26,876 people (2024 Census estimate, +5.7% since 2020)
841 square miles of land · 32 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.
17 active community water systems list Pottawatomie County in the area they serve, reporting 23,141 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| POTTAWATOMIE CO RWD 1 groundwater · local government · KS2014912 | 7,535 served |
| WAMEGO, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2014908 | 4,860 served |
| ST MARYS, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2014914 | 2,781 served |
| POTTAWATOMIE CO RWD 3 groundwater · local government · KS2014904 | 1,455 served |
| POTTAWATOMIE CO RWD 4 groundwater · local government · KS2014922 | 1,125 served |
| ST GEORGE, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2014917 | 998 served |
| POTTAWATOMIE CO RWD 2 groundwater · local government · KS2014906 | 865 served |
| TIMBER CREEK EAST WATER DISTRICT groundwater · private · KS2014910 | 850 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 Pottawatomie County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 175 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.
4 school districts have their office in Pottawatomie County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $50.8 million — $25.5 million to run schools, about $15,528 per student, plus $24.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10.4 million local (mostly property tax), $16.7 million state, $2.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $26.8 million.
Spent $17.2 million — $15.6 million to run schools, about $11,476 per student, plus $202,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.4 million local (mostly property tax), $13.8 million state, $690,000 federal. Long-term debt: $41 million.
Spent $18.3 million — $17.2 million to run schools, about $15,533 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10.1 million local (mostly property tax), $10.6 million state, $1.5 million federal.
Spent $5.1 million — $4.7 million to run schools, about $13,822 per student, plus $396,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.3 million local (mostly property tax), $3.4 million state, $476,000 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 Pottawatomie County about $15.8 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.
297 bridges in Pottawatomie County: 147 in good condition, 131 fair, and 19 poor (6.4%). “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.
| ONAGA ROAD over VERMILLION RIVER · built 1968 | 825 vehicles a day |
| K63 HWY over UP RAILROAD · built 1972 | 710 vehicles a day |
| SCHOEMAN ROAD over KANSAS RIVER · built 1955 | 480 vehicles a day |
| GILSEN CREEK RD. over DUTCH CREEK · built 1970 | 50 vehicles a day |
| PALMER STREET. over TRIB. COUNTY LINE CREEK · built 1940 | 40 vehicles a day |
| MOYLAND ROAD over TRIB. LITTLE CROSS CREEK · built 1981 | 20 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $4.1 million of work in Pottawatomie County in fiscal 2025, about $162 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 Pottawatomie 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 Pottawatomie County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kansas: the state government and every county in Kansas.
Nearby counties: Riley County (22 mi) · Jackson County (29 mi) · Marshall County (29 mi) · Wabaunsee County (30 mi) · Nemaha County (33 mi) · Geary County (35 mi).