11,821 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.8% since 2020)
591 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.
9 active community water systems list Shelby County in the area they serve, reporting 11,941 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| HARLAN MUNICIPAL UTILITIES groundwater · local government · IA8335029 | 5,067 served |
| REGIONAL WATER buys surface water · private · IA8300184 | 4,132 served |
| SHELBY WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA8369038 | 727 served |
| ELK HORN MUNI WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IA8325013 | 631 served |
| EARLING WATER SUPPLY buys groundwater · local government · IA8320098 | 397 served |
| IRWIN MUNICIPAL SUPPLY buys groundwater · local government · IA8340099 | 313 served |
| DEFIANCE WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · IA8315018 | 250 served |
| PANAMA WATER WORKS buys groundwater · local government · IA8355025 | 235 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 13 people were held in Shelby County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 190 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 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.
2 school districts have their office in Shelby County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $23.7 million — $18.8 million to run schools, about $12,411 per student, plus $4.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.4 million local (mostly property tax), $11.5 million state, $1.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $5.5 million.
Spent $6.9 million — $5.7 million to run schools, about $14,386 per student, plus $539,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.5 million local (mostly property tax), $3.4 million state, $762,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.9 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 Shelby County about $12.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
207 bridges in Shelby County: 78 in good condition, 111 fair, and 18 poor (8.7%). “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.
| F24 over SMALL STREAM · built 1938 | 417 vehicles a day |
| FM over SMALL STREAM · built 1960 | 240 vehicles a day |
| FM over SILVER CREEK · built 1960 | 131 vehicles a day |
| LOCAL over INDIAN CREEK · built 1926 | 35 vehicles a day |
| LOCAL over MOSQUITO CREEK · built 1917 | 35 vehicles a day |
| LOCAL over SMALL STREAM · built 1959 | 35 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $7.6 million of work in Shelby County in fiscal 2025, about $650 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 Shelby 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 Shelby County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Audubon County (21 mi) · Crawford County (25 mi) · Pottawattamie County (26 mi) · Harrison County (27 mi) · Cass County (31 mi) · Carroll County (34 mi).