45,672 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.5% since 2020)
672 square miles of land · 68 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 Phelps County in the area they serve, reporting 29,078 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| ROLLA PWS groundwater · local government · MO3010700 | 20,800 served |
| ST JAMES PWS groundwater · local government · MO3010712 | 3,935 served |
| PHELPS COUNTY PWSD 2 SOUTH groundwater · local government · MO3024467 | 1,763 served |
| PHELPS COUNTY PWSD 1 groundwater · local government · MO3024465 | 800 served |
| PHELPS COUNTY PWSD 2 NORTH groundwater · local government · MO3024466 | 523 served |
| NEWBURG PWS groundwater · local government · MO3010887 | 324 served |
| KVC groundwater · private · MO3069013 | 200 served |
| GLADLO WATER & SEWER INC groundwater · private · MO3036151 | 182 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 207 people were held in Phelps County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 700 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2017 it was about 201.
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 Phelps County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $68.7 million — $47.8 million to run schools, about $11,495 per student, plus $19.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $25.1 million local (mostly property tax), $24.8 million state, $8 million federal. Long-term debt: $37.2 million.
Spent $24.4 million — $22.6 million to run schools, about $13,575 per student, plus $883,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.8 million local (mostly property tax), $13.1 million state, $2.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $17.9 million.
Spent $5.9 million — $4.7 million to run schools, about $11,585 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.9 million local (mostly property tax), $3 million state, $627,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.9 million.
Spent $2.9 million — $2.2 million to run schools, about $13,726 per student, plus $139,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $906,000 local (mostly property tax), $1.7 million state, $419,000 federal. Long-term debt: $270,000.
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 Phelps County about $18.7 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.
156 bridges in Phelps County: 45 in good condition, 99 fair, and 12 poor (7.7%). “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.
| IS 44 W over BNSF RR LIT PINEY RVR · built 2002 | 15,872 vehicles a day |
| RT F E over NORMAN CR · built 1964 | 1,414 vehicles a day |
| RT F E over EARLE CR · built 1964 | 1,414 vehicles a day |
| RT HH S over SPRING CR · built 1958 | 407 vehicles a day |
| RT J S over SPRING CR · built 1955 | 355 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY RD 3620 over BR OF DRY FK CR · built 1900 | 100 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $39.6 million of work in Phelps County in fiscal 2025, about $887 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 Phelps 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 Phelps County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Missouri: the state government and every county in Missouri.
Nearby counties: Maries County (22 mi) · Pulaski County (23 mi) · Dent County (24 mi) · Crawford County (27 mi) · Texas County (39 mi) · Osage County (41 mi).