19,723 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.6% since 2020)
690 square miles of land · 29 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.
13 active community water systems list Winneshiek County in the area they serve, reporting 11,801 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| DECORAH WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · IA9630012 | 7,615 served |
| CALMAR WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA9615064 | 1,125 served |
| OSSIAN WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA9677007 | 802 served |
| FREEPORT WATER DISTRICT groundwater · public/private · IA9630001 | 775 served |
| SPILLVILLE WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · IA9686077 | 371 served |
| FORT ATKINSON WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IA9641049 | 347 served |
| RIDGEWAY, CITY OF groundwater · local government · IA9680085 | 275 served |
| CASTALIA WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IA9620082 | 145 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 18 people were held in Winneshiek County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 140 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 9.
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 Winneshiek County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $27.5 million — $22 million to run schools, about $13,253 per student, plus $4.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $14.9 million local (mostly property tax), $12.2 million state, $1.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $6.7 million.
Spent $9.5 million — $7.3 million to run schools, about $13,368 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.6 million local (mostly property tax), $4.6 million state, $609,000 federal.
Spent $6.8 million — $5.8 million to run schools, about $15,397 per student, plus $365,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.5 million local (mostly property tax), $2.9 million state, $592,000 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 Winneshiek County about $15.2 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.
342 bridges in Winneshiek County: 130 in good condition, 155 fair, and 57 poor (16.7%). “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.
| FM over TROUT RIVER · built 1956 | 953 vehicles a day |
| FM over TROUT RIVER · built 1958 | 697 vehicles a day |
| FM over SMALL CREEK · built 1986 | 697 vehicles a day |
| MAIN ST over SMALL NATURAL STREAM · built 1940 | 649 vehicles a day |
| FM over UPPER IOWA RIVER · built 1937 | 324 vehicles a day |
| LOCAL over UPPER IOWA RIVER · built 1985 | 207 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $8.9 million of work in Winneshiek County in fiscal 2025, about $443 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 Winneshiek 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 Winneshiek County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Iowa: the state government and every county in Iowa.
Nearby counties: Allamakee County (24 mi) · Howard County (24 mi) · Chickasaw County (28 mi) · Fillmore County, MN (29 mi) · Fayette County (30 mi) · Houston County, MN (31 mi).