83,012 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.4% since 2020)
450 square miles of land · 184 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.
23 active community water systems list Lee County in the area they serve, reporting 86,633 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| CITY OF TUPELO buys surface water · local government · MS0410015 | 37,000 served |
| TOWN OF SALTILLO buys surface water · local government · MS0410012 | 6,766 served |
| MOOREVILLE-RICHMOND W/A #1 groundwater · public/private · MS0410007 | 3,807 served |
| OLD UNION WATER SYSTEM groundwater · public/private · MS0410033 | 3,749 served |
| TOWN OF GUNTOWN groundwater · local government · MS0410006 | 3,577 served |
| MOOREVILLE RICHMOND #3 groundwater · public/private · MS0410039 | 3,419 served |
| MOOREVILLE-RICHMOND W/A #2 groundwater · public/private · MS0410032 | 3,200 served |
| CITY OF VERONA groundwater · local government · MS0410016 | 2,792 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 200 people were held in Lee County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 378 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 207.
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 Lee County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $103.7 million — $93.8 million to run schools, about $13,155 per student, plus $8.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $40.5 million local (mostly property tax), $42.7 million state, $19 million federal. Long-term debt: $48.6 million.
Spent $77.2 million — $71.8 million to run schools, about $11,383 per student, plus $4.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $25.9 million local (mostly property tax), $40.5 million state, $11.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $36 million.
Spent $13 million — $12.2 million to run schools, about $10,989 per student, plus $701,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.8 million local (mostly property tax), $8.1 million state, $3.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $2.6 million.
Spent $11.2 million — $10.6 million to run schools, about $13,962 per student, plus $525,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.3 million local (mostly property tax), $5.2 million state, $2.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $3.9 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 Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Lee County about $37.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
389 bridges in Lee County: 250 in good condition, 121 fair, and 18 poor (4.6%). “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.
| EAST MAIN over OLD TOWN CREEK · built 1964 | 16,000 vehicles a day |
| EASON BLVD over TOWN AND KINGS CREEK · built 1965 | 13,000 vehicles a day |
| SR 145 over TOWN CREEK TRIB EAST · built 1937 | 4,600 vehicles a day |
| PALMETTO ROAD over COONEWAH CREEK · built 1958 | 3,900 vehicles a day |
| SR 6 over SMITH CREEK · built 1955 | 2,200 vehicles a day |
| CR 1766 over BOGUEFALA CREEK · built 1991 | 880 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $10.5 million of work in Lee County in fiscal 2025, about $126 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 Mississippi 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 Lee 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 Lee County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Mississippi: the state government and every county in Mississippi.
Nearby counties: Itawamba County (18 mi) · Pontotoc County (21 mi) · Union County (23 mi) · Prentiss County (24 mi) · Chickasaw County (29 mi) · Monroe County (30 mi).