16,824 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.2% since 2020)
427 square miles of land · 39 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 McCreary County in the area they serve, reporting 34,439 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MCCREARY COUNTY WATER DISTRICT surface water · local government · KY0740276 | 34,439 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 74 people were held in McCreary County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2012), or 600 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2007 it was about 70.
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 McCreary County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $45.5 million — $39.3 million to run schools, about $14,475 per student, plus $5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.1 million local (mostly property tax), $32.2 million state, $13 million federal. Long-term debt: $10.5 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 McCreary County about $4.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
41 bridges in McCreary County: 11 in good condition, 24 fair, and 6 poor (14.6%). “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-1651 over NS (CNO&TP) SYS @ WHTLY · built 1956 | 3,418 vehicles a day |
| KY-478 over BRIDGE FORK CREEK · built 1981 | 220 vehicles a day |
| KY-1470 over MARSH CREEK · built 1967 | 197 vehicles a day |
| WIBORG LOOP RD over NS (CNO&TP) SYSTEM · built 1958 | 189 vehicles a day |
| WOLF CREEK RD over WOLF CREEK · built 1977 | 40 vehicles a day |
| JELLICO CREEK RD over JELLICO CREEK · built 1960 | 25 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $3.4 million of work in McCreary County in fiscal 2025, about $204 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 McCreary 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 McCreary County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Wayne County (19 mi) · Whitley County (19 mi) · Scott County, TN (21 mi) · Pulaski County (26 mi) · Campbell County, TN (29 mi) · Laurel County (33 mi).