29,214 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.8% since 2020)
446 square miles of land · 65 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.
8 active community water systems list Ripley County in the area they serve, reporting 30,930 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| HOOSIER HILLS REGIONAL WATER DISTRICT groundwater · local government · IN5269002 | 8,660 served |
| BATESVILLE WATER UTILITY surface water · local government · IN5269001 | 7,323 served |
| NAPOLEON COMMUNITY RURAL WATER CORP. buys surface water · local government · IN5269007 | 5,564 served |
| HOLTON COMMUNITY WATER CORP. buys groundwater · private · IN5269008 | 2,363 served |
| VERSAILLES WATER WORKS buys groundwater · local government · IN5269006 | 2,200 served |
| MILAN WATER WORKS buys groundwater · local government · IN5269003 | 2,070 served |
| OSGOOD WATER DEPARTMENT surface water · local government · IN5269004 | 1,692 served |
| SUNMAN WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IN5269005 | 1,058 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 63 people were held in Ripley County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 349 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 111.
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 Ripley County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $19.8 million — $15.7 million to run schools, about $14,587 per student, plus $2.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.8 million local (mostly property tax), $10.7 million state, $1.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $13.7 million.
Spent $18.8 million — $13.4 million to run schools, about $12,822 per student, plus $4.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5 million local (mostly property tax), $9.7 million state, $1.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $15.7 million.
Spent $12.6 million — $9.7 million to run schools, about $12,497 per student, plus $2.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.7 million local (mostly property tax), $7.6 million state, $1.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $4.4 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 Ripley County about $14.1 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
191 bridges in Ripley County: 65 in good condition, 117 fair, and 9 poor (4.7%). “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 350W over LAUGHERY CREEK · built 1975 | 175 vehicles a day |
| CAVEHILL ROAD over LAUGHERY CREEK · built 1910 | 150 vehicles a day |
| CR 100S over NORTH FORK BIG GRAHAM CK · built 1900 | 150 vehicles a day |
| CR 175 WEST over LITTLE LAUGHERY CREEK · built 1991 | 150 vehicles a day |
| CR 25E over CSX RAILROAD · built 1930 | 100 vehicles a day |
| WONJU ROAD over TRIBUTARY OF BIG CREEK · built 1990 | 10 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $4.6 million of work in Ripley County in fiscal 2025, about $158 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 Ripley 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 Ripley County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Indiana: the state government and every county in Indiana.
Nearby counties: Dearborn County (15 mi) · Decatur County (19 mi) · Ohio County (19 mi) · Jennings County (21 mi) · Switzerland County (23 mi) · Franklin County (24 mi).