55,430 people (2024 Census estimate, −5.2% since 2020)
786 square miles of land · 71 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 Pike County in the area they serve, reporting 55,418 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MOUNTAIN WATER DIST surface water · local government · KY0980575 | 44,057 served |
| PIKEVILLE WATER DEPARTMENT surface water · local government · KY0980350 | 9,638 served |
| ELKHORN CITY WATER DEPT buys surface water · local government · KY0980120 | 1,723 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 401 people were held in Pike County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 372.
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 Pike County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $124 million — $110.4 million to run schools, about $14,180 per student, plus $7.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $30.6 million local (mostly property tax), $90.6 million state, $28.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $101.8 million.
Spent $18.7 million — $17.8 million to run schools, about $15,243 per student, plus $679,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.5 million local (mostly property tax), $9.4 million state, $2.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $2.2 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 Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Pike County about $49.7 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.
332 bridges in Pike County: 104 in good condition, 189 fair, and 39 poor (11.7%). “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.
| US-460 over Upper Chloe Creek · built 1940 | 9,300 vehicles a day |
| KY-122 over Bear Fork · built 1927 | 2,089 vehicles a day |
| KY-122 over Robinson Creek · built 1927 | 2,089 vehicles a day |
| KY-610 over Shelby Creek · built 1927 | 1,873 vehicles a day |
| KY-610 over Shelby Creek · built 1927 | 1,873 vehicles a day |
| MEATHOUSE RD over MEATHOUSE OF JOHNS CRK · built 2002 | 1,802 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $13.1 million of work in Pike County in fiscal 2025, about $223 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 Pike 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 Pike County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Floyd County (19 mi) · Mingo County, WV (21 mi) · Martin County (22 mi) · Dickenson County, VA (24 mi) · Buchanan County, VA (25 mi) · Knott County (31 mi).