25,577 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.6% since 2020)
714 square miles of land · 36 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 Lyon County in the area they serve, reporting 20,829 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| Marshall groundwater · local government · MN1420006 | 13,890 served |
| Tracy groundwater · local government · MN1420010 | 2,154 served |
| Minneota buys groundwater · local government · MN1420007 | 1,380 served |
| Cottonwood groundwater · local government · MN1420002 | 1,212 served |
| Balaton groundwater · local government · MN1420001 | 639 served |
| Lynd buys groundwater · local government · MN1420005 | 448 served |
| Ghent buys groundwater · local government · MN1420004 | 370 served |
| Russell buys groundwater · local government · MN1420008 | 338 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 28 people were held in Lyon County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 179 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 33.
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.
5 school districts have their office in Lyon County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $49 million — $36.9 million to run schools, about $13,569 per student, plus $6.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10.4 million local (mostly property tax), $32.7 million state, $5.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $56.7 million.
Spent $13.6 million — $9.3 million to run schools, about $13,080 per student, plus $3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.8 million local (mostly property tax), $8.3 million state, $891,000 federal. Long-term debt: $18.8 million.
Spent $15.9 million — $9.5 million to run schools, about $14,527 per student, plus $5.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.1 million local (mostly property tax), $7.5 million state, $1.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $914,000.
Spent $8.5 million — $7.4 million to run schools, about $14,349 per student, plus $463,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.5 million local (mostly property tax), $5.8 million state, $376,000 federal. Long-term debt: $10 million.
Spent $3.1 million — $2.4 million to run schools, about $14,089 per student, plus $183,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $577,000 local (mostly property tax), $2.4 million state, $306,000 federal. Long-term debt: $162,000.
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 Lyon County about $20.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
234 bridges in Lyon County: 177 in good condition, 51 fair, and 6 poor (2.6%). “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.
| CSAH 11 over STREAM · built 1938 | 517 vehicles a day |
| M 5 over REDWOOD RIVER · built 1976 | 60 vehicles a day |
| T 112 over S BR YELLOW MEDICINE R · built 1966 | 51 vehicles a day |
| CR 69 over BIG COTTONWOOD RIVER · built 1959 | 36 vehicles a day |
| M 20 over S BR YELLOW MEDICINE R · built 1925 | 25 vehicles a day |
| T 263 over REDWOOD RIVER · built 1969 | 24 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $21.5 million of work in Lyon County in fiscal 2025, about $850 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 Minnesota 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 Lyon 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 Lyon County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Minnesota: the state government and every county in Minnesota.
Nearby counties: Lincoln County (21 mi) · Yellow Medicine County (21 mi) · Murray County (27 mi) · Redwood County (29 mi) · Pipestone County (34 mi) · Cottonwood County (43 mi).