30,442 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.4% since 2020)
305 square miles of land · 100 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.
4 active community water systems list Meade County in the area they serve, reporting 39,864 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MEADE COUNTY WATER DISTRICT buys surface water · local government · KY0820369 | 33,313 served |
| BRANDENBURG WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · KY0820041 | 2,880 served |
| DOE VALLEY UTILITIES INC buys groundwater · private · KY0820641 | 2,260 served |
| MULDRAUGH WATER DEPARTMENT buys surface water · local government · KY0820481 | 1,411 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 100 people were held in Meade County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 197.
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 Meade County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $70.4 million — $56.3 million to run schools, about $11,339 per student, plus $10.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $16.1 million local (mostly property tax), $38 million state, $8.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $86.9 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 Meade County about $12.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
24 bridges in Meade County: 8 in good condition, 14 fair, and 2 poor (8.3%). “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.
| LONG BR RD over DOE RUN · built 1970 | 85 vehicles a day |
| RAILWAY TRESTLE RD over P&L RAILROAD · built 1960 | 0 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $109,135 of work in Meade County in fiscal 2025, about $4 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 Meade 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 Meade County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Harrison County, IN (16 mi) · Breckinridge County (18 mi) · Hardin County (23 mi) · Perry County, IN (24 mi) · Crawford County, IN (26 mi) · Bullitt County (27 mi).