14,408 people (2024 Census estimate, −2.6% since 2020)
973 square miles of land · 15 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.
15 active community water systems list Kossuth County in the area they serve, reporting 9,947 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| ALGONA MUNICIPAL UTILITIES groundwater · local government · IA5502015 | 5,487 served |
| BANCROFT WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA5507085 | 711 served |
| SWEA CITY WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA5584009 | 584 served |
| WHITTEMORE MUNI WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA5595020 | 522 served |
| TITONKA WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA5588026 | 511 served |
| BURT WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA5510060 | 418 served |
| WESLEY WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA5592098 | 390 served |
| LAKOTA WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA5540049 | 267 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 11 people were held in Kossuth County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 127 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 10.
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 Kossuth County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $24.1 million — $20.6 million to run schools, about $12,934 per student, plus $2.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $13 million local (mostly property tax), $10.8 million state, $1.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.6 million.
Spent $5.2 million — $4 million to run schools, about $14,877 per student, plus $342,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.8 million local (mostly property tax), $1.6 million state, $476,000 federal.
Spent $2.5 million — $1.5 million to run schools, about $42,257 per student, plus $41,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.1 million local (mostly property tax), $641,000 state, $43,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3,000.
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 Kossuth County about $15.7 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.
266 bridges in Kossuth County: 123 in good condition, 103 fair, and 40 poor (15.0%). “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.
| 240TH AVE over LINDNER CREEK · built 1972 | 620 vehicles a day |
| FM 150TH AVE over LINDNER CREEK · built 1969 | 376 vehicles a day |
| LOC 20TH AVE over E FORK DES MOINES RIVER · built 1973 | 359 vehicles a day |
| IRVINGTON RD over D D # 51 · built 1966 | 330 vehicles a day |
| FM 320TH ST over BUFFALO CREEK · built 1958 | 309 vehicles a day |
| FM 300TH ST over DD #2 & 36 · built 1974 | 264 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $9.8 million of work in Kossuth County in fiscal 2025, about $658 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 Kossuth 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 Kossuth County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Palo Alto County (25 mi) · Hancock County (25 mi) · Emmet County (26 mi) · Winnebago County (26 mi) · Humboldt County (30 mi) · Faribault County, MN (35 mi).