The 30 counties with the most historic gold producers
| # | County | USGS historic producers | Large or medium output class | MSHA, not abandoned |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calaveras County, CA | 1,087 | 12 | 0 |
| 2 | Clear Creek County, CO | 1,018 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | Nevada County, CA | 969 | 17 | 2 |
| 4 | Siskiyou County, CA | 919 | 10 | 0 |
| 5 | Yukon-Koyukuk, AK | 726 | 3 | 14 |
| 6 | Nome, AK | 699 | 1 | 6 |
| 7 | San Bernardino County, CA | 691 | 6 | 2 |
| 8 | Yavapai County, AZ | 650 | 4 | 2 |
| 9 | Mariposa County, CA | 642 | 2 | 1 |
| 10 | Pima County, AZ | 632 | 10 | 1 |
| 11 | Sierra County, CA | 570 | 7 | 1 |
| 12 | Elko County, NV | 570 | 40 | 9 |
| 13 | Placer County, CA | 547 | 3 | 1 |
| 14 | Lander County, NV | 543 | 18 | 3 |
| 15 | Nye County, NV | 536 | 22 | 5 |
| 16 | Kern County, CA | 534 | 2 | 1 |
| 17 | El Dorado County, CA | 514 | 10 | 0 |
| 18 | Teller County, CO | 501 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | Trinity County, CA | 479 | 3 | 0 |
| 20 | Madison County, MT | 460 | 2 | 2 |
| 21 | Jefferson County, MT | 437 | 4 | 1 |
| 22 | Tuolumne County, CA | 430 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Pershing County, NV | 429 | 10 | 4 |
| 24 | Boulder County, CO | 428 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | Cochise County, AZ | 425 | 26 | 0 |
| 26 | Inyo County, CA | 408 | 6 | 0 |
| 27 | Josephine County, OR | 407 | 3 | 2 |
| 28 | Mohave County, AZ | 398 | 1 | 3 |
| 29 | Shasta County, CA | 387 | 1 | 1 |
| 30 | Baker County, OR | 373 | 0 | 5 |
Reading the table
568 counties in 38 states have at least one historic gold producer in the data. Of the ten leading counties, California has 5, Alaska has 2, Arizona has 2, Colorado has 1.
"Output class" is a USGS code (small, medium or large) whose meaning changed over the years, so use it to compare sites inside this data, not as a tonnage figure. A county with many records is not necessarily a county with a lot of gold: it can also mean a district that was mapped in detail.
How these numbers were made
- USGS data: the Mineral Resources Data System, retrieved 2026-10-13. It was last updated around 2011 and a "producer" in it is not necessarily operating today.
- MSHA data: the public Mines data set, retrieved 2026-10-13. It covers only mines that report to MSHA, so small placer and recreational sites are missing.
- Counts are producers, past producers and plants. Prospects and occurrences are excluded. Sites matched to an MSHA mine are counted in the MSHA column instead.
Data refreshed 2026-10-13. Spotted a mistake? Email admin@orelist.com with the page address.
More guides
Largest gold mines in the US by employeesWhich states have the most gold mines?Who owns the land under abandoned gold mines?Largest historic gold mines in USGS recordsSurface vs underground gold mines in the USGold panning rules on public land: what the agencies say