35,682 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.6% since 2020)
408 square miles of land · 87 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.
21 active community water systems list Perry County in the area they serve, reporting 27,175 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| NEW LEXINGTON surface water · local government · OH6400411 | 5,161 served |
| SOUTHERN PERRY CO-CONGO buys groundwater · local government · OH6401603 | 4,029 served |
| OLD STRAITSVILLE WATER ASSOCIATION buys groundwater · local government · OH6401403 | 2,950 served |
| CROOKSVILLE buys groundwater · local government · OH6400111 | 2,534 served |
| PORTERSVILLE EAST BRANCH WATER CO. buys groundwater · local government · OH6402303 | 2,340 served |
| NORTHERN PERRY CO.WATER #2 buys groundwater · local government · OH6402703 | 1,802 served |
| NORTHERN PERRY CO.WATER #1 buys groundwater · local government · OH6400912 | 1,706 served |
| SOMERSET VILLAGE OF surface water · local government · OH6401111 | 1,490 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 44 people were held in Perry County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 199 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 51.
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.
4 school districts have their office in Perry County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $26.5 million — $25 million to run schools, about $11,226 per student, plus $570,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $14.8 million local (mostly property tax), $14.4 million state, $3.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $5.2 million.
Spent $34.1 million — $29.6 million to run schools, about $17,514 per student, plus $3.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.7 million local (mostly property tax), $17.7 million state, $7.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $2.2 million.
Spent $25.8 million — $16.8 million to run schools, about $15,609 per student, plus $8.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.1 million local (mostly property tax), $11.8 million state, $3.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $100,000.
Spent $12.7 million — $11.7 million to run schools, about $19,123 per student, plus $479,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2 million local (mostly property tax), $9 million state, $2.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $2 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 Perry County about $8.1 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
175 bridges in Perry County: 116 in good condition, 55 fair, and 4 poor (2.3%). “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.
| SR 345 over BUCKEYE FK OF JOHNATHAN · built 1993 | 2,179 vehicles a day |
| TR 135 over LITTLE MONDAY CREEK · built 1950 | 96 vehicles a day |
| TOWNSHIP RD 1180 over STREAM McLUNEY CR · built 1900 | 40 vehicles a day |
| SCOTCH HILL ROAD over SHAWNEE CREEK · built 1900 | 0 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $6.9 million of work in Perry County in fiscal 2025, about $195 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 Perry 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 Perry County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Ohio: the state government and every county in Ohio.
Nearby counties: Fairfield County (21 mi) · Morgan County (22 mi) · Hocking County (22 mi) · Muskingum County (22 mi) · Licking County (27 mi) · Athens County (30 mi).