Thurston County is the northeasternmost

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 of

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 6,773. 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 Pender. In the Nebraska license plate system, Thurston County is represented by the prefix 55 (it had the 55th-largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922). The Siouan-speaking

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

and

Ho-Chunk The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hocąk, Hoocągra, or Winnebago are a Siouan languages, Siouan-speaking Native Americans in the United States, Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois ...

have reservations in Thurston County. The two reservations combined comprise the county's entire land area.

History

Varying cultures of

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

lived along the rivers for hundreds of years before European encounter. The Omaha occupied this territory and much of Nebraska and western Iowa before the Europeans arrived. They had migrated west from the Ohio Valley under pressure from the

Iroquois Confederacy The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

in the early 17th century. Thurston County was organized by European Americans in 1889 from land that had been divided between Dakota and Burt counties since the dissolution of Blackbird County in 1879. It was named for US Senator John M. Thurston.

Geography

Thurston County lies on the east side of Nebraska. Its east boundary line abuts the west boundary line of the state of

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, across the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

. The west portion of the county is drained by the Logan Creek Drainage, which flows south-southeast. Thurston County has a total area of , of which is land and (0.6%) is water. The land area of the county is completely comprised from the

and Winnebago

Indian reservation An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose gov ...

Major highways

U.S. Highway 75 * US 77

U.S. Highway 77 * N-9

Nebraska Highway 9 * N-16

Nebraska Highway 16 * N-94

Nebraska Highway 94

Adjacent counties

* Dakota County - north *

Woodbury County, Iowa Woodbury County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 105,941, making it the sixth-most populous county in Iowa. The county seat is Sioux City ...

- northeast * Monona County, Iowa - east * Burt County - southeast * Cuming County - southwest * Wayne County - west * Dixon County - northwest

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census The racial make up of the county was 36.1% non-Hispanic white, .4% African American, 57.5% Native American, .1% Asian, and 3.8% Hispanic. As of the 2000 United States Census, there were 7,171 people, 2,255 households, and 1,725 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 2,467 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 45.77%

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 ...

, 0.15%

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 ...

, 52.03% Native American, 0.06% Asian, 0.77% from other races, and 1.23% from two or more races.

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 were 2.43% of the population. 25.9% were of German ancestry. The villages of Emerson, Rosalie, Pender, and Thurston are predominantly white, while the villages of Macy, Walthill, and Winnebago are predominantly Native American. There were 2,255 households, out of which 40.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.60% 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, 19.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.50% were non-families. 21.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.14 and the average family size was 3.64. The county population contained 36.80% under the age of 18, 8.30% from 18 to 24, 23.90% from 25 to 44, 17.70% from 45 to 64, and 13.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 99.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.40 males. The median income for a household in the county was $28,170, and the median income for a family was $30,893. Males had a median income of $24,792 versus $20,481 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 $10,951. About 19.30% of families and 25.60% 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 32.60% of those under age 18 and 14.70% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

In recent decades, Native Americans in the United States have become more active politically, voting in increasing numbers in local, state, and national elections. In 2004, Thurston, a majority-Native American county, was the only one in Nebraska with a majority voting for the Democratic Party presidential candidate,

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

. Voter interest was high, and the 2008 presidential election was preceded by a major voter registration drive. The majority of voters in Thurston County voted for Democratic candidate

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, making the county one of four such in the state. In the 2012 presidential election, Thurston was the only Nebraska county that voted for Obama in his successful re-election bid. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, the county flipped, voting for Republican Donald Trump. In the 2024 presidential election, Trump expanded on his previous performances, carrying it by about 7%. The predominantly Native American communities in the east of the county (Winnebago, Walthill and Macy) lean Democratic, but despite them having more population altogether than the Republican predominantly white communities in the west of the county, they sport lower voter turnouts.

Communities

Villages

* Emerson (partial) * Pender (county seat) * Rosalie * Thurston * Walthill * Winnebago

Census-designated place

* Macy

Townships

* Anderson * Blackbird * Bryan * Dawes * Flournoy * Merry *

* Pender *

Perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...

* Thayer * Winnebago