13,451 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.4% since 2020)
486 square miles of land · 28 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.
11 active community water systems list Ford County in the area they serve, reporting 10,254 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| PAXTON groundwater · local government · IL0530250 | 4,200 served |
| GIBSON CITY groundwater · local government · IL0530100 | 3,500 served |
| PIPER CITY groundwater · local government · IL0530300 | 875 served |
| ROBERTS groundwater · local government · IL0530350 | 367 served |
| ELLIOTT groundwater · local government · IL0530050 | 269 served |
| CABERY groundwater · local government · IL0534200 | 266 served |
| SIBLEY groundwater · local government · IL0530400 | 245 served |
| MELVIN groundwater · local government · IL0530200 | 200 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 34 people were held in Ford County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 418 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 30.
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 Ford County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $23.4 million — $20.3 million to run schools, about $15,637 per student, plus $782,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $12.5 million local (mostly property tax), $10.9 million state, $2.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $29.5 million.
Spent $20.7 million — $16.6 million to run schools, about $17,098 per student, plus $2.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.9 million local (mostly property tax), $9.5 million state, $1.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $11.3 million.
Spent $10.3 million — $9.8 million to run schools, about $25,396 per student, plus $383,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.2 million local (mostly property tax), $3.5 million state, $617,000 federal. Long-term debt: $4.1 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 Ford County about $8.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
302 bridges in Ford County: 137 in good condition, 141 fair, and 24 poor (7.9%). “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.
| FAI 57 NBL over BIG FOUR DITCH · built 1968 | 10,550 vehicles a day |
| ILL 115 over DRAINAGE DITCH · built 1981 | 675 vehicles a day |
| TR 91 PATTON over WALL TOWN DR DITCH · built 1974 | 375 vehicles a day |
| CLARENCE RD FAS 5 over SUGAR CREEK · built 1959 | 250 vehicles a day |
| CH 26 STEVES RD over THE BIG FOUR · built 1966 | 250 vehicles a day |
| CH 16 PIPER CITY R over N FORK VERMILLION · built 1959 | 150 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $7.4 million of work in Ford County in fiscal 2025, about $549 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 Illinois 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 Ford 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 Ford County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Illinois: the state government and every county in Illinois.
Nearby counties: Iroquois County (23 mi) · Livingston County (27 mi) · Champaign County (32 mi) · McLean County (33 mi) · Vermilion County (38 mi) · Kankakee County (42 mi).