Sheridan County
Nebraska · County seat: Rushville · Active county or equivalent
FIPS code 31161 is Sheridan County, Nebraska. With a population of 5,102 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #55 in Nebraska and #2888 nationally. The state FIPS code for Nebraska is 31. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.
County FIPS
31161
Population
5,102
2022 ACS · #2888 nationally
Density
2.1/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
2,441
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Nonmetro — completely rural
RUCC 9
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 31161 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 31 (Nebraska) with the 3-digit county identifier 161. Together they uniquely identify Sheridan County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 31161
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 31161.
Median Household Income
$53,609
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
10.8%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
45.8
ACS B01002_001E
Adjacent Counties (6)
Counties that share a border with Sheridan County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 31161.
Federal Datasets Using Code 31161
FIPS code 31161 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.
Using FIPS Code 31161 in Code
Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.
import requests
url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
"get": "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
"for": "county:161",
"in": "state:31",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Sheridan County, Nebraska, income, pop, ...]-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '31161';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '31'
AND county_fips = '161';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 31161 is WRONG for this countylibrary(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "31",
county = "161",
year = 2022
)ZIP Codes in Sheridan County
ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Sheridan County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 69365 | 100.0% |
| 69360 | 100.0% |
| 69347 | 82.3% |
| 69340 | 76.2% |
| 69335 | 61.3% |
| 69351 | 60.2% |
| 69343 | 40.0% |
| 69301 | 23.2% |
| 69337 | 6.5% |
| 69333 | 0.5% |