[2] The county was formed in 1854 and named after Francis Burt, the first governor of Nebraska Territory.

[3] In the Nebraska license plate system, Burt County is represented by the prefix 31 (it had the 31st-largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922).

As of the 2000 United States Census,[10] there were 7,791 people, 3,155 households, and 2,240 families in the county.

33.7% were of German, 13.9% Swedish, 10.1% Irish, 8.8% American, 7.0% English and 5.4% Danish ancestry according to Census 2000.

No Democratic Party candidate has carried the county in a national election since 1936.