San Bernardino County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2000 census, the population was 1,709,434. As of 2009, the population was estimated by the California Department of Finance to have grown to 2,060,950. San Bernardino County is the largest county in the contiguous United States by area, larger in area than any of the nine smallest states, and larger than the four smallest states combined. Located in the southeast California, the thinly populated deserts and mountains of this vast county stretch from the outskirts of the densely populated Riverside-San Bernardino Area to the Nevada border.