24,675 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.2% since 2020)
280 square miles of land · 88 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 Rowan County in the area they serve, reporting 34,317 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| ROWAN WATER INC buys surface water · private · KY1030375 | 18,765 served |
| MOREHEAD UTILITY PLANT BOARD surface water · local government · KY1030292 | 9,052 served |
| MOREHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY surface water · state · KY1030480 | 6,500 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 282 people were held in Rowan County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2026). In 2021 it was about 308.
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 Rowan County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $60.3 million — $42.6 million to run schools, about $12,419 per student, plus $15.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $14.8 million local (mostly property tax), $26.1 million state, $11.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $42.2 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 Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Rowan County about $12.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
129 bridges in Rowan County: 41 in good condition, 82 fair, and 6 poor (4.7%). “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-785 over BIG BRUSHY CREEK · built 1967 | 720 vehicles a day |
| ELK LICK RD over N.FK. TRIPLETT CREEK · built 1984 | 221 vehicles a day |
| FREESTONE RD over TRIPLETT CREEK · built 1921 | 90 vehicles a day |
| LOWER CRANEY RD over CRANEY CREEK · built 1987 | 75 vehicles a day |
| LEE BR over CHRISTY CREEK · built 1987 | 49 vehicles a day |
| TACKETT BR over CHRISTY CREEK · built 1990 | 32 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $16.1 million of work in Rowan County in fiscal 2025, about $653 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 Rowan 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 Rowan County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kentucky: the state government and every county in Kentucky.
Nearby counties: Bath County (17 mi) · Fleming County (19 mi) · Elliott County (19 mi) · Menifee County (21 mi) · Morgan County (21 mi) · Carter County (22 mi).