19,100 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.7% since 2020)
474 square miles of land · 40 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 Perry County in the area they serve, reporting 13,763 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| PERRYVILLE PWS surface water · local government · MO4010636 | 8,555 served |
| PERRY COUNTY PWSD 1 groundwater · local government · MO4024455 | 2,065 served |
| PORT PERRY SERVICE groundwater · private · MO4036132 | 800 served |
| PERRY COUNTY PWSD 2 buys surface water · local government · MO4024456 | 750 served |
| S K & M WATER AND SEWER COMPANY groundwater · private · MO4036226 | 750 served |
| ALTENBURG PWS groundwater · local government · MO4010011 | 341 served |
| MILL SPRING groundwater · local government · MO4010293 | 250 served |
| LAKE KAH TAN DA ESTATES INC groundwater · private · MO4036202 | 158 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 33 people were held in Perry County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 281 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 35.
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.
2 school districts have their office in Perry County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $33.3 million — $24 million to run schools, about $11,203 per student, plus $8.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $16.6 million local (mostly property tax), $9.5 million state, $5.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $773,000.
Spent $1.5 million — $1.3 million to run schools, about $12,173 per student. Money in: $1 million local (mostly property tax), $485,000 state, $409,000 federal.
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 Perry County about $18.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
122 bridges in Perry County: 35 in good condition, 66 fair, and 21 poor (17.2%). “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.
| MO 51 S over IS 55 · built 1970 | 10,761 vehicles a day |
| RT T E over IS 55 · built 1970 | 4,717 vehicles a day |
| MO 51 S over KASKASKIA ST MISSISSI · built 1942 | 3,806 vehicles a day |
| MO 51 S over HORSE ISLAND CHUTE · built 1942 | 3,806 vehicles a day |
| RT T E over SALINE CR · built 1933 | 1,248 vehicles a day |
| RT B S over IS 55 · built 1970 | 1,153 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $882,151 of work in Perry County in fiscal 2025, about $47 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 Perry 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 Perry County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Missouri: the state government and every county in Missouri.
Nearby counties: Ste. Genevieve County (23 mi) · Cape Girardeau County (23 mi) · Jackson County, IL (24 mi) · Randolph County, IL (24 mi) · Bollinger County (30 mi) · Madison County (34 mi).