10,529 people (2024 Census estimate, +9.9% since 2020)
777 square miles of land · 14 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 Benewah County in the area they serve, reporting 6,454 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| ST MARIES CITY OF surface water · local government · ID1050024 | 4,173 served |
| PLUMMER CITY OF groundwater · local government · ID1050021 | 1,034 served |
| FERNWOOD WATER DIST surface water · public/private · ID1050011 | 521 served |
| SANTA WATER AND SEWER DIST groundwater · local government · ID1050023 | 160 served |
| COTTONWOOD POINT WATER ASSN groundwater · private · ID1050008 | 158 served |
| TENSED CITY OF groundwater · local government · ID1050026 | 146 served |
| EMIDA WATER AND SEWER ASSOCIATION groundwater · local government · ID1050009 | 120 served |
| EVERGREEN TERRACE WATER ASSOCIATION groundwater · private · ID1050010 | 85 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 19 people were held in Benewah County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 315 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 16.
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 Benewah County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $12.6 million — $11.1 million to run schools, about $11,595 per student, plus $1.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.4 million local (mostly property tax), $7.7 million state, $2.9 million federal.
Spent $7.8 million — $7.6 million to run schools, about $21,213 per student, plus $106,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.5 million local (mostly property tax), $3.4 million state, $3.9 million 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 Benewah County about $6.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
48 bridges in Benewah County: 17 in good condition, 28 fair, and 3 poor (6.3%). “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.
| IRR BIA RTE 11 over LITTLE HANGMAN CREEK · built 1977 | 350 vehicles a day |
| CHARLIE CREEK RD over SANTA CREEK · built 1964 | 150 vehicles a day |
| CRABB ROAD over HANGMAN CREEK · built 1981 | 30 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $19.6 million of work in Benewah County in fiscal 2025, about $2,058 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 Idaho 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 Benewah 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 Benewah County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Idaho: the state government and every county in Idaho.
Nearby counties: Latah County (28 mi) · Kootenai County (32 mi) · Shoshone County (36 mi) · Spokane County, WA (46 mi) · Whitman County, WA (47 mi) · Clearwater County (59 mi).