25,799 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.0% since 2020)
716 square miles of land · 36 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.
17 active community water systems list Benton County in the area they serve, reporting 18,574 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| VINTON MUNICIPAL WATER DEPT groundwater · local government · IA0688053 | 4,938 served |
| BELLE PLAINE WATER DEPT groundwater · local government · IA0610099 | 2,380 served |
| ATKINS MUNICIPAL WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IA0603072 | 2,056 served |
| POWESHIEK WATER ASSOCIATION (CR) buys groundwater · private · IA5715702 | 2,000 served |
| URBANA WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA0680041 | 1,562 served |
| SHELLSBURG WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA0670043 | 961 served |
| NEWHALL WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA0653050 | 881 served |
| VAN HORNE WATER WORKS buys groundwater · local government · IA0685045 | 779 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 33 people were held in Benton County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 206 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 14.
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.
4 school districts have their office in Benton County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $21.3 million — $18.6 million to run schools, about $10,914 per student, plus $1.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.9 million local (mostly property tax), $12.5 million state, $1.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $5.9 million.
Spent $27.3 million — $21.1 million to run schools, about $13,599 per student, plus $4.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $11.6 million local (mostly property tax), $14.3 million state, $2.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $2.6 million.
Spent $19.2 million — $17.3 million to run schools, about $11,815 per student, plus $908,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10 million local (mostly property tax), $11.7 million state, $1 million federal. Long-term debt: $20.7 million.
Spent $7.8 million — $6.7 million to run schools, about $13,919 per student, plus $603,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.7 million local (mostly property tax), $3.9 million state, $659,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.4 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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Benton County about $15.7 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
373 bridges in Benton County: 134 in good condition, 158 fair, and 81 poor (21.7%). “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.
| 4TH ST over HINKLE CREEK · built 1973 | 3,197 vehicles a day |
| FM over BEAR CREEK · built 1969 | 2,740 vehicles a day |
| 30 AVE over SMALL NATURAL STREAM · built 1958 | 1,561 vehicles a day |
| FM over DRY CREEK · built 1961 | 1,444 vehicles a day |
| FM over BEAR CREEK · built 1957 | 1,414 vehicles a day |
| FM over CEDAR RIVER · built 1969 | 1,267 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $13.7 million of work in Benton County in fiscal 2025, about $536 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 Iowa 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 Benton 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 Benton County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Linn County (24 mi) · Tama County (24 mi) · Iowa County (28 mi) · Buchanan County (28 mi) · Black Hawk County (29 mi) · Poweshiek County (37 mi).