9,524 people (2024 Census estimate, −2.1% since 2020)
431 square miles of land · 22 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.
4 active community water systems list Clarke County in the area they serve, reporting 31,060 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| SIRWA #2 (CRESTON) surface water · private · IA8080701 | 20,793 served |
| OSCEOLA WATER WORKS surface water · local government · IA2038038 | 5,503 served |
| SIRWA #3 (OSCEOLA) buys surface water · private · IA2038701 | 4,080 served |
| MURRAY WATER WORKS buys surface water · local government · IA2032023 | 684 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 22 people were held in Clarke County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 378 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 13.
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.
2 school districts have their office in Clarke County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $20.1 million — $16 million to run schools, about $11,791 per student, plus $1.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.1 million local (mostly property tax), $13.5 million state, $2.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $10.9 million.
Spent $4.2 million — $3.5 million to run schools, about $11,795 per student, plus $407,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2 million local (mostly property tax), $2.1 million state, $449,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.4 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 Clarke County about $9.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
168 bridges in Clarke County: 48 in good condition, 66 fair, and 54 poor (32.1%). “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 WALNUT CREEK · built 1976 | 459 vehicles a day |
| FM over WEST CREEK · built 1958 | 459 vehicles a day |
| FM over OTTER CREEK · built 1969 | 319 vehicles a day |
| FM over SOUTH WEST CREEK · built 1960 | 141 vehicles a day |
| FM over BRANCH BEE CREEK · built 1985 | 131 vehicles a day |
| MILL ST over DRAINAGE · built 1985 | 121 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $10.7 million of work in Clarke County in fiscal 2025, about $1,100 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 Clarke 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 Clarke County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Decatur County (20 mi) · Lucas County (24 mi) · Warren County (24 mi) · Union County (24 mi) · Madison County (24 mi) · Wayne County (31 mi).