69,025 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.9% since 2020)
496 square miles of land · 139 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.
14 active community water systems list Rice County in the area they serve, reporting 57,482 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| Faribault groundwater · local government · MN1660002 | 23,718 served |
| Northfield groundwater · local government · MN1660010 | 20,790 served |
| Lonsdale groundwater · local government · MN1660006 | 5,079 served |
| Carleton College groundwater · private · MN1660013 | 2,485 served |
| MN Correctional Facility - Faribault groundwater · private · MN1660005 | 2,103 served |
| Dundas groundwater · local government · MN1660015 | 1,490 served |
| Morristown groundwater · local government · MN1660007 | 987 served |
| Nerstrand groundwater · local government · MN1660009 | 299 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 14 people were held in Rice County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 31 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 38.
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.
2 school districts have their office in Rice County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $72.7 million — $62.5 million to run schools, about $16,214 per student, plus $3.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $25.7 million local (mostly property tax), $41.6 million state, $5.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $61.3 million.
Spent $67.4 million — $59.2 million to run schools, about $17,883 per student, plus $3.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $14.9 million local (mostly property tax), $43.1 million state, $10.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $7.1 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 Rice County about $36.7 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.
143 bridges in Rice County: 58 in good condition, 81 fair, and 4 poor (2.8%). “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.
| MN 19 over CANNON RIVER · built 1973 | 7,179 vehicles a day |
| CSAH 78 over HEATH CREEK · built 1955 | 2,850 vehicles a day |
| T 125 over STREAM · built 1950 | 36 vehicles a day |
| T 812 over PRAIRIE CREEK · built 1962 | 20 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $12.3 million of work in Rice County in fiscal 2025, about $183 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 Rice 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 Rice County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Minnesota: the state government and every county in Minnesota.
Nearby counties: Le Sueur County (21 mi) · Steele County (23 mi) · Scott County (24 mi) · Dakota County (25 mi) · Waseca County (27 mi) · Goodhue County (29 mi).