Phelps County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 8,968. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Holdrege. The county was formed in 1873, and was named for William Phelps (1808–1889), a steamboat captain and early settler. In the Nebraska license plate system, Phelps County is represented by the prefix 37 (it had the 37th-largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922). It is considered part of the Kearney μSA's development and expansion plans.

Geography

Phelps County terrain consists of low rolling hills, mostly devoted to agriculture, sloping to the east, and dropping off toward the river basin along its northern boundary line. The

Platte River The Platte River () is a major American river, in the state of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, w ...

flows eastward along the north line. The county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.1%) is water.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 6 * US 34

U.S. Highway 34 * US 183

U.S. Highway 183 * N-23

Nebraska Highway 23

Transit

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville station, Emeryville), via Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha, Denver, Sa ...

'' ('' Holdrege station'')

Adjacent counties

* Kearney County – east * Franklin County – southeast * Harlan County – south * Furnas County – southwest * Gosper County – west * Dawson County – northwest * Buffalo County – northeast

Protected areas

* Atlanta Marsh National Wildlife Management Area * Cottonwood Federal Waterfowl Production Area * Johnson Federal Waterfowl Production Area * Jones Federal Waterfowl Production Area * Lake Seldom Wildlife Refuge * Lynder Federal Waterfowl Production Area * Richardson Lagoon State Wildlife Management Area * Sacramento-Wilcox State Wildlife Management Area

Demographics

As of the 2000 United States Census, there were 9,747 people, 3,844 households, and 2,683 families in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 4,191 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.79%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.11%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.28% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 0.79% from other races, and 0.75% from two or more races. 2.26% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 3,844 households, out of which 33.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.60% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 5.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.20% were non-families. 26.70% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.00. The county population contained 26.50% under the age of 18, 6.10% from 18 to 24, 25.80% from 25 to 44, 23.60% from 45 to 64, and 18.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 96.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $37,319, and the median income for a family was $44,943. Males had a median income of $28,962 versus $21,741 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $19,044. About 6.20% of families and 8.90% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 12.10% of those under age 18 and 7.70% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

City

* Holdrege (county seat)

Villages

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

* Bertrand *

Funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

* Loomis

Unincorporated communities

* Clyde *

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

* Westmark

Townships

* Anderson * Center * Cottonwood * Divide *

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...

* Industry-Rock Falls *

Laird Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...

Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

* Sheridan * Union * Westmark * Westside * Williamsburg

Politics

Phelps County voters have been reliably Republican for decades. In no national election since 1936 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate (as of 2024).

References

{{authority control 1873 establishments in Nebraska Populated places established in 1873