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Elko is an incorporated city and the county seat of Elko County, Nevada, and the largest city in the county.

Elko was first settled in 1868, when the Central Pacific Railroad reached the area while building the first transcontinental railroad, and it was designated the county seat in 1869.

Elko was officially incorporated as a city in 1917.

The city is said to have been named by Central Pacific superintendent Charles Crocker, who was fond of animal names and added the letter "o" to "elk."

The 2020 census counted 20,564 people in Elko, up from 18,297 in 2010, and the city covers 17.6 square miles, all land, at an elevation of 5,066 feet.

The 2020-2024 American Community Survey estimated 7,608 households in Elko.

The University of Nevada was founded in Elko on October 12, 1874, as the state's first university, and it moved to Reno in the mid-1880s.

Elko serves as the center of the Ruby Valley, a region with a population of more than 55,000, and it is the principal city of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area, which covers Elko and Eureka counties.

The discovery of the Carlin Trend gold belt near Elko in 1961 began a modern gold rush, and Newmont opened its extensive gold mining operation near Carlin in 1965.

Elko has hosted the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, a week-long celebration of life in the rural West, every January since 1985, and the National Basque Festival every July since 1963.