6,036 people (2024 Census estimate, −2.6% since 2020)
399 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.
7 active community water systems list Osceola County in the area they serve, reporting 13,222 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| OSCEOLA RURAL WATER SYSTEM-NORTH groundwater · private · IA7227701 | 7,002 served |
| SIBLEY PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY buys groundwater · local government · IA7245047 | 2,860 served |
| OSCEOLA RURAL WATER SYSTEM-SOUTH groundwater · private · IA7177701 | 2,112 served |
| ASHTON MUNICIPAL WATER DEPARTMENT buys groundwater · local government · IA7209069 | 456 served |
| OCHEYEDAN WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IA7239086 | 439 served |
| MELVIN WATERWORKS buys groundwater · local government · IA7234069 | 202 served |
| HARRIS WATER SUPPLY buys groundwater · local government · IA7222034 | 151 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 4 people were held in Osceola County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 110 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 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 Osceola County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $10.9 million — $10 million to run schools, about $13,690 per student, plus $593,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.8 million local (mostly property tax), $5.9 million state, $1 million federal. Long-term debt: $2.2 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 Osceola County about $5.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
184 bridges in Osceola County: 67 in good condition, 105 fair, and 12 poor (6.5%). “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.
| 2ND AVE over OTTER CREEK · built 1971 | 1,501 vehicles a day |
| NORTHWEST BLVD over OTTER CREEK · built 1931 | 797 vehicles a day |
| FM over CLOVERDALE CREEK · built 1958 | 459 vehicles a day |
| NEST AVE over OTTER CREEK OVERFLOW · built 1954 | 103 vehicles a day |
| LOCAL over STREAM · built 1957 | 41 vehicles a day |
| LOCAL over OCHEYEDAN RIVER · built 1900 | 26 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $675,366 of work in Osceola County in fiscal 2025, about $109 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 Osceola 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 Osceola County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: O'Brien County (20 mi) · Nobles County, MN (22 mi) · Dickinson County (22 mi) · Lyon County (29 mi) · Jackson County, MN (32 mi) · Clay County (32 mi).