4,880 people (2024 Census estimate, −3.8% since 2020)
251 square miles of land · 19 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.
6 active community water systems list Scott County in the area they serve, reporting 4,422 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| WINCHESTER groundwater · local government · IL1710350 | 1,589 served |
| EXETER-MERRITT WATER COOP buys groundwater · private · IL1710010 | 820 served |
| BLUFFS groundwater · local government · IL1710100 | 748 served |
| SCOTT COUNTY RURAL WATER CO-OP buys groundwater · private · IL1710020 | 493 served |
| ALSEY-GLASGOW WATER COMMISSION buys groundwater · local government · IL1715050 | 475 served |
| MANCHESTER buys surface water · local government · IL1710250 | 297 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 4 people were held in Scott County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (1970), or 115 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64.
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 Scott County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $9.5 million — $8 million to run schools, about $13,847 per student, plus $1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.4 million local (mostly property tax), $5.7 million state, $1.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $4.1 million.
Spent $5 million — $3.8 million to run schools, about $20,374 per student, plus $1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.8 million local (mostly property tax), $2.3 million state, $785,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.8 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 Scott County about $3.7 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
99 bridges in Scott County: 54 in good condition, 38 fair, and 7 poor (7.1%). “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.
| OLD US 36 over WALNUT CREEK · built 1940 | 2,750 vehicles a day |
| OLD US 36 over FAI 72 · built 1976 | 2,700 vehicles a day |
| IL 100/106 over ILLINOIS RIVER · built 1929 | 1,850 vehicles a day |
| CH 9 over BIG SANDY CREEK · built 1987 | 400 vehicles a day |
| CH 5 over LITTLE SANDY CREEK · built 1968 | 150 vehicles a day |
| OLD OLD US 36 over Lewis Creek · built 1923 | 75 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $1.1 million of work in Scott County in fiscal 2025, about $220 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 Scott 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 Scott County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Illinois: the state government and every county in Illinois.
Nearby counties: Morgan County (16 mi) · Greene County (20 mi) · Pike County (22 mi) · Cass County (26 mi) · Brown County (27 mi) · Calhoun County (34 mi).