Barnes County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,853. Its county seat is Valley City. In 1872, the Dakota Territory legislature authorized Burbank County; in 1874 they renamed it Barnes County, for Alanson H. Barnes, an associate justice of the Territorial Court. It was organized at Valley City on January 6, 1879.