16,189 people (2024 Census estimate, +3.4% since 2020)
729 square miles of land · 22 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.
8 active community water systems list Gooding County in the area they serve, reporting 8,264 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| GOODING CITY OF groundwater · local government · ID5240009 | 3,706 served |
| WENDELL CITY OF groundwater · local government · ID5240028 | 3,000 served |
| HAGERMAN CITY OF groundwater · local government · ID5240012 | 988 served |
| BLISS CITY OF groundwater · local government · ID5240002 | 384 served |
| MOUNTAIN VIEW WATER CORP groundwater · private · ID5240019 | 60 served |
| CLEAR LAKE RANCH P U D groundwater · private · ID5240033 | 54 served |
| NORTHVIEW SUBDIVISION groundwater · private · ID5240040 | 47 served |
| REST EZ RV PARK groundwater · private · ID5240042 | 25 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 26 people were held in Gooding County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 282 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 18.
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.
4 school districts have their office in Gooding County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $14.5 million — $13.9 million to run schools, about $11,207 per student, plus $545,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.7 million local (mostly property tax), $9.7 million state, $3.2 million federal.
Spent $11.8 million — $10.8 million to run schools, about $9,654 per student, plus $855,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.6 million local (mostly property tax), $8.9 million state, $2.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $6.5 million.
Spent $4.9 million — $4.8 million to run schools, about $12,781 per student, plus $29,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $760,000 local (mostly property tax), $3.5 million state, $769,000 federal.
Spent $2.4 million — $2.3 million to run schools, about $18,168 per student, plus $93,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $278,000 local (mostly property tax), $2 million state, $359,000 federal. Long-term debt: $409,000.
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 Gooding County about $8.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
80 bridges in Gooding County: 22 in good condition, 53 fair, and 5 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.
| STC2781;1300 S. RD over THORN CREEK · built 1955 | 360 vehicles a day |
| 1550 EAST ROAD over DRY CREEK · built 1930 | 30 vehicles a day |
| S 100 E over CLOVER CREEK · built 1985 | 30 vehicles a day |
| 2421: ASTORQUIA RO over Twin Falls N. Side Canal · built 1964 | 25 vehicles a day |
| 2050 EAST ROAD over LITTLE WOOD RIVER · built 1930 | 20 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $7.9 million of work in Gooding County in fiscal 2025, about $509 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 Gooding 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 Gooding County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Idaho: the state government and every county in Idaho.
Nearby counties: Lincoln County (34 mi) · Jerome County (34 mi) · Camas County (37 mi) · Twin Falls County (44 mi) · Elmore County (44 mi) · Blaine County (52 mi).