Scotts Bluff County is a county located on the western border of the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 census, the population was 36,970. Its county seat is Gering and its largest city is Scottsbluff. Scotts Bluff County is included in the Scottsbluff, NE Micropolitan Statistical Area.
In the Nebraska license plate system, Scotts Bluff County is represented by the prefix 21, since the county had the twenty-first-largest number of registered vehicles registered when the state's license-plate system was established in 1922.
The county is named after a prominent bluff that served as a landmark for 19th-century pioneers traveling along the Oregon Trail. The bluff was named after Hiram Scott, a fur trapper who died nearby in 1828. The bluff is now managed by the National Park Service as Scotts Bluff National Monument.
The town of Gering was founded at the base of the bluff in 1887, and the city of Scottsbluff was founded across the North Platte River in 1900. Joined by the river, the former transportation highway, the two cities have since grown together. They now form the 7th-largest urban area in Nebraska.