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County · code 19165

Shelby CountyIowa

Shelby County is in Iowa and has its seat in Harlan. It was created on January 15, 1851, from Pottawattamie County and other territory.

  • Founded1851
  • County seatHarlan
  • Named forIsaac Shelby
  • Land area591 sq mi + 0.6 sq mi water
  • Population11,746 2020 Census
  • Parcels mapped17,274 checked 15 October 2026
Open the free map Click any parcel in Shelby County: acreage, parcel id, address and who publishes the map. No sign-in.

Updated

CrawfordAudubonPottawattamieHarrisonCass Harlan Census outline · seat marked

Where it is

Shelby on the map of Iowa

Iowa has 99 counties and county equivalents, each with its own records office. Shapes with a page are links.

Adair CountyAdams CountyAllamakee CountyAppanoose CountyAudubon CountyBenton CountyBlack Hawk CountyBoone CountyBremer CountyBuchanan CountyBuena Vista CountyButler CountyCalhoun CountyCarroll CountyCass CountyCedar CountyCerro Gordo CountyCherokee CountyChickasaw CountyClarke CountyClay CountyClayton CountyClinton CountyCrawford CountyDallas CountyDavis CountyDecatur CountyDelaware CountyDes Moines CountyDickinson CountyDubuque CountyEmmet CountyFayette CountyFloyd CountyFranklin CountyFremont CountyGreene CountyGrundy CountyGuthrie CountyHamilton CountyHancock CountyHardin CountyHarrison CountyHenry CountyHoward CountyHumboldt CountyIda CountyIowa CountyJackson CountyJasper CountyJefferson CountyJohnson CountyJones CountyKeokuk CountyKossuth CountyLee CountyLinn CountyLouisa CountyLucas CountyLyon CountyMadison CountyMahaska CountyMarion CountyMarshall CountyMills CountyMitchell CountyMonona CountyMonroe CountyMontgomery CountyMuscatine CountyO'Brien CountyOsceola CountyPage CountyPalo Alto CountyPlymouth CountyPocahontas CountyPolk CountyPottawattamie CountyPoweshiek CountyRinggold CountySac CountyScott CountySioux CountyStory CountyTama CountyTaylor CountyUnion CountyVan Buren CountyWapello CountyWarren CountyWashington CountyWayne CountyWebster CountyWinnebago CountyWinneshiek CountyWoodbury CountyWorth CountyWright CountyShelby County Shelby
Counties of Iowa · Shelby highlighted

History

Formed in 1851 from Pottawattamie County and Dallas County

An old deed may name a county that no longer exists, or a boundary that has since moved.

Shelby County was created from Pottawattamie County and non-county area on January 15, 1851, but was not fully organized or attached to another county at first. The county was fully organized on March 7, 1853, with Carroll and Crawford counties attached to it for revenue, election, and judicial purposes. Carroll County was detached and attached to Guthrie County in 1855, and Crawford County was fully organized and detached from Shelby that same year.

Boundary changes from the Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

  1. 1851
    Shelby County created Shelby created from Pottawattamie and Non-County Area 11 attached to Dallas; Shelby not fully organized, not attached.
    from Pottawattamiefrom Dallas
    · Iowa Acts 1850-1851, ch. 9, sec. 23/pp. 32-33
  2. 1853
    Changed Shelby fully organized; Carroll and Crawford attached to Shelby "for revenue, election, and judicial purposes".
    CarrollCrawford
    · Iowa Acts 1852-1853, ch. 8, secs. 8, 13/p. 23
  3. 1855
    Changed Carroll detached from Shelby, attached to Guthrie "for judicial, election, and revenue purposes."
    CarrollGuthrie
    · Iowa Acts 1854-1855, ch. 8, secs. 1-2/pp. 6-7
  4. 1855
    Changed Crawford fully organized, detached from Shelby.
    Crawford
    · Swisher, "Organization of Counties," 574

Land and parcels

What the maps cover in Shelby

Who publishes each layer, how good it is, and when we last checked.

Official
from the office that keeps the record
Good enough
a reliable statewide or national copy
Fallback
a guide only; check the official record
Missing
nothing public found yet

People and land

Shelby by the Census

Population
11,746 2020 Census count
Housing units
5,421 2020 Census count
Land area
591 square miles
Water area
0.6 square miles
People per sq mi
20 population ÷ land area

Source: US Census Bureau, 2020 Census; US Census Bureau, 2020 Gazetteer Files. Not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.

Rules and offices

Who to ask before you build, dig or sell

Official county pages only. We link to them; we do not copy them, because they change.

Inside a city or town, permits usually come from that city rather than the county.

Zoning and code

County government

See your own lot on these maps

Open Shelby County on Parcel Chart's free map and click your parcel. Save it with a free account; the full record of your place (site map, projects, documents) is Pro, in early access.

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Questions

Common questions about Shelby County

When was Shelby County founded?
Shelby County was founded in 1851, formed from Pottawattamie County and Dallas County, and named after Isaac Shelby.
What is the county seat of Shelby County?
The county seat of Shelby County is Harlan.
Is there an online parcel map for Shelby County?
Yes. Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (statewide parcels, mirrored by the University of Iowa) publishes a parcel map of 17,274 parcels, rated fallback here. You can click any parcel on it in Parcel Chart's free map, no sign-in needed.
Has Shelby County's boundary or name changed?
Shelby County was created in 1851 from Pottawattamie County and Dallas County. Since then the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries records 3 later changes, chiefly involving Carroll County, Crawford County and Guthrie County.
Is my lot in a flood zone?
We do not have flood maps for Shelby County yet. Look up the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, which shows the effective flood map for any lot.

Nearby

Counties next door