727,362 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.4% since 2020)
605 square miles of land · 1,203 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.
24 active community water systems list Jackson County in the area they serve, reporting 958,275 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| KANSAS CITY PWS surface water · local government · MO1010415 | 553,295 served |
| INDEPENDENCE PWS groundwater · local government · MO1010399 | 120,000 served |
| LEES SUMMIT PWS buys surface water · local government · MO1010459 | 99,400 served |
| BLUE SPRINGS PWS buys surface water · local government · MO1010080 | 61,084 served |
| JACKSON COUNTY PWSD 1 buys groundwater · local government · MO1024275 | 24,500 served |
| RAYTOWN WATER COMPANY buys surface water · private · MO1010676 | 17,066 served |
| JACKSON COUNTY PWSD 2 buys surface water · local government · MO1024276 | 16,440 served |
| GRAIN VALLEY PWS buys groundwater · local government · MO1010320 | 16,000 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 724 people were held in Jackson County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 156 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 830.
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.
12 school districts have their office in Jackson County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $343.7 million — $246.1 million to run schools, about $13,847 per student, plus $80.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $181.8 million local (mostly property tax), $103.9 million state, $21.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $313.4 million.
Spent $280.5 million — $189.6 million to run schools, about $12,994 per student, plus $73.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $129.4 million local (mostly property tax), $82.6 million state, $12.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $286.1 million.
Spent $292.1 million — $273.6 million to run schools, about $18,982 per student, plus $11.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $230.2 million local (mostly property tax), $34.8 million state, $64.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $16.7 million.
Spent $221.8 million — $178.4 million to run schools, about $12,386 per student, plus $30.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $88.7 million local (mostly property tax), $104.1 million state, $36.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $162.8 million.
Spent $141.6 million — $119.2 million to run schools, about $14,874 per student, plus $13.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $68.5 million local (mostly property tax), $58.4 million state, $14.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $93.6 million.
Spent $102.5 million — $74.8 million to run schools, about $14,610 per student, plus $21.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $46.3 million local (mostly property tax), $40.6 million state, $13.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $70.1 million.
Spent $85.5 million — $62.2 million to run schools, about $12,835 per student, plus $19.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $31.4 million local (mostly property tax), $35 million state, $10.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $51.7 million.
Spent $62.5 million — $51.2 million to run schools, about $11,354 per student, plus $7.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $30.2 million local (mostly property tax), $32 million state, $4.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $52.6 million.
And 4 more.
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 High compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Jackson County about $250.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
930 bridges in Jackson County: 370 in good condition, 507 fair, and 53 poor (5.7%). “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.
| RT W E over BR BLUE RVR · built 1969 | 104,024 vehicles a day |
| IS 435 S over GRAVE CR · built 1964 | 96,753 vehicles a day |
| IS 70 W over KCT RR · built 1959 | 57,907 vehicles a day |
| IS 70 W over CST VAN BRUNT BLVD · built 1960 | 45,701 vehicles a day |
| IS 435 S over UP RR KCT RR · built 1968 | 42,076 vehicles a day |
| US 71 S over RT W · built 1961 | 36,578 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $502.7 million of work in Jackson County in fiscal 2025, about $701 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 Jackson 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 Jackson County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Missouri: the state government and every county in Missouri.
Nearby counties: Clay County (22 mi) · Wyandotte County, KS (24 mi) · Cass County (25 mi) · Johnson County, KS (27 mi) · Ray County (28 mi) · Lafayette County (29 mi).