7,837 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.3% since 2020)
488 square miles of land · 16 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.
5 active community water systems list Merrick County in the area they serve, reporting 4,582 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| CENTRAL CITY, CITY OF groundwater · local government · NE3112102 | 3,000 served |
| PALMER, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3112103 | 472 served |
| SILVER CREEK, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3112104 | 449 served |
| CLARKS, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3112101 | 369 served |
| CHAPMAN, VILLAGE OF groundwater · local government · NE3120819 | 292 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 6 people were held in Merrick County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 133 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 8.
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 Merrick County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $15.8 million — $12.8 million to run schools, about $16,699 per student, plus $2.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10.9 million local (mostly property tax), $2.1 million state, $2.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $8.9 million.
Spent $5.2 million — $4.9 million to run schools, about $15,096 per student, plus $234,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.1 million local (mostly property tax), $1.9 million state, $463,000 federal. Long-term debt: $346,000.
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 Merrick County about $14.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
173 bridges in Merrick County: 113 in good condition, 45 fair, and 15 poor (8.7%). “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.
| FAS 2180 over STREAM · built 1949 | 325 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY HIGHWAY over WARM SLOUGH · built 1935 | 200 vehicles a day |
| FAS 2200 over PRAIRIE CREEK · built 1936 | 195 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROAD T over SILVER CREEK · built 1971 | 50 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROAD 26 over TRIB. TO SILVER CREEK · built 1968 | 45 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY HIGHWAY over PRAIRIE 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 $766,160 of work in Merrick County in fiscal 2025, about $100 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 Merrick 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 Merrick County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Nebraska: the state government and every county in Nebraska.
Nearby counties: Nance County (16 mi) · Hamilton County (20 mi) · Polk County (24 mi) · Howard County (25 mi) · York County (30 mi) · Hall County (32 mi).