33,403 people (2024 Census estimate, +6.9% since 2020)
1,490 square miles of land · 22 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.
25 active community water systems list Lake County in the area they serve, reporting 14,205 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| POLSON CITY OF groundwater · local government · MT0000308 | 5,300 served |
| RONAN CITY OF surface water · local government · MT0000318 | 2,483 served |
| PABLO LAKE COUNTY WATER AND SEWER DIST groundwater · local government · MT0001917 | 2,175 served |
| ST IGNATIUS TOWN OF groundwater · local government · MT0001740 | 700 served |
| WOODS BAY WATER AND SEWER DISTRICT groundwater · local government · MT0004698 | 685 served |
| CONSOLIDATED CHARLO LAKE CO W AND S DIST groundwater · local government · MT0000172 | 450 served |
| ROUND BUTTE WATER COMPANY groundwater · private · MT0000320 | 400 served |
| JETTE MEADOWS LAKE CO W AND S DIST groundwater · private · MT0003100 | 375 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 41 people were held in Lake County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 221 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 54.
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.
12 school districts have their office in Lake County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $16.6 million — $15.2 million to run schools, about $12,918 per student, plus $1.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.4 million local (mostly property tax), $6.5 million state, $4 million federal. Long-term debt: $293,000.
Spent $15.3 million — $13.5 million to run schools, about $12,176 per student, plus $1.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.6 million local (mostly property tax), $7.2 million state, $6 million federal. Long-term debt: $454,000.
Spent $7.9 million — $7.5 million to run schools, about $14,395 per student, plus $117,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.7 million local (mostly property tax), $3.4 million state, $951,000 federal. Long-term debt: $491,000.
Spent $9.4 million — $7.8 million to run schools, about $16,181 per student, plus $1.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.1 million local (mostly property tax), $3.7 million state, $4.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $6.8 million.
Spent $5.7 million — $5.5 million to run schools, about $13,228 per student, plus $213,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.4 million local (mostly property tax), $3 million state, $2.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $193,000.
Spent $6.3 million — $5.5 million to run schools, about $20,185 per student, plus $847,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.1 million local (mostly property tax), $2.1 million state, $2.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $470,000.
Spent $2.9 million — $2.1 million to run schools, about $13,292 per student, plus $781,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $559,000 local (mostly property tax), $1.1 million state, $721,000 federal.
Spent $2.3 million — $2.2 million to run schools, about $15,076 per student, plus $65,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $558,000 local (mostly property tax), $1.3 million state, $940,000 federal. Long-term debt: $164,000.
And 4 more.
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 Lake County about $23 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
116 bridges in Lake County: 70 in good condition, 33 fair, and 13 poor (11.2%). “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.
| IRR - US 93 over NINE PIPE RESERVOIR · built 1933 | 8,158 vehicles a day |
| S MAIN AVE over MISSION CREEK 052 · built 1929 | 2,233 vehicles a day |
| S 83 FH 15 over LOST CREEK · built 1953 | 1,246 vehicles a day |
| GLOVER RD over PABLO 3A CANAL 037 · built 1985 | 471 vehicles a day |
| LIGHT RD over PABLO 31A CANAL 036 · built 2009 | 292 vehicles a day |
| ROCKY BUTTE RD over CROW CREEK 070 · built 1986 | 128 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $131.8 million of work in Lake County in fiscal 2025, about $4,234 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 Montana 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 Lake 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 Lake County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Montana: the state government and every county in Montana.
Nearby counties: Missoula County (43 mi) · Flathead County (45 mi) · Sanders County (52 mi) · Mineral County (59 mi) · Powell County (77 mi) · Teton County (85 mi).