12,611 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.2% since 2020)
345 square miles of land · 37 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.
3 active community water systems list Caldwell County in the area they serve, reporting 14,047 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| PRINCETON WATER & SEWER COMMISSION surface water · private · KY0170360 | 7,007 served |
| CALDWELL COUNTY WATER DISTRICT buys surface water · local government · KY0170528 | 6,000 served |
| FREDONIA WATER DEPARTMENT buys surface water · local government · KY0170146 | 1,040 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 15 people were held in Caldwell County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 194 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 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.
1 school district has its office in Caldwell County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $32.2 million — $23.8 million to run schools, about $12,566 per student, plus $7.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.9 million local (mostly property tax), $15.1 million state, $5.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $11.2 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 Caldwell County about $9.3 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.
116 bridges in Caldwell County: 25 in good condition, 85 fair, and 6 poor (5.2%). “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.
| I-69 over TRADEWATER RIVER · built 1963 | 5,532 vehicles a day |
| I-69 over TRADEWATER RIVER · built 1963 | 5,532 vehicles a day |
| KY-293 over DONALDSON CREEK · built 1948 | 484 vehicles a day |
| KY-70 over DONALDSON CREEK OVERFLOW · built 1947 | 479 vehicles a day |
| KY-2613 over I-69 · built 1963 | 55 vehicles a day |
| CR 1200 over Trib. to Wiley Creek · built 2009 | 50 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $9.1 million of work in Caldwell County in fiscal 2025, about $716 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 Caldwell 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 Caldwell County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Lyon County (15 mi) · Crittenden County (19 mi) · Hopkins County (21 mi) · Trigg County (24 mi) · Christian County (27 mi) · Livingston County (27 mi).