36,780 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.1% since 2020)
492 square miles of land · 75 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.
10 active community water systems list McLeod County in the area they serve, reporting 27,252 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| Hutchinson groundwater · local government · MN1430004 | 14,900 served |
| Glencoe groundwater · local government · MN1430003 | 5,676 served |
| Winsted groundwater · local government · MN1430010 | 2,226 served |
| Lester Prairie groundwater · local government · MN1430006 | 1,904 served |
| Silver Lake groundwater · local government · MN1430008 | 850 served |
| Brownton groundwater · local government · MN1430002 | 722 served |
| Stewart groundwater · local government · MN1430009 | 482 served |
| Plato groundwater · local government · MN1430007 | 319 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 21 people were held in McLeod County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 91 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 20.
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.
3 school districts have their office in McLeod County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $50.6 million — $35.4 million to run schools, about $12,790 per student, plus $11.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $11.6 million local (mostly property tax), $29.1 million state, $3.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $69.3 million.
Spent $23.8 million — $20.2 million to run schools, about $13,946 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.4 million local (mostly property tax), $15.7 million state, $2.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $21.9 million.
Spent $7.7 million — $5.9 million to run schools, about $12,162 per student, plus $769,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.6 million local (mostly property tax), $5 million state, $639,000 federal. Long-term debt: $18 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 McLeod County about $17.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
77 bridges in McLeod County: 39 in good condition, 34 fair, and 4 poor (5.2%). “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.
| CSAH 13 over HIGH ISLAND CREEK · built 1964 | 379 vehicles a day |
| CSAH 17 over HIGH ISLAND CREEK · built 1966 | 245 vehicles a day |
| CR 57 over HIGH ISLAND CREEK · built 1964 | 170 vehicles a day |
| CSAH 24 over BEAR CREEK · built 1962 | 120 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $4.7 million of work in McLeod County in fiscal 2025, about $128 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 McLeod 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 McLeod County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Minnesota: the state government and every county in Minnesota.
Nearby counties: Sibley County (17 mi) · Carver County (23 mi) · Meeker County (24 mi) · Wright County (29 mi) · Nicollet County (32 mi) · Renville County (34 mi).