15,798 people (2024 Census estimate, −3.1% since 2020)
416 square miles of land · 38 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 Lawrence County in the area they serve, reporting 8,236 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| LOUISA WATER DEPARTMENT surface water · local government · KY0640257 | 8,236 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 36 people were held in Lawrence County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 370 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 43.
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 Lawrence County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $37.9 million — $34.5 million to run schools, about $14,121 per student, plus $2.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.7 million local (mostly property tax), $22.1 million state, $7.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $6.2 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Lawrence County about $13.4 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.
104 bridges in Lawrence County: 26 in good condition, 72 fair, and 6 poor (5.8%). “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.
| ELOISE PREECE ST over LICK CREEK · built 1980 | 1,300 vehicles a day |
| KY-1 over Dry Fork · built 1962 | 779 vehicles a day |
| KY-32 over Hood Creek · built 1937 | 686 vehicles a day |
| KY-32 over Blaine Creek · built 1937 | 686 vehicles a day |
| KY-201 over Dry Fork · built 1966 | 345 vehicles a day |
| Mill Creek Hollow over Rockcastle Creek · built 1970 | 70 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $847,389 of work in Lawrence County in fiscal 2025, about $52 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 Lawrence 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 Lawrence County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Johnson County (16 mi) · Wayne County, WV (18 mi) · Elliott County (20 mi) · Boyd County (20 mi) · Martin County (23 mi) · Carter County (23 mi).