Nevada County is located in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California. The county seat is Nevada City. Nevada County was created in 1851 and named after the mining town of Nevada City, a name derived from the term "Sierra Nevada." The word nevada in Spanish means "snowy" or "snowcovered." The county has a total area of 974 mi², 98% of it is land and 2% of it is water. As of the census of 2000, there were 92,033 people, 36,894 households, and 25,936 families residing in the county. The population density was 96/mi².