[3][4][5] It was named for Rutherford B. Hayes, the US President at the time of the county's creation.

[6] In the Nebraska license plate system, Hayes County is represented by the prefix 79 (it had the seventy-ninth-largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922).

Small creeks and streams drain the upper elevations; the largest is Red Willow Creek, which drains to Hugh Butler Lake just east of the SE corner of Hayes County, in Frontier County.

[8] As of the 2000 United States Census,[14] there were 1,068 people, 430 households, and 312 families in the county.

In no national election since 1936 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate.

In 2024, Donald Trump received 95.55% of the vote, the highest percentage ever for a Republican.