18,508 people (2024 Census estimate, −2.4% since 2020)
881 square miles of land · 21 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
5 active community water systems list Pickens County in the area they serve, reporting 27,330 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| PICKENS COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY groundwater · local government · AL0001106 | 14,364 served |
| ALICEVILLE, WATER & SB OF THE CITY OF groundwater · local government · AL0001102 | 5,655 served |
| GORDO WATER GAS & SEWER BOARD groundwater · local government · AL0001105 | 3,630 served |
| REFORM WATER & SEWER BOARD groundwater · local government · AL0001107 | 2,376 served |
| CARROLLTON WD, TOWN OF buys groundwater · local government · AL0001103 | 1,305 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 103 people were held in Pickens County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 860 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 90.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
1 school district has its office in Pickens County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $33.7 million — $31.5 million to run schools, about $13,295 per student, plus $1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7 million local (mostly property tax), $21.7 million state, $7.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.5 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Pickens County about $8.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
232 bridges in Pickens County: 96 in good condition, 114 fair, and 22 poor (9.5%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| CO RD 30 over BURDINE CREEK · built 1929 | 4,270 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY RT #30 over BEAR CREEK · built 1930 | 500 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY RT #30 over HOG BRANCH · built 1930 | 450 vehicles a day |
| CO RT #016 over LITTLE BEAR CREEK · built 1977 | 300 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROUTE #196 over BEAVER CREEK · built 1985 | 250 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY RT #38 over BEAR CREEK · built 1969 | 100 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $13.2 million of work in Pickens County in fiscal 2025, about $690 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Alabama are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Pickens County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Pickens County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Alabama: the state government and every county in Alabama.
Nearby counties: Lowndes County, MS (23 mi) · Noxubee County, MS (30 mi) · Greene County (32 mi) · Tuscaloosa County (33 mi) · Lamar County (34 mi) · Fayette County (35 mi).