16,464 people (2024 Census estimate, −2.2% since 2020)
569 square miles of land · 29 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.
12 active community water systems list Hardin County in the area they serve, reporting 50,511 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 |
| IOWA FALLS WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · IA4260097 | 5,146 served |
| ELDORA WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA4236005 | 2,664 served |
| ACKLEY MUNICIPAL WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IA4201001 | 1,599 served |
| HUBBARD WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA4254061 | 860 served |
| ALDEN WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA4213013 | 764 served |
| RADCLIFFE MUNICIPAL WATER groundwater · local government · IA4283067 | 561 served |
| UNION WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA4291038 | 399 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 53 people were held in Hardin County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 518 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 76.
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 Hardin County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $17.6 million — $15.1 million to run schools, about $11,825 per student, plus $1.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.6 million local (mostly property tax), $8.8 million state, $1.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $95,000.
Spent $18.6 million — $9 million to run schools, about $13,848 per student, plus $7.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.2 million local (mostly property tax), $5.1 million state, $1.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $11.8 million.
Spent $11.5 million — $8.2 million to run schools, about $15,117 per student, plus $1.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.6 million local (mostly property tax), $5.1 million state, $1.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $346,000.
Spent $7.2 million — $4.9 million to run schools, about $12,955 per student, plus $468,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.4 million local (mostly property tax), $2.7 million state, $298,000 federal. Long-term debt: $5 million.
Spent $4.5 million — $2.6 million to run schools, about $16,654 per student, plus $497,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.4 million local (mostly property tax), $2.3 million state, $283,000 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Hardin County about $20.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
241 bridges in Hardin County: 87 in good condition, 85 fair, and 69 poor (28.6%). “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.
| SOUTH AVE over IOWA RIVER · built 1957 | 1,041 vehicles a day |
| HWY 215 over SMALL NATURAL STREAM · built 1947 | 854 vehicles a day |
| HWY 215 over SMALL NATURAL STREAM · built 1948 | 854 vehicles a day |
| FM over DD · built 1971 | 776 vehicles a day |
| FM over TIPTON CR · built 1974 | 687 vehicles a day |
| FM over MINERVA CREEK · built 1972 | 550 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $4.4 million of work in Hardin County in fiscal 2025, about $263 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 Hardin 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 Hardin County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Grundy County (23 mi) · Hamilton County (24 mi) · Franklin County (24 mi) · Story County (27 mi) · Marshall County (27 mi) · Butler County (33 mi).