14,156 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.2% since 2020)
580 square miles of land · 24 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.
10 active community water systems list Butler County in the area they serve, reporting 46,798 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| IA REGIONAL UTILITIES ASSOC (WAVERLY) groundwater · private · IA0990701 | 37,820 served |
| PARKERSBURG WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA1281028 | 2,019 served |
| SHELL ROCK MUNI WATER SUPP groundwater · local government · IA1286042 | 1,269 served |
| CLARKSVILLE WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA1228038 | 1,254 served |
| APLINGTON WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA1207061 | 1,126 served |
| GREENE MUNI WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA1253006 | 994 served |
| ALLISON WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA1203026 | 966 served |
| DUMONT WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA1240081 | 635 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 4 people were held in Butler County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 47 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 6.
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.
3 school districts have their office in Butler County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $11.3 million — $10.6 million to run schools, about $12,131 per student, plus $311,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.4 million local (mostly property tax), $7 million state, $791,000 federal. Long-term debt: $2.9 million.
Spent $10 million — $8.1 million to run schools, about $14,266 per student, plus $1.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.2 million local (mostly property tax), $4.7 million state, $856,000 federal. Long-term debt: $178,000.
Spent $4.7 million — $3.9 million to run schools, about $12,431 per student, plus $394,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2 million local (mostly property tax), $2.6 million state, $352,000 federal.
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 Butler County about $14.5 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.
287 bridges in Butler County: 175 in good condition, 77 fair, and 35 poor (12.2%). “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.
| TRAER ST over OVRFLW SHELL ROCK RIVER · built 1900 | 1,902 vehicles a day |
| CHERRY ST over DRAINAGE · built 1900 | 1,429 vehicles a day |
| C33 over SMALL STREAM · built 1966 | 1,002 vehicles a day |
| FM over LANDPHERE CREEK · built 1972 | 890 vehicles a day |
| FM over WEST FORK CEDAR RIVER · built 1964 | 874 vehicles a day |
| T64 over SMALL STREAM · built 1968 | 776 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $2.4 million of work in Butler County in fiscal 2025, about $166 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 Butler 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 Butler County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Floyd County (22 mi) · Grundy County (23 mi) · Bremer County (23 mi) · Franklin County (25 mi) · Black Hawk County (30 mi) · Chickasaw County (32 mi).