77,625 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.3% since 2020)
392 square miles of land · 198 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 Cole County in the area they serve, reporting 72,677 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MO AMERICAN JEFFERSON CITY DISTRICT surface water · private · MO3010409 | 30,075 served |
| COLE COUNTY PWSD 1 groundwater · local government · MO3024159 | 16,548 served |
| COLE COUNTY PWSD 2 groundwater · local government · MO3024160 | 13,107 served |
| COLE COUNTY PWSD 4 groundwater · local government · MO3024163 | 7,568 served |
| COLE COUNTY PWSD 3 groundwater · local government · MO3024162 | 2,000 served |
| MO AMERICAN WARDSVILLE groundwater · private · MO3010831 | 1,506 served |
| RUSSELLVILLE PWS groundwater · local government · MO3010706 | 800 served |
| COLE COUNTY PWSD 5 groundwater · local government · MO3024164 | 350 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 156 people were held in Cole County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2022), or 318 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2017 it was about 149.
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.
4 school districts have their office in Cole County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $126.1 million — $108.7 million to run schools, about $12,522 per student, plus $10 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $90.9 million local (mostly property tax), $41 million state, $17.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $139.4 million.
Spent $15 million — $13.6 million to run schools, about $11,366 per student, plus $388,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.5 million local (mostly property tax), $7.9 million state, $717,000 federal. Long-term debt: $15.3 million.
Spent $8.4 million — $7.1 million to run schools, about $11,302 per student, plus $924,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.3 million local (mostly property tax), $3.4 million state, $1.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $4.2 million.
Spent $8 million — $6.3 million to run schools, about $10,119 per student, plus $1.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4 million local (mostly property tax), $3.2 million state, $898,000 federal. Long-term debt: $337,000.
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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Cole County about $42.7 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.
227 bridges in Cole County: 60 in good condition, 146 fair, and 21 poor (9.3%). “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.
| RT C E over US 54 · built 1965 | 18,510 vehicles a day |
| DIX RD S over US 50 · built 1964 | 16,141 vehicles a day |
| US 54 W over MOREAU RVR · built 1967 | 11,836 vehicles a day |
| US 54 W over NEIGHORN BR · built 1965 | 11,836 vehicles a day |
| US 54 E over NEIGHORN BR · built 1941 | 10,305 vehicles a day |
| US 50 E over MOREAU RVR · built 1960 | 9,742 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $1.2 billion of work in Cole County in fiscal 2025, about $15,705 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 Cole 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 Cole County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Missouri: the state government and every county in Missouri.
Nearby counties: Moniteau County (19 mi) · Miller County (21 mi) · Osage County (23 mi) · Callaway County (30 mi) · Maries County (30 mi) · Morgan County (33 mi).