7,334 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.1% since 2020)
573 square miles of land · 13 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 Pierce County in the area they serve, reporting 4,244 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| PIERCE, CITY OF groundwater · local government · NE3113904 | 1,800 served |
| PLAINVIEW, CITY OF groundwater · local government · NE3113902 | 1,282 served |
| OSMOND, CITY OF groundwater · local government · NE3113903 | 870 served |
| WAU COL RWS - EAST SIDE buys groundwater · local government · NE3121337 | 245 served |
| MCLEAN, VILLAGE OF buys groundwater · local government · NE3113901 | 47 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 4 people were held in Pierce County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2017), or 99 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2012 it was about 6.
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 Pierce County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $10.3 million — $9.6 million to run schools, about $13,858 per student, plus $335,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.4 million local (mostly property tax), $2 million state, $440,000 federal. Long-term debt: $82,000.
Spent $6.6 million — $5.7 million to run schools, about $16,532 per student, plus $408,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.7 million local (mostly property tax), $965,000 state, $552,000 federal. Long-term debt: $345,000.
Spent $4.6 million — $3.9 million to run schools, about $23,147 per student, plus $422,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.4 million local (mostly property tax), $833,000 state, $489,000 federal. Long-term debt: $700,000.
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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Pierce County about $8.4 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.
177 bridges in Pierce County: 69 in good condition, 87 fair, and 21 poor (11.9%). “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.
| US20 over BRESLAU CREEK · built 1934 | 2,570 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY HIGHWAY over STREAM · built 1934 | 165 vehicles a day |
| 854TH RD over ELKHORN RIV N FK TRIB · built 1934 | 165 vehicles a day |
| 865 ROAD over W BR N FK ELKHORN RIVER · built 1935 | 100 vehicles a day |
| COLL 7716 over STREAM · built 1910 | 80 vehicles a day |
| COLL 7714 over HADAR CREEK · built 1935 | 75 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $1.7 million of work in Pierce County in fiscal 2025, about $227 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 Pierce 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 Pierce County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Nebraska: the state government and every county in Nebraska.
Nearby counties: Antelope County (24 mi) · Madison County (25 mi) · Wayne County (25 mi) · Knox County (29 mi) · Cedar County (29 mi) · Stanton County (34 mi).