33,544 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.5% since 2020)
725 square miles of land · 46 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.
17 active community water systems list Lee County in the area they serve, reporting 28,097 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| DIXON groundwater · local government · IL1030200 | 15,096 served |
| WOODHAVEN groundwater · private · IL1035100 | 4,100 served |
| AMBOY groundwater · local government · IL1030050 | 2,500 served |
| DIXON CORRECTIONAL CENTER groundwater · state · IL1035500 | 1,038 served |
| ASHTON groundwater · local government · IL1030100 | 967 served |
| FRANKLIN GROVE groundwater · local government · IL1030250 | 896 served |
| PAW PAW groundwater · local government · IL1030400 | 830 served |
| WHITE OAKS ESTATES WATER ASSOC., INC. groundwater · private · IL1035050 | 410 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 29 people were held in Lee County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 138 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 35.
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.
5 school districts have their office in Lee County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $45 million — $37.9 million to run schools, about $15,247 per student, plus $943,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $22.7 million local (mostly property tax), $24.2 million state, $3.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $37.8 million.
Spent $14 million — $12.4 million to run schools, about $17,295 per student, plus $112,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10.3 million local (mostly property tax), $4.7 million state, $1.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $16.7 million.
Spent $9.5 million — $7.6 million to run schools, about $15,901 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.9 million local (mostly property tax), $3.1 million state, $1.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.3 million.
Spent $4.1 million — $3.2 million to run schools, about $27,719 per student, plus $132,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.7 million local (mostly property tax), $1.2 million state, $335,000 federal. Long-term debt: $2.6 million.
Spent $1.4 million — $1.4 million to run schools, about $20,229 per student. Money in: $965,000 local (mostly property tax), $513,000 state, $61,000 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Lee County about $20.6 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.
373 bridges in Lee County: 147 in good condition, 184 fair, and 42 poor (11.3%). “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.
| CH 1 LOST NATION R over FRANKLIN CREEK · built 1957 | 1,900 vehicles a day |
| STEWARD RD over TRIB OF STEWARD CRK · built 1969 | 650 vehicles a day |
| FRANKLIN RD over FRANKLIN CREEK · built 1958 | 625 vehicles a day |
| REYNOLDS RD.-FAS 1 over STREAM · built 1991 | 600 vehicles a day |
| FRANKLIN ROAD over BR OF FRANKLIN CR · built 1966 | 550 vehicles a day |
| FAS-188 (CH-15) over Five Mile Branch · built 1962 | 450 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $11.8 million of work in Lee County in fiscal 2025, about $346 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 Lee 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 Lee County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Illinois: the state government and every county in Illinois.
Nearby counties: Ogle County (20 mi) · Bureau County (27 mi) · DeKalb County (29 mi) · Whiteside County (31 mi) · LaSalle County (35 mi) · Putnam County (38 mi).