18,158 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.2% since 2020)
381 square miles of land · 48 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 Dickinson County in the area they serve, reporting 13,864 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| SPIRIT LAKE WATERWORKS surface water · local government · IA3070078 | 6,167 served |
| MILFORD MUNICIPAL UTILITIES surface water · local government · IA3050079 | 3,431 served |
| LAKE PARK MUNICIPAL UTILITIES buys groundwater · local government · IA3045046 | 1,167 served |
| ARNOLDS PARK WATER DEPARTMENT buys surface water · local government · IA3003067 | 1,113 served |
| OKOBOJI WATER SUPPLY buys surface water · local government · IA3060091 | 776 served |
| WAHPETON WATER SUPPLY surface water · local government · IA3087057 | 408 served |
| TERRIL MUNICIPAL WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · IA3080016 | 334 served |
| WEST OKOBOJI buys surface water · local government · IA3090081 | 308 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 6 people were held in Dickinson County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 59 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 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.
3 school districts have their office in Dickinson County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $17.9 million — $15.4 million to run schools, about $11,816 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $13.3 million local (mostly property tax), $4.8 million state, $1.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $13.9 million.
Spent $19.5 million — $14.7 million to run schools, about $11,777 per student, plus $2.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $17.2 million local (mostly property tax), $2.6 million state, $1 million federal. Long-term debt: $33.5 million.
Spent $5.5 million — $4 million to run schools, about $12,154 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.3 million local (mostly property tax), $1.7 million state, $233,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.7 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 Dickinson County about $14.4 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.
83 bridges in Dickinson County: 37 in good condition, 33 fair, and 13 poor (15.7%). “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.
| IA 9 over W FORK LITTLE SIOUX RVR · built 1929 | 4,310 vehicles a day |
| FM over CREEK · built 1941 | 2,060 vehicles a day |
| FM over LITTLE SIOUX RIVER · built 1979 | 1,076 vehicles a day |
| FM over DUGOUT CREEK · built 1970 | 843 vehicles a day |
| N14 (310TH AVE) over DRAINAGE DITCH · built 1948 | 803 vehicles a day |
| FM over LITTLE SIOUX · built 1969 | 319 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $9.6 million of work in Dickinson County in fiscal 2025, about $541 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 Dickinson 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 Dickinson County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Jackson County, MN (20 mi) · Clay County (21 mi) · Osceola County (22 mi) · Emmet County (26 mi) · O'Brien County (30 mi) · Palo Alto County (34 mi).