Coordinates: 40°50′N 115°46′W / 40.833°N 115.767°W / 40.833; -115.767
Elko (Shoshoni: Natakkoa, “Rocks Piled on One Another”) is the largest city in and county chair of Elko County, Nevada, United States. With a 2020 population of 20,564, Elko is currently growing at a rate of 0.31% annually and its population has increased by 11.86% since the 2010 Census, which recorded a population of 18,297. Elko serves as the economic hub of the Ruby Valley, a region with a population of on culmination of 55,000.
Elko is 21 miles (34 km) from Lamoille Canyon and the Ruby Mountains, dubbed the Swiss Alps of Nevada, providing year circular access to recreation including hiking, skiing, hunting, and higher than 20 alpine lakes.
The city straddles the Humboldt River. Most of the residents in Elko stir within the Tree Streets, houses lined once trees and greenery. Spring Creek, Nevada, serves as a bedroom community 6 miles (9.7 km) from the city taking into account a population of 13,805.

Elko is the principal city of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Elko and Eureka counties. It is the largest city for on culmination of 130 miles (210 km) in whatever directions, making it, as its city motto states, “The Heart of Northeast Nevada”.

It is house to Great Basin College, as without difficulty as to the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office serving most of northern and central Nevada.

Though Elko lies along the route of the historic California Trail, its roots as a arranged town date only urge on to its initiation in 1868 by white settlers, when it was at the east decrease of the railroad tracks built by the Central Pacific Railroad (the ration of the First transcontinental railroad built from California to Utah). When the railroad crews moved on, Elko remained, serving as a middle for ranching, mining, rail freight and general supplies.