2,154 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.7% since 2020)
1,104 square miles of land · 2 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.
6 active community water systems list Burke County in the area they serve, reporting 1,096 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| BOWBELLS CITY OF buys groundwater · local government · ND0700114 | 336 served |
| POWERS LAKE CITY OF groundwater · local government · ND0700804 | 280 served |
| LIGNITE CITY OF groundwater · local government · ND0700569 | 155 served |
| COLUMBUS CITY OF buys surface water · local government · ND0700198 | 133 served |
| PORTAL CITY OF groundwater · local government · ND0700800 | 126 served |
| FLAXTON CITY OF groundwater · local government · ND0700344 | 66 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 0 people were held in Burke County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (1983). In 1978 it was about 0.
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.
3 school districts have their office in Burke County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $5.2 million — $4.1 million to run schools, about $17,151 per student, plus $1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.4 million local (mostly property tax), $2.3 million state, $269,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.7 million.
Spent $2.3 million — $2.2 million to run schools, about $24,933 per student, plus $40,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1 million local (mostly property tax), $1.2 million state, $332,000 federal.
Spent $2.5 million — $2.4 million to run schools, about $28,855 per student, plus $115,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.8 million local (mostly property tax), $913,000 state, $91,000 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 Burke County about $2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
29 bridges in Burke County: 7 in good condition, 19 fair, and 3 poor (10.3%). “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.
| COUNTY HIGHWAY over CREEK · built 1970 | 50 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY HIGHWAY over CREEK · built 1950 | 20 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY HIGHWAY over WEST BRANCH SHORT CREEK · built 1929 | 5 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $18.6 million of work in Burke County in fiscal 2025, about $8,436 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 North Dakota 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 Burke 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 Burke County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of North Dakota: the state government and every county in North Dakota.
Nearby counties: Renville County (40 mi) · Mountrail County (40 mi) · Divide County (45 mi) · Williams County (54 mi) · Ward County (59 mi) · Bottineau County (77 mi).