37,434 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.1% since 2020)
430 square miles of land · 87 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.
7 active community water systems list Steele County in the area they serve, reporting 30,780 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| Owatonna groundwater · local government · MN1740007 | 26,430 served |
| Blooming Prairie groundwater · local government · MN1740001 | 1,987 served |
| Medford groundwater · local government · MN1740005 | 1,200 served |
| Ellendale groundwater · local government · MN1740003 | 636 served |
| Lazy U Community groundwater · private · MN1740006 | 426 served |
| Thompson Oaks groundwater · private · MN1740008 | 51 served |
| Hope Water Cooperative groundwater · private · MN1740004 | 50 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 Steele County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 124 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 72.
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 Steele County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $133.7 million — $67 million to run schools, about $13,596 per student, plus $57.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $23.5 million local (mostly property tax), $57.1 million state, $6.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $166.9 million.
Spent $11.3 million — $10.4 million to run schools, about $11,434 per student, plus $281,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.8 million local (mostly property tax), $9.2 million state, $1 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.5 million.
Spent $30.2 million — $11 million to run schools, about $12,920 per student, plus $17.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.6 million local (mostly property tax), $10.1 million state, $1.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $38.3 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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Steele County about $21.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
134 bridges in Steele County: 77 in good condition, 52 fair, and 5 poor (3.7%). “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 45 over TURTLE CREEK · built 1951 | 4,050 vehicles a day |
| T 145 over RUSH CREEK · built 1963 | 30 vehicles a day |
| T 57 over CRANE CREEK · built 1968 | 30 vehicles a day |
| T 118 over DITCH · built 1950 | 30 vehicles a day |
| T 128 over STRAIGHT RIVER · built 1958 | 30 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 Steele County in fiscal 2025, about $230 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 Steele 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 Steele County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Minnesota: the state government and every county in Minnesota.
Nearby counties: Dodge County (17 mi) · Waseca County (18 mi) · Rice County (23 mi) · Freeborn County (24 mi) · Mower County (33 mi) · Le Sueur County (35 mi).