18,231 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.4% since 2020)
579 square miles of land · 31 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.
13 active community water systems list Cedar County in the area they serve, reporting 11,973 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| TIPTON WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA1689022 | 3,149 served |
| WEST BRANCH WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IA1694000 | 2,509 served |
| DURANT WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA1636090 | 1,871 served |
| CLARENCE WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA1630028 | 1,039 served |
| MECHANICSVILLE WATER DEPT groundwater · local government · IA1667076 | 1,020 served |
| LOWDEN WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA1656001 | 807 served |
| STANWOOD WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA1681092 | 637 served |
| WEST BRANCH MHP buys groundwater · private · IA1600682 | 400 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 12 people were held in Cedar County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 107 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 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.
5 school districts have their office in Cedar County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $13 million — $11.4 million to run schools, about $12,086 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.5 million local (mostly property tax), $7.4 million state, $855,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.3 million.
Spent $13.8 million — $10.6 million to run schools, about $12,125 per student, plus $2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.9 million local (mostly property tax), $5.8 million state, $486,000 federal. Long-term debt: $24.4 million.
Spent $9.1 million — $8.3 million to run schools, about $12,129 per student, plus $423,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.2 million local (mostly property tax), $4.3 million state, $584,000 federal.
Spent $13.7 million — $10.5 million to run schools, about $16,697 per student, plus $1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.8 million local (mostly property tax), $6.1 million state, $1.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $3.8 million.
Spent $2.5 million — $1.5 million to run schools, about $17,640 per student, plus $144,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.6 million local (mostly property tax), $1.4 million state, $317,000 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 Cedar County about $12.5 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.
300 bridges in Cedar County: 131 in good condition, 109 fair, and 60 poor (20.0%). “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.
| FM over CEDAR RIVER · built 1966 | 1,860 vehicles a day |
| FM over ROCK CREEK · built 1967 | 1,660 vehicles a day |
| FM over ROCK CREEK · built 1959 | 1,350 vehicles a day |
| FM over CEDAR RIVER · built 1971 | 950 vehicles a day |
| FM over NICHOLSON CREEK · built 1960 | 836 vehicles a day |
| FM over YANKEE RUN CREEK · built 1957 | 740 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $14 million of work in Cedar County in fiscal 2025, about $756 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 Cedar 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 Cedar County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Muscatine County (20 mi) · Jones County (24 mi) · Johnson County (25 mi) · Scott County (28 mi) · Linn County (32 mi) · Clinton County (32 mi).