24,054 people (2024 Census estimate, +3.3% since 2020)
539 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.
10 active community water systems list McDonald County in the area they serve, reporting 11,839 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MC DONALD COUNTY PWSD 1 groundwater · local government · MO5024359 | 2,481 served |
| ANDERSON PWS groundwater · local government · MO5010016 | 1,961 served |
| LIBERTY WATER NOEL groundwater · private · MO5010577 | 1,832 served |
| MC DONALD COUNTY PWSD 2 groundwater · local government · MO5021113 | 1,500 served |
| GOODMAN PWS groundwater · local government · MO5010315 | 1,250 served |
| SOUTHWEST CITY PWS groundwater · local government · MO5010751 | 976 served |
| PINEVILLE PWS groundwater · local government · MO5010645 | 791 served |
| MC DONALD COUNTY PWSD 3 groundwater · local government · MO5021168 | 600 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 38 people were held in McDonald County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 253 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 46.
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.
1 school district has its office in McDonald County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $45.2 million — $40.1 million to run schools, about $11,373 per student, plus $4.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $12.5 million local (mostly property tax), $29.4 million state, $7.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.6 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 McDonald County about $25.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
145 bridges in McDonald County: 34 in good condition, 93 fair, and 18 poor (12.4%). “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 49 N over SUGAR FK CR · built 1998 | 8,053 vehicles a day |
| MO 90 E over YARNELL BR · built 1930 | 4,036 vehicles a day |
| MO 43 S over HONEY CR · built 1930 | 2,842 vehicles a day |
| RT H E over MILL CR · built 1963 | 2,404 vehicles a day |
| MO 76 E over DRY BR · built 1937 | 2,305 vehicles a day |
| RT E S over KINGS CR · built 1930 | 1,857 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $7.3 million of work in McDonald County in fiscal 2025, about $315 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 McDonald 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 McDonald County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Missouri: the state government and every county in Missouri.
Nearby counties: Newton County (19 mi) · Benton County, AR (21 mi) · Barry County (29 mi) · Ottawa County, OK (29 mi) · Delaware County, OK (30 mi) · Jasper County (40 mi).