Does Western Nebraska have too many counties?

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Absolutely it does.

[ibagli]

The USA has too many counties nearly everywhere, but that whole area between 100-104°W where all the states drew the county lines before they realized there was no water is probably the worst.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Depends. I don't know enough about local administration in Nebraska: what are the counties used for?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Depends. I don't know enough about local administration in Nebraska: what are the counties used for?

In the rural Midwest and also Great Plains like this part of Nebraska counties are primarily for administering emergency services although I'd wager in Nebraska like in North Dakota a lot pool together, it's not feasible for every one to have its own fire department and hospital/ambulance service.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

As I understand it, midwestern and Great Plains counties were generally plotted so all residents would be within a days horse ride from the county courthouse. The very largest counties in Nebraska cover the uninhabitable Sandhills and were not further divided.

[mileslunn]

They are largely square shapes so seem logical although true populations in most is very small.  The larger counties you see in Western United States are more once you hit the Rockies and westward as unlike Nebraska, mountains cover a lot of the terrain so if counties drawn like Nebraska you would have many with zero people or close to in areas further West.  Since flat in Nebraska, you will have at least 500 people in any such county as you will have all the farms which while not a lot of people still some and off course to service the farming community you will have a few villages and towns as those cannot be too far away.