23,199 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.3% since 2020)
569 square miles of land · 41 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.
9 active community water systems list Ray County in the area they serve, reporting 24,631 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| RAY COUNTY CONS PWSD 2 groundwater · local government · MO1024511 | 9,360 served |
| RICHMOND PWS groundwater · local government · MO1010685 | 5,797 served |
| MO AMERICAN LAWSON buys groundwater · private · MO1010454 | 2,546 served |
| RAY COUNTY PWSD 1 buys groundwater · local government · MO1024510 | 2,490 served |
| RAY COUNTY PWSD 3 buys groundwater · local government · MO1024512 | 1,970 served |
| MO AMERICAN ORRICK buys groundwater · private · MO1010607 | 752 served |
| MO AMERICAN WOOD HEIGHTS buys groundwater · private · MO1010871 | 750 served |
| HARDIN PWS buys groundwater · local government · MO1010346 | 569 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 115 people were held in Ray County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 785 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 50.
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 Ray County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $18.9 million — $17.8 million to run schools, about $11,432 per student, plus $808,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.8 million local (mostly property tax), $8.6 million state, $2.5 million federal.
Spent $17.5 million — $12.1 million to run schools, about $11,058 per student, plus $4.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.8 million local (mostly property tax), $6.8 million state, $2.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.7 million.
Spent $4.6 million — $4.2 million to run schools, about $14,478 per student, plus $237,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2 million local (mostly property tax), $2.5 million state, $646,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.3 million.
Spent $4.6 million — $3.2 million to run schools, about $14,013 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.6 million local (mostly property tax), $1.7 million state, $455,000 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 Ray County about $13.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
184 bridges in Ray County: 62 in good condition, 100 fair, and 22 poor (12.0%). “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.
| LEXINGTON RD over NS RR NS RR FIRST ST · built 1946 | 4,852 vehicles a day |
| MO 10 E over NORBORNE DRAIN DTC · built 1929 | 1,953 vehicles a day |
| RT C S over BURNT FK CR · built 2000 | 836 vehicles a day |
| RAUM RD over UP RR · built 1940 | 380 vehicles a day |
| RT T E over PANTHER CR · built 1933 | 358 vehicles a day |
| RT Z S over KEENEY CR · built 1966 | 316 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $12.7 million of work in Ray County in fiscal 2025, about $546 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 Ray 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 Ray County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Missouri: the state government and every county in Missouri.
Nearby counties: Lafayette County (19 mi) · Clay County (23 mi) · Caldwell County (24 mi) · Carroll County (28 mi) · Jackson County (28 mi) · Clinton County (30 mi).