25,660 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.5% since 2020)
567 square miles of land · 45 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.
4 active community water systems list Adair County in the area they serve, reporting 25,680 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| KIRKSVILLE PWS surface water · local government · MO2010429 | 17,566 served |
| ADAIR COUNTY PWSD 1 buys surface water · local government · MO2024000 | 7,500 served |
| NOVINGER PWS buys surface water · local government · MO2010587 | 376 served |
| BRASHEAR PWS buys surface water · local government · MO2010097 | 238 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 53 people were held in Adair County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 298 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 35.
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 Adair County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $36.8 million — $30.6 million to run schools, about $12,201 per student, plus $5.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $17.9 million local (mostly property tax), $15.6 million state, $5.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $6 million.
Spent $3.4 million — $3.1 million to run schools, about $13,556 per student, plus $175,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.3 million local (mostly property tax), $1.8 million state, $1.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $1.1 million.
Spent $3.7 million — $3.3 million to run schools, about $23,714 per student, plus $337,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.9 million local (mostly property tax), $1.4 million state, $235,000 federal. Long-term debt: $650,000.
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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Adair County about $11.4 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.
301 bridges in Adair County: 185 in good condition, 99 fair, and 17 poor (5.6%). “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.
| MO 6 E over HOGE BR · built 1926 | 2,660 vehicles a day |
| MO 11 S over MUSSEL FK · built 1933 | 323 vehicles a day |
| RT V S over N TIMBER CR · built 1932 | 267 vehicles a day |
| RT E E over BEAR CR · built 1947 | 266 vehicles a day |
| LINCOLN ST over FLOYD CR · built 1998 | 248 vehicles a day |
| MISSOURI ST over BRANCH · built 1935 | 40 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $14.7 million of work in Adair County in fiscal 2025, about $583 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 Missouri 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 Adair 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 Adair County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Missouri: the state government and every county in Missouri.
Nearby counties: Schuyler County (20 mi) · Knox County (24 mi) · Macon County (25 mi) · Sullivan County (27 mi) · Putnam County (29 mi) · Scotland County (30 mi).