" P Yates"
The parish of Voss was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1867, a small area in northern Voss (population 28) was transferred to the municipality of Hosanger. On 1 January 1868, the municipality's northern district (population 2,009) was separated to form the new municipality of Vossestrand. This left 7,592 residents in Voss. On 21 August 1868, an unpopulated area of northern Voss was transferred to Vossestrand. On 1 January 1885, the western district of Voss (population 2,045) was separated to form the new municipality of Evanger. This left Voss with 5,403 residents.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Voss (population 10,575), the municipality of Vossestrand (population 1,573), and most of the municipality of Evanger (population 1,075) were all merged into a new, larger municipality of Voss. (The rest of Evanger was merged into the new municipality of Vaksdal.)
On 1 January 2020, the neighboring municipality of Granvin merged with Voss, creating a larger Voss municipality. Before the merger, it was known as Voss kommune, but afterward it was called Voss herad, using the title herad which Granvin formerly had used.
The Old Norse form of the name was Vǫrs, and this might have been the old name of lake Vangsvatnet. If so, the name probably is derived from the word vǫrr, meaning "wave" or "sea" (-s is a common suffix in old Norwegian place names).
After the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940, Voss was the main point of mobilisation for the Norwegian Army in the west, since the city of Bergen had already fallen on 9 April. From Bergen and the Hardangerfjord, the Nazis met stiff Norwegian resistance. In Hardanger, some of the Germans climbed up the mountains from Aalvik; the rest went through Granvin. To break down this resistance, the Luftwaffe bombed Voss on 23 and 24 April, and the surrounding countryside on 25 April. Nine people lost their lives in the bombing, which completely destroyed the old wood-built town centre. On 26 April, German forces entered Voss, which remained occupied until 8 May 1945.
In 1964, Voss was enlarged with the incorporation of the neighbouring municipalities Vossestrand and Evanger, which had until then been separate municipalities within the traditional district also known as Voss.