19,239 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.9% since 2020)
405 square miles of land · 47 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.
1 active community water system list Adair County in the area they serve, reporting 22,113 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| COLUMBIA/ADAIR UTILITIES DISTRICT surface water · local government · KY0011016 | 22,113 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 90 people were held in Adair County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 84.
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.
1 school district has its office in Adair County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $39 million — $35.5 million to run schools, about $13,545 per student, plus $2.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.3 million local (mostly property tax), $24 million state, $7.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $16.7 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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Adair County about $9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
143 bridges in Adair County: 27 in good condition, 104 fair, and 12 poor (8.4%). “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.
| KY-80 over RUSSELL CREEK · built 1933 | 2,786 vehicles a day |
| ABRELL RD over SULPHUR CREEK · built 1991 | 253 vehicles a day |
| OLD GRADYVILLE RD over COOL SPRINGS CREEK · built 1997 | 225 vehicles a day |
| ALLEN SCHOOLHOUSE over BUTLER CREEK · built 1987 | 155 vehicles a day |
| DUNNVILLE RD over BR OF GUNDY HOLLOW CREEK · built 1936 | 150 vehicles a day |
| White Oak Ch. Road over BIG CLIFTY CREEK · built 2003 | 100 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $3.2 million of work in Adair County in fiscal 2025, about $169 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 Kentucky 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 Adair 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 Adair County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Russell County (15 mi) · Taylor County (18 mi) · Green County (18 mi) · Metcalfe County (21 mi) · Cumberland County (23 mi) · Casey County (25 mi).