38,644 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.0% since 2020)
411 square miles of land · 94 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.
9 active community water systems list Defiance County in the area they serve, reporting 25,422 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| DEFIANCE CITY surface water · local government · OH2000111 | 16,494 served |
| HICKSVILLE VILLAGE groundwater · local government · OH2000212 | 3,600 served |
| AYERSVILLE WATER AND SEWER DISTRICT buys surface water · local government · OH2000903 | 2,372 served |
| NEY VILLAGE groundwater · local government · OH2000512 | 854 served |
| SHERWOOD VILLAGE groundwater · local government · OH2000712 | 811 served |
| BRUNERSBURG WD - BRUNERSBURG PWS buys surface water · local government · OH2001103 | 500 served |
| CHRISTI WATER SYSTEM INC buys surface water · private · OH2001003 | 483 served |
| BRUNERSBURG WD - EVANSPORT PWS buys surface water · local government · OH2001203 | 268 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 144 people were held in Defiance County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 612 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 164.
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.
5 school districts have their office in Defiance County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $34.5 million — $32 million to run schools, about $13,696 per student, plus $628,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $13 million local (mostly property tax), $18.5 million state, $4.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $20.8 million.
Spent $17.7 million — $14.2 million to run schools, about $14,116 per student, plus $2.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $14 million local (mostly property tax), $3.9 million state, $985,000 federal. Long-term debt: $18.5 million.
Spent $16.3 million — $14.5 million to run schools, about $15,802 per student, plus $719,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.7 million local (mostly property tax), $7.4 million state, $1.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $4.2 million.
Spent $14.4 million — $13.9 million to run schools, about $16,294 per student, plus $298,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.2 million local (mostly property tax), $7.7 million state, $1.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $5.6 million.
Spent $10.6 million — $9.6 million to run schools, about $13,570 per student, plus $250,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.7 million local (mostly property tax), $5.2 million state, $412,000 federal. Long-term debt: $12.7 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 Defiance County about $15.7 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
159 bridges in Defiance County: 126 in good condition, 32 fair, and 1 poor (0.6%). “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.
| SCOTT RD over PRAIRIE CREEK · built 1980 | 306 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $20.4 million of work in Defiance County in fiscal 2025, about $534 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 Ohio 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 Defiance 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 Defiance County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Ohio: the state government and every county in Ohio.
Nearby counties: Paulding County (15 mi) · Williams County (18 mi) · Henry County (22 mi) · Fulton County (27 mi) · DeKalb County, IN (27 mi) · Putnam County (28 mi).