16,226 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.0% since 2020)
317 square miles of land · 51 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 Rockcastle County in the area they serve, reporting 21,352 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| WESTERN ROCKCASTLE WATER ASSOC buys surface water · private · KY1020891 | 12,623 served |
| MT VERNON WATER WORKS surface water · local government · KY1020299 | 4,951 served |
| KENTUCKY AMERICAN WATER - EASTERN ROCKCA buys surface water · private · KY1020288 | 2,165 served |
| BRODHEAD WATER WORKS buys surface water · local government · KY1020889 | 1,613 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 62 people were held in Rockcastle County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 75.
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 Rockcastle County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $42.8 million — $38.8 million to run schools, about $14,041 per student, plus $3.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.5 million local (mostly property tax), $30.1 million state, $10.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.4 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 Rockcastle County about $7.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
87 bridges in Rockcastle County: 17 in good condition, 62 fair, and 8 poor (9.2%). “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-328 over BRUSHY CREEK · built 1950 | 337 vehicles a day |
| KY-1249 over W.FK. SKEGG CREEK · built 1982 | 242 vehicles a day |
| KY-1787 over DAVIS BRANCH · built 1969 | 135 vehicles a day |
| KY-1787 over CLEAR CREEK · built 1970 | 135 vehicles a day |
| WOLF CREEK RD over BRUSH CREEK · built 1950 | 108 vehicles a day |
| ARVIL LANE over COPPER CREEK · built 1999 | 38 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $33.6 million of work in Rockcastle County in fiscal 2025, about $2,095 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 Rockcastle 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 Rockcastle County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Jackson County (16 mi) · Lincoln County (20 mi) · Laurel County (20 mi) · Garrard County (22 mi) · Pulaski County (23 mi) · Madison County (25 mi).