4,539 people (2024 Census estimate, −3.1% since 2020)
517 square miles of land · 9 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.
4 active community water systems list Putnam County in the area they serve, reporting 4,895 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| PUTNAM COUNTY PWSD 1 buys surface water · local government · MO2024495 | 2,550 served |
| UNIONVILLE PWS buys surface water · local government · MO2010804 | 1,735 served |
| LAKE THUNDERHEAD buys surface water · private · MO2036165 | 585 served |
| RATHBUN REGIONAL WATER ASSOCIATION buys surface water · private · MO0400900 | 25 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 3 people were held in Putnam County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 113 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 3.
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 Putnam County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $9.9 million — $8.7 million to run schools, about $13,330 per student, plus $921,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.9 million local (mostly property tax), $3.4 million state, $1.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $6.4 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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Putnam County about $3.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
214 bridges in Putnam County: 109 in good condition, 73 fair, and 32 poor (15.0%). “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 FF S over SHOAL CR · built 1955 | 74 vehicles a day |
| RT N S over TURKEY CR · built 1951 | 56 vehicles a day |
| OLIVE TRAIL over BLACKBIRD CR · built 1996 | 40 vehicles a day |
| 415TH RD over BR SHOAL CR · built 2008 | 30 vehicles a day |
| COTTONWOOD TRAIL over SANDY CR · built 1991 | 25 vehicles a day |
| 190TH ST over BR OF W LOCUST CR · built 1991 | 25 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $3.5 million of work in Putnam County in fiscal 2025, about $737 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 Putnam 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 Putnam County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Missouri: the state government and every county in Missouri.
Nearby counties: Sullivan County (19 mi) · Appanoose County, IA (20 mi) · Wayne County, IA (25 mi) · Schuyler County (26 mi) · Mercer County (29 mi) · Adair County (29 mi).