36,821 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.8% since 2020)
552 square miles of land · 67 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.
9 active community water systems list Graves County in the area they serve, reporting 28,761 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MAYFIELD ELECTRIC & WATER groundwater · local government · KY0420274 | 12,379 served |
| GRAVES CO WATER DIST - CONSUMERS buys groundwater · local government · KY0420084 | 5,016 served |
| GRAVES CO WATER DIST - HICKORY groundwater · local government · KY0420194 | 4,069 served |
| GRAVES CO WATER DIST - SOUTH GRAVES groundwater · local government · KY0420405 | 1,844 served |
| SYMSONIA WATER DISTRICT groundwater · local government · KY0420423 | 1,810 served |
| GRAVES CO WATER DIST - FANCY FARM groundwater · local government · KY0420027 | 1,301 served |
| GRAVES CO WATER DIST - HARDEMAN buys groundwater · local government · KY0420172 | 1,006 served |
| WINGO WATER & SEWER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · KY0420475 | 965 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 35 people were held in Graves County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 129.
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.
2 school districts have their office in Graves County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $60 million — $51.3 million to run schools, about $12,902 per student, plus $7.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $16 million local (mostly property tax), $33.1 million state, $11.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $11.6 million.
Spent $35.9 million — $27.4 million to run schools, about $14,098 per student, plus $7.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6 million local (mostly property tax), $31.1 million state, $8.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $20.8 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 Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Graves County about $39.1 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
380 bridges in Graves County: 112 in good condition, 228 fair, and 40 poor (10.5%). “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.
| SOUTH 9TH STREET over RED DUCK CREEK · built 1920 | 6,394 vehicles a day |
| KY-339 over WEST MAYFIELD CREEK · built 1940 | 1,886 vehicles a day |
| 10th Street over KESS CREEK · built 1960 | 1,875 vehicles a day |
| SOUTH 8TH STREET over RED DUCK CREEK · built 1940 | 1,671 vehicles a day |
| KY-1820 over BRANCH OF MAYFEILD CREEK · built 1967 | 628 vehicles a day |
| SCOTT ROAD over KURK CREEK · built 1980 | 531 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $16.4 million of work in Graves County in fiscal 2025, about $447 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 Graves 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 Graves County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Hickman County (18 mi) · Carlisle County (20 mi) · Marshall County (21 mi) · Calloway County (22 mi) · McCracken County (23 mi) · Weakley County, TN (29 mi).