7,006 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.9% since 2020)
577 square miles of land · 12 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.
9 active community water systems list Pocahontas County in the area they serve, reporting 5,196 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| POCAHONTAS WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · IA7633049 | 1,877 served |
| LAURENS WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA7614063 | 1,301 served |
| FONDA WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA7603045 | 636 served |
| ROLFE WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA7639002 | 509 served |
| GILMORE CITY WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · IA7607088 | 487 served |
| PALMER WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA7622024 | 138 served |
| HAVELOCK WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA7609039 | 130 served |
| VARINA WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA7642047 | 68 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 Pocahontas County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 145 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 6.
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.
2 school districts have their office in Pocahontas County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $11.3 million — $10.3 million to run schools, about $13,907 per student, plus $425,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.5 million local (mostly property tax), $4.2 million state, $964,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.6 million.
Spent $4.6 million — $2.3 million to run schools, about $16,164 per student, plus $558,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.3 million local (mostly property tax), $2.2 million state, $533,000 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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Pocahontas County about $11.3 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
198 bridges in Pocahontas County: 41 in good condition, 107 fair, and 50 poor (25.3%). “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.
| FM over DD # 77 NO LIZARD CK · built 1973 | 698 vehicles a day |
| FM over LITTLE CEDAR CREEK · built 1968 | 658 vehicles a day |
| FM over NO LIZARD CK DD #171 · built 1965 | 578 vehicles a day |
| FM over PILOT CREEK · built 1975 | 509 vehicles a day |
| FM over PILOT CREEK · built 1970 | 439 vehicles a day |
| FM over LIZARD CK DD #54 · built 1964 | 429 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $6.3 million of work in Pocahontas County in fiscal 2025, about $883 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 Pocahontas 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 Pocahontas County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Buena Vista County (23 mi) · Palo Alto County (24 mi) · Calhoun County (24 mi) · Humboldt County (24 mi) · Sac County (32 mi) · Webster County (33 mi).