192,154 people (2024 Census estimate, +4.4% since 2020)
686 square miles of land · 280 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.
12 active community water systems list Boone County in the area they serve, reporting 229,755 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| CITY OF COLUMBIA UTILITIES groundwater · local government · MO3010181 | 126,254 served |
| UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI COLUMBIA groundwater · state · MO3069001 | 40,000 served |
| BOONE COUNTY CONS PWSD 1 groundwater · local government · MO3024055 | 24,700 served |
| BOONE COUNTY PWSD 9 groundwater · local government · MO3024058 | 15,035 served |
| BOONE COUNTY PWSD 4 groundwater · local government · MO3024052 | 6,455 served |
| ASHLAND PWS groundwater · local government · MO3010033 | 4,999 served |
| BOONE COUNTY PWSD 10 groundwater · local government · MO3024059 | 4,963 served |
| CENTRALIA PWS groundwater · local government · MO3010152 | 4,027 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 256 people were held in Boone County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 197 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 239.
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.
6 school districts have their office in Boone County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $314.6 million — $262.6 million to run schools, about $13,967 per student, plus $34 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $193 million local (mostly property tax), $106 million state, $35.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $286.9 million.
Spent $32.7 million — $22 million to run schools, about $10,967 per student, plus $9.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $13.2 million local (mostly property tax), $14.3 million state, $4.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $25.3 million.
Spent $16.9 million — $14.8 million to run schools, about $9,783 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.3 million local (mostly property tax), $10 million state, $1.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $15.1 million.
Spent $12.7 million — $11.8 million to run schools, about $8,172 per student, plus $559,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.9 million local (mostly property tax), $9.3 million state, $2.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $5.7 million.
Spent $19.8 million — $13.6 million to run schools, about $10,220 per student, plus $5.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8 million local (mostly property tax), $7.9 million state, $2.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $14 million.
Spent $8 million — $7 million to run schools, about $11,374 per student, plus $641,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.8 million local (mostly property tax), $3.6 million state, $1.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.5 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 Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Boone County about $75.1 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.
335 bridges in Boone County: 167 in good condition, 156 fair, and 12 poor (3.6%). “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.
| IS 70 E over PERCHE CR · built 1958 | 24,644 vehicles a day |
| MO 163 N over HINKSON CR · built 1968 | 19,216 vehicles a day |
| OR 70 E over HOMINY CREEK · built 1925 | 3,500 vehicles a day |
| RT M E over US 63 · built 1973 | 2,994 vehicles a day |
| STEWART RD over FLAT BR CR · built 1920 | 700 vehicles a day |
| RICHLAND RD over N FK GRINDSTONE CR · built 1970 | 500 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $173.2 million of work in Boone County in fiscal 2025, about $944 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 Boone 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 Boone County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Missouri: the state government and every county in Missouri.
Nearby counties: Howard County (23 mi) · Callaway County (23 mi) · Cooper County (29 mi) · Moniteau County (29 mi) · Audrain County (29 mi) · Randolph County (33 mi).