121,989 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.7% since 2020)
456 square miles of land · 268 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.
12 active community water systems list Douglas County in the area they serve, reporting 155,636 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| LAWRENCE, CITY OF surface water · local government · KS2004503 | 95,256 served |
| UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS buys surface water · state · KS2004513 | 35,000 served |
| EUDORA, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2004511 | 6,449 served |
| BALDWIN CITY, CITY OF buys surface water · local government · KS2004510 | 4,882 served |
| DOUGLAS CO RWD 3 surface water · local government · KS2004507 | 4,663 served |
| DOUGLAS CO RWD 4 buys surface water · local government · KS2004509 | 3,370 served |
| DOUGLAS CO RWD 5 buys surface water · local government · KS2004502 | 2,500 served |
| DOUGLAS CO RWD 1 buys surface water · local government · KS2004506 | 1,400 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 132 people were held in Douglas County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2020), or 154 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2015 it was about 231.
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 Douglas County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $151.8 million — $132.8 million to run schools, about $12,176 per student, plus $12.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $56.6 million local (mostly property tax), $96.1 million state, $15.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $165.5 million.
Spent $24.4 million — $22.3 million to run schools, about $12,990 per student, plus $818,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.4 million local (mostly property tax), $19.6 million state, $3.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $47 million.
Spent $17.9 million — $16.4 million to run schools, about $11,718 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.1 million local (mostly property tax), $14.2 million state, $1.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $16.6 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 Douglas County about $46.3 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.
314 bridges in Douglas County: 239 in good condition, 72 fair, and 3 poor (1.0%). “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.
| 27th Street over Naismith Creek · built 1971 | 5,940 vehicles a day |
| 13th Street over Stream · built 1996 | 80 vehicles a day |
| IRVING HILL ROAD over US40/US59 HWY · built 1966 | 0 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $109.3 million of work in Douglas County in fiscal 2025, about $920 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 Kansas 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 Douglas 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 Douglas County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kansas: the state government and every county in Kansas.
Nearby counties: Franklin County (23 mi) · Jefferson County (24 mi) · Leavenworth County (24 mi) · Johnson County (25 mi) · Shawnee County (27 mi) · Osage County (28 mi).