30,413 people (2024 Census estimate, −2.1% since 2020)
1,971 square miles of land · 15 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.
11 active community water systems list Polk County in the area they serve, reporting 20,586 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| East Grand Forks surface water · local government · MN1600004 | 9,206 served |
| Crookston groundwater · local government · MN1600002 | 7,272 served |
| Fosston groundwater · local government · MN1600010 | 1,385 served |
| Fertile groundwater · local government · MN1600008 | 789 served |
| McIntosh groundwater · local government · MN1600011 | 584 served |
| Fisher buys groundwater · local government · MN1600009 | 401 served |
| Erskine groundwater · local government · MN1600005 | 384 served |
| Climax buys groundwater · local government · MN1600001 | 223 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 134 people were held in Polk County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 733 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 144.
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.
7 school districts have their office in Polk County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $29.7 million — $25.4 million to run schools, about $13,452 per student, plus $1.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.2 million local (mostly property tax), $21 million state, $2.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $25.7 million.
Spent $20.7 million — $17.5 million to run schools, about $15,427 per student, plus $2.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.1 million local (mostly property tax), $13.8 million state, $2.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $12.9 million.
Spent $11.2 million — $9.4 million to run schools, about $15,098 per student, plus $705,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.5 million local (mostly property tax), $7.8 million state, $1.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $15 million.
Spent $7.6 million — $6.8 million to run schools, about $13,399 per student, plus $387,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.7 million local (mostly property tax), $5.8 million state, $476,000 federal. Long-term debt: $5.8 million.
Spent $8.3 million — $6.7 million to run schools, about $15,414 per student, plus $1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.8 million local (mostly property tax), $5 million state, $841,000 federal. Long-term debt: $9.7 million.
Spent $6.3 million — $4 million to run schools, about $17,116 per student, plus $1.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.3 million local (mostly property tax), $2.9 million state, $390,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.8 million.
Spent $3.5 million — $3.1 million to run schools, about $16,392 per student, plus $240,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $681,000 local (mostly property tax), $2.5 million state, $393,000 federal. Long-term debt: $2.4 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Polk County about $26.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
269 bridges in Polk County: 167 in good condition, 94 fair, and 8 poor (3.0%). “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 75 over SAND HILL RIVER · built 1995 | 1,100 vehicles a day |
| CSAH 7 over RED RIVER OF THE NORTH · built 1957 | 532 vehicles a day |
| CSAH 1 over RED RIVER OF THE NORTH · built 1939 | 205 vehicles a day |
| CSAH 6 over LOST RIVER · built 1967 | 140 vehicles a day |
| T 530 over BNSF RR · built 1925 | 36 vehicles a day |
| T 209 over SAND HILL RIVER · built 1925 | 8 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $25.9 million of work in Polk County in fiscal 2025, about $830 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 Polk 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 Polk County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Minnesota: the state government and every county in Minnesota.
Nearby counties: Red Lake County (16 mi) · Pennington County (26 mi) · Norman County (31 mi) · Marshall County (41 mi) · Mahnomen County (41 mi) · Traill County, ND (42 mi).