13,895 people (2024 Census estimate, +11.5% since 2020)
2,760 square miles of land · 5 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.
12 active community water systems list Sanders County in the area they serve, reporting 6,104 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| THOMPSON FALLS CITY OF groundwater · local government · MT0000341 | 1,950 served |
| PLAINS TOWN OF groundwater · local government · MT0000305 | 1,700 served |
| HOT SPRINGS MUNICIPAL WATER groundwater · local government · MT0000251 | 982 served |
| WATER SERVICE INC TROUT CREEK groundwater · private · MT0000347 | 350 served |
| NOXON WATER DISTRICT groundwater · local government · MT0000299 | 330 served |
| SALISH SHORES TRADE WINDS COMM VILLAGE groundwater · private · MT0003911 | 215 served |
| PARADISE WATER DISTRICT groundwater · local government · MT0000385 | 200 served |
| WOODSIDE PARK COUNTY WATER AND SEWER DIS groundwater · private · MT0002986 | 115 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 27 people were held in Sanders County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 406 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 25.
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.
8 school districts have their office in Sanders County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $6.2 million — $6 million to run schools, about $13,159 per student, plus $209,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2 million local (mostly property tax), $3.2 million state, $1.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $71,000.
Spent $5.5 million — $4.4 million to run schools, about $13,672 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.5 million local (mostly property tax), $1.7 million state, $1.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $1,000.
Spent $3.1 million — $2.9 million to run schools, about $14,373 per student, plus $6,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.7 million local (mostly property tax), $1.5 million state, $118,000 federal. Long-term debt: $12,000.
Spent $3.4 million — $3.2 million to run schools, about $19,542 per student, plus $116,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $942,000 local (mostly property tax), $1.6 million state, $597,000 federal. Long-term debt: $191,000.
Spent $2.3 million — $2.3 million to run schools, about $22,068 per student, plus $26,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1 million local (mostly property tax), $608,000 state, $695,000 federal.
Spent $1.6 million — $1.6 million to run schools, about $23,612 per student, plus $17,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $980,000 local (mostly property tax), $500,000 state, $10,000 federal.
Spent $1.5 million — $1.4 million to run schools, about $21,045 per student, plus $73,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $804,000 local (mostly property tax), $355,000 state, $323,000 federal. Long-term debt: $9,000.
Spent $1.9 million — $1.3 million to run schools, about $22,732 per student, plus $589,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $294,000 local (mostly property tax), $584,000 state, $876,000 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 Sanders County about $9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
120 bridges in Sanders County: 45 in good condition, 65 fair, and 10 poor (8.3%). “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.
| S 200 over CLARK FORK RIVER · built 1960 | 2,482 vehicles a day |
| S 200 over RR · built 1957 | 1,537 vehicles a day |
| S 56 FH 5 over BULL RIVER · built 1960 | 692 vehicles a day |
| IRR - S 382 over RR · built 1965 | 391 vehicles a day |
| MICHEL CREEK RD over CAMAS CREEK 002 · built 1978 | 100 vehicles a day |
| LIL BITTERROOT RD over LITTLE BITTERROOT RV 070 · built 1978 | 100 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $7.9 million of work in Sanders County in fiscal 2025, about $634 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 Sanders 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 Sanders County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Montana: the state government and every county in Montana.
Nearby counties: Shoshone County, ID (43 mi) · Mineral County (43 mi) · Lake County (51 mi) · Lincoln County (56 mi) · Flathead County (64 mi) · Kootenai County, ID (71 mi).