84,741 people (2024 Census estimate, +3.1% since 2020)
407 square miles of land · 208 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 Bartholomew County in the area they serve, reporting 75,609 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| COLUMBUS MUNICIPAL UTILITY groundwater · local government · IN5203002 | 51,122 served |
| EASTERN BARTHOLOMEW WATER groundwater · local government · IN5203004 | 13,547 served |
| SOUTHWESTERN BARTHOLOMEW WATER CORP. buys groundwater · local government · IN5203008 | 8,652 served |
| HOPE WATER DEPARTMENT buys groundwater · local government · IN5203006 | 2,113 served |
| GARDEN CITY MOBILE HOME PARK groundwater · private · IN5203005 | 140 served |
| DAVIS MOBILE HOME PARK groundwater · private · IN5203003 | 35 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 258 people were held in Bartholomew County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 489 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 243.
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 Bartholomew County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $196.6 million — $154.5 million to run schools, about $13,277 per student, plus $23 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $73 million local (mostly property tax), $106.5 million state, $21 million federal. Long-term debt: $106.1 million.
Spent $14.9 million — $12.3 million to run schools, about $12,681 per student, plus $1.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.7 million local (mostly property tax), $9.1 million state, $712,000 federal. Long-term debt: $12.5 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Bartholomew County about $33.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
269 bridges in Bartholomew County: 139 in good condition, 120 fair, and 10 poor (3.7%). “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.
| CR 400S over BRUSH CREEK · built 1995 | 4,300 vehicles a day |
| CR 400W over DENIOS CREEK · built 1960 | 3,300 vehicles a day |
| TANNEHILL RD over DRIFTWOOD RIVER · built 1966 | 2,150 vehicles a day |
| CR 200N over FALL FORK CLIFTY CREEK · built 1979 | 1,050 vehicles a day |
| CR 600S over SAND BRANCH · built 1980 | 620 vehicles a day |
| CR 900N over FLATROCK RIVER · built 1911 | 360 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $107.4 million of work in Bartholomew County in fiscal 2025, about $1,307 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 Indiana 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 Bartholomew 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 Bartholomew County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Indiana: the state government and every county in Indiana.
Nearby counties: Brown County (18 mi) · Jennings County (20 mi) · Jackson County (22 mi) · Decatur County (22 mi) · Johnson County (23 mi) · Shelby County (23 mi).