273,744 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.4% since 2020)
458 square miles of land · 598 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.
15 active community water systems list St. Joseph County in the area they serve, reporting 182,639 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| SOUTH BEND WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IN5271014 | 115,000 served |
| MISHAWAKA UTILITIES groundwater · local government · IN5271009 | 49,675 served |
| UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME groundwater · private · IN5271020 | 7,400 served |
| WALKERTON LIGHT & WATER groundwater · local government · IN5271017 | 2,262 served |
| SISTERS OF HOLY CROSS-ST. MARYS COLLEGE groundwater · private · IN5271025 | 2,111 served |
| NORTH LIBERTY WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IN5271010 | 1,896 served |
| NEW CARLISLE WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · IN5271011 | 1,861 served |
| LAKEVILLE WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · IN5271008 | 750 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 666 people were held in St. Joseph County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 383 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 627.
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 St. Joseph County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $299.7 million — $271.6 million to run schools, about $17,587 per student, plus $21.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $93.3 million local (mostly property tax), $158 million state, $74.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $63 million.
Spent $158.3 million — $126.6 million to run schools, about $11,141 per student, plus $26.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $40.8 million local (mostly property tax), $99.6 million state, $9.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $48.1 million.
Spent $69 million — $59.6 million to run schools, about $11,627 per student, plus $8.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $22.2 million local (mostly property tax), $42.8 million state, $9.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $31.2 million.
Spent $26.7 million — $22 million to run schools, about $10,952 per student, plus $3.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.9 million local (mostly property tax), $17.6 million state, $2.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $11.7 million.
Spent $16.4 million — $15 million to run schools, about $12,231 per student, plus $607,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.5 million local (mostly property tax), $11.5 million state, $1.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $19.4 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 Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost St. Joseph County about $60.2 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.
227 bridges in St. Joseph County: 109 in good condition, 107 fair, and 11 poor (4.8%). “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.
| US 20 over CLOVER ROAD · built 1991 | 38,231 vehicles a day |
| MAYFLOWER ROAD over ARDMORE TRAIL · built 1970 | 9,063 vehicles a day |
| MAYFLOWER ROAD over CONRAIL RR · built 1970 | 9,063 vehicles a day |
| ELM Rd over GRIMES Ditch · built 1979 | 1,207 vehicles a day |
| PEACH Rd over PLACE Ditch · built 1971 | 391 vehicles a day |
| WALNUT Rd over POTATO Creek · built 1968 | 386 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $138.2 million of work in St. Joseph County in fiscal 2025, about $507 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 St. Joseph 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 St. Joseph County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Indiana: the state government and every county in Indiana.
Nearby counties: Marshall County (20 mi) · Elkhart County (22 mi) · LaPorte County (24 mi) · Cass County, MI (25 mi) · Berrien County, MI (26 mi) · Starke County (29 mi).