5,558 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.9% since 2020)
5,960 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.
6 active community water systems list Cherry County in the area they serve, reporting 3,211 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| VALENTINE, CITY OF groundwater · local government · NE3103106 | 2,737 served |
| CODY, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3103101 | 149 served |
| KILGORE, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3103104 | 99 served |
| MERRIMAN, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3103103 | 87 served |
| WOOD LAKE, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3103105 | 70 served |
| CROOKSTON, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3103102 | 69 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 9 people were held in Cherry County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2018), or 276 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2013 it was about 7.
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.
2 school districts have their office in Cherry County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $13.2 million — $12.7 million to run schools, about $20,396 per student, plus $41,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.8 million local (mostly property tax), $2 million state, $924,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.1 million.
Spent $3.3 million — $3.2 million to run schools, about $20,158 per student, plus $31,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.7 million local (mostly property tax), $1.5 million state, $133,000 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 Cherry County about $4.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
57 bridges in Cherry County: 24 in good condition, 22 fair, and 11 poor (19.3%). “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.
| N12 over MINNECHADUZA CREEK · built 1958 | 1,070 vehicles a day |
| FAS 1755 over GOOSE CREEK · built 1979 | 55 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY HIGHWAY over NIOBRARA RIVER · built 1916 | 35 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY HIGHWAY over SNAKE RIVER · built 1935 | 20 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY HIGHWAY over NIOBRARA RIVER · built 1909 | 10 vehicles a day |
| 3 MILE CROSSING over DRY CREEK · built 1935 | 10 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $10.1 million of work in Cherry County in fiscal 2025, about $1,857 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 Nebraska 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 Cherry 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 Cherry County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Nebraska: the state government and every county in Nebraska.
Nearby counties: Hooker County (45 mi) · Todd County, SD (47 mi) · Bennett County, SD (53 mi) · Thomas County (56 mi) · Grant County (58 mi) · Brown County (59 mi).