3,018 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.2% since 2020)
553 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.
6 active community water systems list Harlan County in the area they serve, reporting 1,739 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| ALMA, CITY OF groundwater · local government · NE3108307 | 1,043 served |
| ORLEANS, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3108306 | 239 served |
| STAMFORD, VILLAGE OF buys groundwater · local government · NE3108301 | 202 served |
| REPUBLICAN CITY, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3108304 | 150 served |
| TAYLOR MANOR groundwater · private · NE3108303 | 80 served |
| RAGAN, VILLAGE OF buys groundwater · local government · NE3108305 | 25 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 3 people were held in Harlan County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 173 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 1.
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.
1 school district has its office in Harlan County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $7.6 million — $6.6 million to run schools, about $18,365 per student, plus $985,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.1 million local (mostly property tax), $2.3 million state, $918,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1 million.
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 Harlan County about $10.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
89 bridges in Harlan County: 57 in good condition, 27 fair, and 5 poor (5.6%). “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.
| CORNWALL ST over DRY CREEK · built 1924 | 230 vehicles a day |
| COLL 7361 over BNSF RR 076-579-K · built 1935 | 163 vehicles a day |
| D ROAD over SAPPA CREEK · built 1916 | 75 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY HIGHWAY over STREAM · built 1937 | 40 vehicles a day |
| Q ROAD over TURKEY CREEK · built 1935 | 40 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $2.2 million of work in Harlan County in fiscal 2025, about $716 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 Harlan 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 Harlan County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Nebraska: the state government and every county in Nebraska.
Nearby counties: Franklin County (23 mi) · Phelps County (23 mi) · Furnas County (27 mi) · Phillips County, KS (27 mi) · Gosper County (32 mi) · Kearney County (33 mi).