45,590 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.3% since 2020)
598 square miles of land · 76 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.
12 active community water systems list Hillsdale County in the area they serve, reporting 15,212 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| HILLSDALE groundwater · local government · MI0003170 | 8,163 served |
| JONESVILLE groundwater · local government · MI0003490 | 2,258 served |
| LITCHFIELD groundwater · local government · MI0003920 | 1,310 served |
| READING groundwater · local government · MI0005620 | 1,078 served |
| MICHINDOH CONFERENCE CENTER groundwater · private · MI0004353 | 779 served |
| WALDRON groundwater · local government · MI0006850 | 538 served |
| CAMDEN groundwater · local government · MI0001050 | 512 served |
| SOMERSET CENTRE ESTATES groundwater · private · MI0040184 | 368 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 68 people were held in Hillsdale County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 246 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 66.
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.
8 school districts have their office in Hillsdale County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $20 million — $18.5 million to run schools, about $14,538 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.5 million local (mostly property tax), $13.4 million state, $3.1 million federal.
Spent $18.7 million — $16.7 million to run schools, about $13,148 per student, plus $1.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.1 million local (mostly property tax), $15.3 million state, $2.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $16.8 million.
Spent $14.7 million — $9.8 million to run schools, about $14,091 per student, plus $4.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.4 million local (mostly property tax), $7.5 million state, $2.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $7.5 million.
Spent $7.6 million — $7.2 million to run schools, about $15,969 per student, plus $329,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.8 million local (mostly property tax), $4.8 million state, $1.7 million federal.
Spent $5.5 million — $5.1 million to run schools, about $13,662 per student, plus $376,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.2 million local (mostly property tax), $3.6 million state, $715,000 federal.
Spent $4.9 million — $4.7 million to run schools, about $13,242 per student, plus $163,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1 million local (mostly property tax), $3.9 million state, $756,000 federal. Long-term debt: $230,000.
Spent $4.4 million — $4.2 million to run schools, about $15,954 per student, plus $107,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $825,000 local (mostly property tax), $2.7 million state, $1.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $4.5 million.
Spent $4.5 million — $4.3 million to run schools, about $16,992 per student, plus $243,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $863,000 local (mostly property tax), $2.9 million state, $1.5 million federal.
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 Hillsdale County about $13.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
104 bridges in Hillsdale County: 28 in good condition, 61 fair, and 15 poor (14.4%). “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-127 over BLANCHARD DRAIN · built 1948 | 3,056 vehicles a day |
| M-49 over ST JOSEPH RIVER · built 1985 | 2,262 vehicles a day |
| TERRITORIAL ROAD over WOOLACE MARTN WALTERS DR · built 1936 | 976 vehicles a day |
| READING ROAD over E BR ST JOSEPH OF MAUMEE · built 1935 | 579 vehicles a day |
| MOSHERVILLE ROAD over S BR KALAMAZOO RIVER · built 1947 | 506 vehicles a day |
| HARTLEY ROAD over E BR ST JOSEPH OF MAUMEE · built 1947 | 282 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $8.6 million of work in Hillsdale County in fiscal 2025, about $187 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 Michigan 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 Hillsdale 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 Hillsdale County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Michigan: the state government and every county in Michigan.
Nearby counties: Branch County (22 mi) · Jackson County (25 mi) · Williams County, OH (25 mi) · Steuben County, IN (27 mi) · Lenawee County (29 mi) · Calhoun County (29 mi).