Baker County

County seat

Baker City

Judicial district

8th Judicial District (Baker County only). Baker County Circuit Court, Baker County Courthouse.

County website

bakercountyor.gov

Population, 2020 Census

16,668

Area

3,068 square miles of land

Federal land

51.2%	All federal agencies
32.7%	Forest Service
18.3%	BLM
0.2%	Bureau of Reclamation

Land and economy

About 16,700 people live in Baker County, six in ten of them in Baker City. Agriculture, forest products, manufacturing and recreation are the principal industries (Oregon Blue Book). Saint Alphonsus Medical Center is in Baker City, and the city’s Elkhorn View Industrial Park is in northwest Baker City. Interstate 84 and the Union Pacific line serve the city (Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative), and Anthony Lakes ski area and the Hells Canyon reservoirs draw visitors.

Baker County has 676 farms on about 915,000 acres, with sales split almost evenly between crops and livestock (2022 Census of Agriculture). Federal land is just over half the county, mostly Forest Service, with BLM ground to the south and east. Many parcels trace to patented mining claims and mill sites. Outside the cities, the county zoning ordinance sets farm, timber-grazing, forest and mining zones beside residential and commercial ones. Irrigation water is administered from the watermaster’s office in Baker City.

Cities

City	Population, 2020
Baker City, county seat. The county's largest city, on Interstate 84, with the hospital, the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest headquarters, a historic downtown and an industrial park. City hall: 1655 1st Street, Baker City, OR 97814, 541-523-6541.	10,099
Huntington. A small city on the Snake River at the county's southeast corner. City hall: 50 E Adams Street, Huntington, OR 97907, 541-869-2202.	502
Haines. In the north end of Baker Valley on Highway 30. Home to the Haines Stampede rodeo and the Haines museum. City hall: 819 Front Street, Haines, OR 97833, 541-856-3366.	373
Halfway. In Pine Valley between Richland and the Snake River at Oxbow, gateway to the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. City hall: 155 B E Record Street, Halfway, OR 97834, 541-742-4741.	351
Sumpter. Home to the Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area, a gold dredge open to visitors, with trails through the reclaimed wetlands. City hall: 240 N Mill Street, Sumpter, OR 97877, 541-894-2314.	204
Richland. In Eagle Valley between Halfway and the Wallowa Mountains foothills, below Hells Canyon. Highway 86 links it to Interstate 84. City hall: 89 Main Street, Richland, OR 97870, 541-893-6141.	165
Unity. On the upper Burnt River near Unity Lake State Recreation Area. City hall: PO Box 7, Unity, OR 97884, 541-446-3544.	40
Greenhorn. On the Blue Mountain ridge at 6,300 feet. The townsite straddles the Baker-Grant county line.	3

Unincorporated communities: Bourne, Bridgeport, Brownlee, Carson, Cornucopia, Durkee, Encina, Hereford, Homestead, Hutchinson, Jimtown, Keating, Lime, McEwen, New Bridge, Oxbow, Pine, Pleasant Valley, Robinette, Rye Valley, Sparta, Weatherby, Wingville.

2020 Census, P.L. 94-171 Redistricting File, place level. City hall addresses, phones and incorporation years from the Oregon Blue Book city pages and the cities' own sites, read 2026-09-05. Half.com fact from contemporary news coverage (SFGate, Deseret News, January 2000) and the Half.com company history; no Oregon Encyclopedia or Blue Book article covers it. Huntington sternwheeler fact from the Baker County Historical Society.

Baker County and its incorporated cities. Census Bureau boundaries, public domain.

Courts and public offices

Appeals go to the Oregon Court of Appeals in Salem. Federal cases from the county are filed in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon and heard in the Pendleton Division.

Baker County Circuit CourtBaker County Courthouse, 1995 3rd Street, Baker City, OR 97814 · 541-523-6303 · courts.oregon.gov. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday
County Clerk (recording, elections, passports, Property Value Appeals Board)Baker County Courthouse, 1995 Third Street, Suite 150, Baker City, OR 97814 · 541-523-8207 · bakercountyor.gov. Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
County Assessor (property records, tax maps, assessment)Baker County Courthouse, 1995 Third Street, Suite 130, Baker City, OR 97814 · 541-523-8203 · bakercountyor.gov · Property search. Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
County Surveyor (survey records, corner records, road petitions) · 541-523-3803 · bakercountyor.gov · Survey records by township. An elected office; the county's own page gives no separate street address for the office.
Planning Department (zoning, partitions, subdivisions, land use applications)Baker County Courthouse, 1995 Third Street, Suite 131, Baker City, OR 97814 · 541-523-8219 · bakercountyor.gov. Administers the unincorporated county only; each incorporated city runs its own land use program.
Sheriff, civil division (service and enforcement of civil process, sheriff's sales)3410 K Street, Baker City, OR 97814 · 541-523-6415 · bakersheriff.org
County Commissioners and administrationBaker County Courthouse, 1995 3rd Street, Baker City, OR 97814 · 541-523-8200 · bakercountyor.gov
Watermaster, Oregon Water Resources Department (water rights regulation and distribution; OWRD East Region office for Baker, Union, Wallowa, Grant, Harney and Malheur counties)39155 Pocahontas Road, Baker City, OR 97814 · 541-523-8224 · oregon.gov. Address and phone from the county phone directory and OWRD's own 2022 notice of the office's move to Pocahontas Road.
United States District Court, District of Oregon, Pendleton Division (federal cases from Baker County)John F. Kilkenny U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, 104 SW Dorion Avenue, Pendleton, OR 97801 · Clerk's office, Portland, 503-326-8000 · ord.uscourts.gov. The Pendleton courthouse is not staffed; filings go to the Portland clerk.

National forests and public land

Wallowa-Whitman National ForestSupervisor's office in Baker City.
Whitman Ranger District, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest1550 Dewey Avenue, Suite A, Baker City, OR 97814 · 541-523-6391
Whitman Ranger District, Pine Field Office38470 Pine Town Lane, Halfway, OR 97834 · 541-742-7511 · Seasonal office for the Pine Valley and Hells Canyon side of the district, April through September.
Malheur National ForestThe forest reaches into the southwest corner of the county; administered from the Prairie City Ranger District.
Prairie City Ranger District, Malheur National Forest327 SW Front Street, Prairie City, OR 97869 · 541-820-3800
Eagle Cap Wilderness and the forest's other wilderness areas
Monument Rock Wilderness19,650 acres split between the Wallowa-Whitman and Malheur national forests on the Baker-Grant county line; designated by Congress in 1984.
Hells Canyon National Recreation AreaReaches into the northeast corner of the county above Oxbow.
BLM Vale District, Baker Field Office1550 Dewey Avenue, Suite A, Baker City, OR 97814 · 541-523-1256

Maps and property records

Baker County Assessor property searchSearch by owner, address, map number or reference number.
Baker County Surveyor's survey records by township
Baker County maps pageLinks to ORMAP, FEMA flood maps and other county map resources.
ORMAPStatewide tax maps.

Laws and land use rules

Baker County Zoning Ordinance, by chapter
Baker County Comprehensive Plan, by goal
Baker City Code of OrdinancesOn Municode; codified through Ordinance No. 3401 (2024).

Development

Baker County Economic DevelopmentCreated by Baker City and Baker County to help local businesses start, stay and expand. 1995 3rd Street, Baker City; 541-523-5460.
Elkhorn View Industrial ParkCity-owned industrial park of 64 acres in northwest Baker City, west of 17th Street and south of Pocahontas Road. The city reports all lots sold.
Baker City Municipal AirportCity-owned and open to the public, with a 5,084-foot runway and Jet A and 100LL fuel.
Baker County Chamber of Commerce490 Campbell Street, Baker City. Membership organization of more than 300 businesses and organizations.
Blue Mountain Small Business Development CenterBaker City office at 3370 10th Street, Suite H. No-cost business advising and workshops.
Northeast Oregon Economic Development DistrictLoans, technical help and workshops for businesses in Baker, Union and Wallowa counties.

Resources

Oregon Judicial Department self-helpForms, fee waivers, representing yourself in circuit court.
OJD eFileElectronic filing in Oregon circuit courts.
OJCIN OnlineCase records and calendars.
BLM General Land Office RecordsOriginal patents and survey plats.
Oregon Water Resources Department water rightsCertificates, permits, points of diversion.
Oregon Water Resources Department watermaster directory
Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development

History

Henry Griffin found a gold nugget at Griffin Gulch on October 23, 1861, and Baker County was created from Wasco County on September 22, 1862, named for Edward D. Baker, a U.S. senator and Union colonel (Baker County Facts and History; Oregon Blue Book). Auburn, the mining camp on Griffin Creek, was the first county seat, and voters moved it to Baker City in 1868 (Oregon Blue Book; Auburn, Oregon Encyclopedia).

Sources for the figures

Population: 2020 Census, P.L. 94-171 Redistricting File, Oregon, table P1
Area: Census Bureau 2020 Gazetteer, Oregon counties: 3,067.97 sq mi land, 20.01 water
Federal land: BLM National Surface Management Agency dataset, clipped to the Census county boundary and measured in Albers equal-area by maps/fedland.py; SMA data edited 2026-07-03; computed 2026-09-05. State of Oregon 9,100 acres (0.5 percent); Department of Energy 1,600 acres (0.1 percent); private 950,000 acres (48.1 percent); 3,300 acres coded undetermined (0.2 percent).
Unincorporated places: USGS Geographic Names Information System, Oregon populated places, downloaded 2026-09-05; historical entries and duplicate mining-camp names omitted
County, court and city addresses checked Sat Sep 05.

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