8,758 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.6% since 2020)
431 square miles of land · 20 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.
3 active community water systems list Lucas County in the area they serve, reporting 37,858 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| RATHBUN REGIONAL WATER ASSN (RATHBUN) surface water · private · IA0400900 | 33,000 served |
| CHARITON MUNICIPAL WATER WORKS buys surface water · local government · IA5903011 | 4,381 served |
| RUSSELL WATER SUPPLY buys surface water · local government · IA5939009 | 477 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 2 people were held in Lucas County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2012), or 38 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2007 it was about 3.
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.
1 school district has its office in Lucas County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $19.7 million — $15.9 million to run schools, about $12,441 per student, plus $2.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.5 million local (mostly property tax), $11.6 million state, $2.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $5.9 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 Lucas County about $7.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
198 bridges in Lucas County: 65 in good condition, 68 fair, and 65 poor (32.8%). “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.
| S23 200TH AVE over BNSF RR · built 1937 | 1,090 vehicles a day |
| FM over BR OF ENGLISH CREEK · built 1963 | 880 vehicles a day |
| FM over LITTLE WHITEBREAST CREEK · built 1974 | 490 vehicles a day |
| FM over WHITE BREAST CREEK · built 1957 | 440 vehicles a day |
| S23 200TH AVE over STONY FORK · built 1969 | 400 vehicles a day |
| FM over CHARITON RIVER · built 1970 | 310 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $1.8 million of work in Lucas County in fiscal 2025, about $206 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 Lucas 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 Lucas County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Wayne County (20 mi) · Clarke County (24 mi) · Marion County (24 mi) · Monroe County (24 mi) · Warren County (24 mi) · Appanoose County (31 mi).