3,703 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.5% since 2020)
369 square miles of land · 10 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.
2 active community water systems list Pope County in the area they serve, reporting 6,195 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MILLSTONE PWD groundwater · local government · IL1515050 | 5,565 served |
| GOLCONDA buys groundwater · local government · IL1510100 | 630 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 5 people were held in Pope County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 246 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 10.
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.
1 school district has its office in Pope County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $8.6 million — $7.2 million to run schools, about $14,807 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.1 million local (mostly property tax), $4.8 million state, $1.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $120,000.
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 Pope County about $5.4 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.
87 bridges in Pope County: 58 in good condition, 25 fair, and 4 poor (4.6%). “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.
| ILL 145 over HAYES CREEK · built 1947 | 1,200 vehicles a day |
| ILL 145 over STREAM · built 1947 | 1,150 vehicles a day |
| ILL 147-FAS 932 over CNIC RR · built 1941 | 400 vehicles a day |
| TR 84 over BAY CREEK DITCH · built 1986 | 50 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $708,959 of work in Pope County in fiscal 2025, about $188 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 Pope 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 Pope County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Illinois: the state government and every county in Illinois.
Nearby counties: Massac County (17 mi) · Hardin County (17 mi) · Livingston County, KY (17 mi) · Johnson County (19 mi) · Saline County (23 mi) · Crittenden County, KY (24 mi).