4,748 people (2024 Census estimate, −2.8% since 2020)
891 square miles of land · 5 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 Rooks County in the area they serve, reporting 4,037 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| PLAINVILLE, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2016301 | 1,762 served |
| STOCKTON, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2016304 | 1,380 served |
| ROOKS CO RWD 3 groundwater · local government · KS2016308 | 380 served |
| PALCO, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2016302 | 210 served |
| DAMAR, CITY OF buys groundwater · local government · KS2016305 | 115 served |
| WOODSTON, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2016307 | 95 served |
| ROOKS CO RWD 1 groundwater · local government · KS2016303 | 55 served |
| ROOKS CO RWD 2 groundwater · local government · KS2016306 | 40 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 18 people were held in Rooks County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 601 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 10.
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 Rooks County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $6.7 million — $6.3 million to run schools, about $15,209 per student, plus $348,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.8 million local (mostly property tax), $4.2 million state, $464,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.2 million.
Spent $5.5 million — $5.3 million to run schools, about $18,376 per student, plus $164,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.7 million local (mostly property tax), $3.8 million state, $292,000 federal.
Spent $2 million — $1.9 million to run schools, about $19,598 per student, plus $77,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $712,000 local (mostly property tax), $1.3 million state, $60,000 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 Rooks County about $8.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
170 bridges in Rooks County: 73 in good condition, 94 fair, and 3 poor (1.8%). “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.
| US24 HWY over DIBBLE CREEK · built 1929 | 850 vehicles a day |
| J ROAD (RS 1760) over SAND CREEK · built 1928 | 50 vehicles a day |
| 20 ROAD over PARADISE CREEK · built 1971 | 40 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $2.4 million of work in Rooks County in fiscal 2025, about $485 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 Rooks 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 Rooks County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kansas: the state government and every county in Kansas.
Nearby counties: Graham County (30 mi) · Osborne County (30 mi) · Ellis County (30 mi) · Phillips County (30 mi) · Trego County (41 mi) · Smith County (42 mi).