with each county. Utah's FIPS code is 49, which when combined with any county code would be written as 49XXX. In the FIPS code column in the table below, each FIPS code links to the most current census data for that county.

Counties

Former counties

There were ten counties in the Territory of Utah that were absorbed by other states or Utah counties.
CountyEstablishedSupersededEtymologyPresent location
Carson County18541861Named for the Carson River, a river in Nevada and California that originates from the Sierra Nevada MountainsNevada
Cedar County18561862Named for the numerous cedar trees growing in the area Utah County
Desert County18521862Named for the surrounding desertBox Elder County, Tooele County and Nevada
Greasewood County18561862Named for the greasewood plant growing in the areaBox Elder County
Green River County18521872Named for the Green River, a tributary of the Colorado River that runs through Wyoming, Colorado and UtahCache, Weber, Morgan, Davis, Wasatch, Summit, Duchesne, Carbon, and Utah Counties, and Wyoming and Colorado
Humboldt County18561861Named for the Humboldt River, a river in Nevada and longest river in the Great BasinNevada
Malad County18561862Named for the Malad River, the name being French for "sickly"Box Elder County
Rio Virgin County18691872Named for the Virgin River, a tributary of the Colorado River located in southern Utah and NevadaWashington County, Nevada and Arizona
St. Mary's County18561861Named after the Mary's River, which was later renamed to the Humboldt RiverNevada
Shambip County18561862Goshute Native American Tribe word for Rush LakeTooele County