26,098 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.9% since 2020)
409 square miles of land · 64 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 Carter County in the area they serve, reporting 28,539 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| RATTLESNAKE RIDGE WATER DISTRICT surface water · local government · KY0220555 | 11,397 served |
| GRAYSON UTILITY COMMISSION surface water · local government · KY0220164 | 10,950 served |
| OLIVE HILL MUNICIPAL WATER WORKS surface water · local government · KY0220335 | 6,192 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 154 people were held in Carter County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 190.
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 Carter County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $55.5 million — $52.3 million to run schools, about $12,650 per student, plus $1.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10.7 million local (mostly property tax), $75.2 million state, $9.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $22.1 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Carter County about $14.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
189 bridges in Carter County: 37 in good condition, 142 fair, and 10 poor (5.3%). “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-1 over LIT.FK.LITTLE SANDY RIVE · built 1962 | 1,997 vehicles a day |
| KY-1 over LIT.FK.LITTLE SANDY RIVE · built 1961 | 1,997 vehicles a day |
| KY-174 over TYGARTS CREEK · built 1969 | 1,642 vehicles a day |
| KY-1 over DRY FORK CREEK · built 1961 | 1,640 vehicles a day |
| KY-2 over BRUSHY CREEK · built 1962 | 1,079 vehicles a day |
| KY-1626 over DRY BRANCH-TYGARTS CRK · built 1996 | 519 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $13.5 million of work in Carter County in fiscal 2025, about $508 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 Carter 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 Carter County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Elliott County (14 mi) · Greenup County (18 mi) · Boyd County (20 mi) · Rowan County (22 mi) · Lawrence County (23 mi) · Lewis County (24 mi).