1,734 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.4% since 2020)
3,298 square miles of land · 1 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.
1 active community water system list Powder River County in the area they serve, reporting 450 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| BROADUS TOWN OF groundwater · local government · MT0000166 | 450 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 2 people were held in Powder River County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 197 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 2.
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 Powder River County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $3.2 million — $2.7 million to run schools, about $17,707 per student, plus $495,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.1 million local (mostly property tax), $1.9 million state, $479,000 federal.
Spent $2.7 million — $2 million to run schools, about $27,486 per student, plus $495,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1 million local (mostly property tax), $1.8 million state, $28,000 federal.
Spent $155,000 — $152,000 to run schools, about $19,000 per student. Money in: $49,000 local (mostly property tax), $62,000 state, $50,000 federal.
Spent $84,000 — $76,000 to run schools, about $15,200 per student, plus $6,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $12,000 local (mostly property tax), $69,000 state, $21,000 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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Powder River County about $3.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
23 bridges in Powder River County: 12 in good condition, 11 fair, and 0 poor (0.0%). “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.
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $291,402 of work in Powder River County in fiscal 2025, about $172 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 Powder River 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 Powder River County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Montana: the state government and every county in Montana.
Nearby counties: Carter County (51 mi) · Custer County (59 mi) · Crook County, WY (74 mi) · Rosebud County (75 mi) · Sheridan County, WY (77 mi) · Fallon County (84 mi).