Malheur County
County seat
Vale
Judicial district
9th Judicial District (Malheur County alone). Malheur County Circuit Court, Malheur County Courthouse.
County website
Population, 2020 Census
31,571
Area
9,888 square miles of land
Federal land
| 73.6% | All federal agencies |
| 72.8% | Bureau of Land Management |
| 0.7% | Bureau of Reclamation |
| 0.1% | Forest Service |
| less than 0.1% | Fish and Wildlife Service |
Land and economy
About 31,600 people live in Malheur County, more than half of them in Ontario, Nyssa and Vale. Agriculture, livestock, food processing and recreation are the principal industries (Oregon Blue Book), and the Treasure Valley grows over 40 percent of the Pacific Northwest’s onions (Malheur County Economic Development). Interstate 84, the Union Pacific main line and US 20-26/201 serve the valley (Business Oregon), and in 2025 the BLM offered 5,235 acres near Vale for geothermal leasing (BLM). The BLM has approved the Grassy Mountain gold mine near Vale (BLM) and lithium exploration (BLM), and a Nyssa truck-to-rail reload center is planned (county economic development). Most of the county keeps Mountain Time (Oregon Judicial Department).
The county is 94 percent rangeland (Malheur County), with irrigated bottomland around Ontario, Nyssa and Vale. Nearly three-quarters of the county is federal, almost all of it BLM (BLM Malheur Field Office). Outside the cities, the county’s zoning and partition regulations govern what can be built or divided. The county surveyor keeps survey and corner records, and irrigation water is administered from the watermaster’s office in Vale.
Cities
| City | Population, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Ontario. The county's largest city, on the Snake River at the Idaho line, with Treasure Valley Community College and the municipal airport. City hall: 444 SW Fourth Street, Ontario, OR 97914, 541-881-3201. | 11,645 |
| Nyssa. On the Snake River south of Ontario, a farm center for onions, sugar beets and potatoes and home to the Thunderegg Days rock show. City hall: 301 Main Street, Nyssa, OR 97913, 541-372-2264. | 3,198 |
| Vale, county seat. On the Malheur River, with Oregon Trail murals and a swimming pool heated by geothermal water. City hall: 150 Longfellow Street North, Vale, OR 97918, 541-473-3133. | 1,894 |
| Adrian. A small town near the Snake and Owyhee Rivers, in the Owyhee Project irrigation area. City hall: PO Box 226, Adrian, OR 97901, 541-372-2179. | 157 |
| Jordan Valley. A ranching town on Jordan Creek in the county's south, the gateway to the Owyhee Canyonlands. City hall: 306 Blackaby Street (PO Box 187), Jordan Valley, OR 97910, 541-586-2460. | 130 |
Unincorporated communities: Annex, Arcadia, Arock, Basque, Beulah, Bonita, Brogan, Cairo, Creston, Crowley, Danner, Dennis, Eldorado, Harper, Ironside, Jamieson, Juntura, Nyssa Heights, Ontario Heights, Owyhee, Riverside, Rome, Sheaville, Westfall, Willowcreek.
2020 Census, P.L. 94-171 Redistricting File, place level. City hall addresses, phones and incorporation years from the Oregon Blue Book city pages, read 2026-09-05. Blurb facts from the Oregon Encyclopedia (Ontario, Vale, Adrian, Jordan Valley) and the Blue Book.
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.
- Malheur County Circuit CourtMalheur County Courthouse, 251 B Street West, Vale, OR 97918 (2nd floor) · 541-473-5171 · courts.oregon.gov. 8 to noon and 1 to 4:30, Monday to Friday, Mountain Time; closed legal holidays. Two circuit judges sit in the district.
- County Clerk (recording, elections, passports, marriage licenses, Property Value Appeals Board)251 B Street West, Suite 4 (Room 101), Vale, OR 97918 · 541-473-5151 · malheurco.org · Real estate recording · Recording query (login required). 8:30 to 5, Mountain Time, Monday to Friday (closed the lunch hour); recording and document acceptance 8:30 to 4:30
- Assessor (property valuation, cartography, records, exemptions, Board of Property Tax Appeals)251 B Street West, Vale, OR 97918 (Room 109) · 541-473-5117 · malheurco.org · Assessment search
- County Surveyor (survey records, corner records, plat review)251 B Street West, #7, Vale, OR 97918 · 541-473-5520 · malheurco.org · Survey and corner records map. Unlike most of the firm's rural counties, the Malheur County Surveyor is a county employee (a staff of one) working out of the courthouse, appointed by the County Court, not a private-practice surveyor with a separate office.
- Planning Department (zoning permits, land use applications, partitions, Planning Commission)251 B Street West, #12, Vale, OR 97918 · 541-473-5185 · malheurco.org · Zoning and tax lot map
- Sheriff, civil division (service of civil process (summons, garnishments, restraining orders), concealed handgun licenses)151 B Street West, Vale, OR 97918 · 541-473-5126 · sheriff.malheurco.org
- County Court (county governing body) (the county's governing body: a County Judge who chairs a three-member Commission, meeting weekly)251 B Street West, Suite 5, Vale, OR 97918 · 541-473-5124 · malheurco.org. Malheur County is one of the few remaining Oregon counties governed by a County Court (an elected County Judge presiding over two commissioners) rather than a Board of Commissioners.
- Watermaster, District 9, Oregon Water Resources Department (water rights regulation and distribution)251 B Street West, Suite 15, Vale, OR 97918 · 541-473-5130 · oregon.gov. Address and phone from the county contact page; confirm district boundary on the OWRD directory.
- United States District Court, District of Oregon, Pendleton Division (federal cases from Malheur 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
- BLM Vale District, Malheur Field Office100 Oregon Street, Vale, OR 97918 · 541-473-3144 · Field office staff sit at the Vale District Office and manage about 4.6 million acres across Malheur, Grant and Harney Counties and a small part of Elko County, Nevada, by far the largest landholder in the county.
- Vale District Office, Bureau of Land ManagementDistrict headquarters, also in Vale; the district's other field office (Baker) is in Baker City.
- Leslie Gulch Area of Critical Environmental ConcernBLM-managed rhyolite canyon on Lake Owyhee's east shore.
- Owyhee CanyonlandsBLM-managed high desert canyon country in the county's south and west, including Succor Creek and the Owyhee River's wild and scenic segments.
- Lake Owyhee State ParkOregon State Parks; two campgrounds on the 53-mile Owyhee Reservoir.
- Succor Creek State Natural AreaOregon State Parks; primitive camping in a rock-hound canyon reached by 15 miles of dirt road off Highway 201.
- Bureau of Reclamation, Owyhee Project (Owyhee Dam and Lake Owyhee)Pacific Northwest Region, Snake River Area Office (Boise). Irrigation storage project on the Owyhee River.
- Malheur National ForestCentered in Grant and Harney Counties; only a small sliver (under 4,000 acres) falls inside Malheur County's north edge.
- Emigrant Creek Ranger District, Malheur National Forest265 Highway 20 South, Hines, OR 97738 · 541-573-4300 · The forest's southern district, nearest the county's small forested corner.
Maps and property records
- Malheur County GIS online map (tax lots and address points)
- GIS various maps
- Assessment search (property records and tax statements)
- Recording query, Digital Research Room (login required)
- Planning and zoning tax lot map
- Survey and corner records map
- County and city zone codes
- ORMAPStatewide tax maps.
Laws and land use rules
- Malheur County CodeOn American Legal Publishing.
- Malheur County zoning regulations
- Malheur County floodplain development regulations
- Malheur County subdivision and land partitioning regulations
- Malheur County comprehensive plan (1985, Goal 3 update)
- Ontario Code of OrdinancesOn Municode.
- Nyssa City CodeOn American Legal Publishing.
- Vale City Code and CharterHosted by the city as PDF titles, not on Municode or American Legal Publishing.
Development
- Malheur County Economic DevelopmentBusiness start-up help, property listings, industrial development financing and incentives.
- Ontario Municipal AirportOntario's municipal airport, with 24-hour self-serve fuel.
- Ontario Area Chamber of CommerceBusiness directory and community calendar for the Western Treasure Valley.
- Vale Chamber of CommerceBusiness directory for Vale, with Oregon Trail Days and the rodeo.
- Treasure Valley Small Business Development Center650 College Blvd, Ontario, 541-881-5772. Free advising for new and existing businesses.
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 rights
- Oregon Water Resources Department watermaster directory
- Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development
History
The legislature created Malheur County from Baker County on February 17, 1887, with the seat at Vale (Oregon Blue Book). Owyhee Dam, begun in 1928 and dedicated in 1932, stores water for the Owyhee Project, which irrigates farm ground around Adrian, Nyssa, Ontario and Vale (Bureau of Reclamation, Owyhee Project).
Further reading
- Oregon Blue Book: Malheur CountyOregon Secretary of State
- Welcome to Malheur County (county history)Malheur County
- Owyhee CanyonlandsAlan St. John, Oregon Encyclopedia
- Owyhee ProjectEric A. Stene, Bureau of Reclamation, 1996Bureau of Reclamation project history series.
- Four Rivers Cultural Center and MuseumFour Rivers Cultural Center676 SW 5th Avenue, Ontario, OR 97914676 SW Fifth Avenue, Ontario.
- Rinehart Stone House Museum (Malheur County Historical Society)Vale Chamber of CommerceMain Street South, Vale, OR 97918Main Street South, Vale, in the 1872 Rinehart Stone House, the county's first permanent building; open May through October. No independent society website found.
Sources for the figures
- Population: 2020 Census, P.L. 94-171 Redistricting File, Oregon, table P1
- Area: Census Bureau 2020 Gazetteer, Oregon counties: 9,887.71 sq mi land, 42.08 sq mi water. Oregon's second-largest county by land area.
- 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 286,400 acres (4.5 percent); private 1,365,500 acres (21.5 percent); Bureau of Indian Affairs 18,700 acres (0.3 percent); 8,200 acres coded undetermined; smaller shares to local government, the FAA and the Department of Energy.
- Unincorporated places: USGS Geographic Names Information System, Oregon populated places, downloaded 2026-09-05; historical entries omitted. Not filtered for small residential subdivisions (e.g. Nyssa Heights, Ontario Heights) that may be closer to developments than communities; see editor notes.
- County, court and city addresses checked Sat Sep 05.