33,511 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.4% since 2020)
628 square miles of land · 53 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.
15 active community water systems list Lafayette County in the area they serve, reporting 36,111 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| LAFAYETTE COUNTY PWSD 1 buys groundwater · local government · MO1024324 | 8,250 served |
| LAF JO SALINE COUNTY CONS PWSD 2 buys surface water · local government · MO1024326 | 7,180 served |
| ODESSA PWS groundwater · local government · MO1010599 | 5,202 served |
| HIGGINSVILLE PWS surface water · local government · MO1010363 | 4,800 served |
| LEXINGTON PWS groundwater · local government · MO1010464 | 4,729 served |
| CONCORDIA PWS surface water · local government · MO1010184 | 2,500 served |
| WAVERLY PWS buys groundwater · local government · MO1010839 | 900 served |
| WELLINGTON PWS buys groundwater · local government · MO1010846 | 812 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 121 people were held in Lafayette County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 589 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 114.
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 Lafayette County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $28.3 million — $22.8 million to run schools, about $11,157 per student, plus $4.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $12.2 million local (mostly property tax), $12.6 million state, $3.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $19.1 million.
Spent $13.6 million — $12.2 million to run schools, about $12,211 per student, plus $504,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.4 million local (mostly property tax), $6.6 million state, $2.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.7 million.
Spent $14.6 million — $13.1 million to run schools, about $13,381 per student, plus $851,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.1 million local (mostly property tax), $6.4 million state, $2 million federal. Long-term debt: $11.7 million.
Spent $6.4 million — $6.1 million to run schools, about $13,058 per student, plus $194,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.6 million local (mostly property tax), $2.1 million state, $836,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.4 million.
Spent $5.5 million — $5.2 million to run schools, about $13,568 per student, plus $109,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.1 million local (mostly property tax), $2.7 million state, $383,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.1 million.
Spent $5.7 million — $5 million to run schools, about $14,958 per student, plus $431,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3 million local (mostly property tax), $2.4 million state, $419,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.3 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Lafayette County about $20.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
239 bridges in Lafayette County: 77 in good condition, 152 fair, and 10 poor (4.2%). “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 W over LT HRSHOE CR · built 1963 | 22,696 vehicles a day |
| IS 70 W over KCS RR · built 1963 | 17,593 vehicles a day |
| IS 70 E over KCS RR · built 1950 | 17,483 vehicles a day |
| IS 70 E over DAVIS CR · built 1963 | 16,239 vehicles a day |
| MO 131 S over IS 70 · built 1963 | 7,100 vehicles a day |
| RT D S over IS 70 · built 1963 | 4,531 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $27.8 million of work in Lafayette County in fiscal 2025, about $843 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 Lafayette 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 Lafayette County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Missouri: the state government and every county in Missouri.
Nearby counties: Ray County (20 mi) · Johnson County (23 mi) · Jackson County (29 mi) · Carroll County (30 mi) · Saline County (32 mi) · Pettis County (36 mi).