5,803 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.4% since 2020)
702 square miles of land · 8 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.
9 active community water systems list Mitchell County in the area they serve, reporting 7,799 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| BELOIT, CITY OF surface water · local government · KS2012301 | 3,407 served |
| MITCHELL CO RWD 3 buys surface water · local government · KS2012309 | 2,048 served |
| MITCHELL CO RWD 2 surface water · local government · KS2012304 | 873 served |
| CAWKER CITY, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2012303 | 447 served |
| GLEN ELDER, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2012305 | 359 served |
| MITCHELL CO RWD 1 buys surface water · local government · KS2012302 | 345 served |
| TIPTON, CITY OF buys surface water · local government · KS2012310 | 188 served |
| SIMPSON, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2012307 | 81 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 27 people were held in Mitchell County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 800 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 23.
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 Mitchell County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $18.5 million — $17 million to run schools, about $20,283 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.2 million local (mostly property tax), $9.5 million state, $1.8 million federal.
Spent $7.4 million — $5.3 million to run schools, about $15,503 per student, plus $2.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.8 million local (mostly property tax), $3.6 million state, $910,000 federal.
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 Mitchell County about $10.3 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.
262 bridges in Mitchell County: 157 in good condition, 96 fair, and 9 poor (3.4%). “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.
| RS 1640 over STREAM · built 1930 | 1,000 vehicles a day |
| RS 464 over TRIB TO WALNUT CREEK · built 1920 | 70 vehicles a day |
| RS 463 over DRAINAGE CHANNEL · built 1930 | 50 vehicles a day |
| LOCAL RD. L4Y over MARSHALL CREEK · built 1933 | 30 vehicles a day |
| LZ over SOLOMON RIVER · built 1954 | 30 vehicles a day |
| LOCAL RD. L1C over CARR CREEK · built 1904 | 25 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $5.2 million of work in Mitchell County in fiscal 2025, about $902 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 Mitchell 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 Mitchell County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kansas: the state government and every county in Kansas.
Nearby counties: Lincoln County (24 mi) · Jewell County (27 mi) · Osborne County (30 mi) · Cloud County (31 mi) · Ottawa County (34 mi) · Smith County (41 mi).