7,816 people (2024 Census estimate, +3.7% since 2020)
195 square miles of land · 40 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 Nicholas County in the area they serve, reporting 10,410 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| WESTERN FLEMING WATER DISTRICT surface water · local government · KY0910675 | 4,262 served |
| NICHOLAS CO WATER DISTRICT buys surface water · local government · KY0910314 | 4,089 served |
| CARLISLE WATER DEPARTMENT surface water · local government · KY0910065 | 2,059 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 39 people were held in Nicholas County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 798 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 42.
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 Nicholas County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $21.1 million — $13.8 million to run schools, about $12,359 per student, plus $5.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3 million local (mostly property tax), $11.3 million state, $3.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $22.5 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 Nicholas County about $4.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
82 bridges in Nicholas County: 22 in good condition, 57 fair, and 3 poor (3.7%). “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-32 over TRIB-HOOKTOWN BRANCH · built 1929 | 747 vehicles a day |
| KY-32 over FLEMING CREEK · built 1933 | 697 vehicles a day |
| OLD US 68 CONNECTO over LICKING RIVER · built 1917 | 215 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $127,280 of work in Nicholas County in fiscal 2025, about $17 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 Nicholas 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 Nicholas County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Robertson County (12 mi) · Bourbon County (14 mi) · Fleming County (18 mi) · Harrison County (18 mi) · Bath County (20 mi) · Mason County (21 mi).