28,887 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.1% since 2020)
409 square miles of land · 71 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 Van Wert County in the area they serve, reporting 13,632 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| VAN WERT CITY surface water · local government · OH8100611 | 10,846 served |
| CONVOY VILLAGE groundwater · local government · OH8100112 | 1,100 served |
| OHIO CITY VILLAGE PWS groundwater · local government · OH8100412 | 705 served |
| MIDDLE POINT VILLAGE PWS groundwater · local government · OH8100312 | 576 served |
| WILLSHIRE VILLAGE PWS groundwater · local government · OH8100911 | 405 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 42 people were held in Van Wert County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 241 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 1978 it was about 9.
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 Van Wert County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $30.7 million — $26.4 million to run schools, about $13,037 per student, plus $3.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $16.4 million local (mostly property tax), $13.8 million state, $2.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $13.8 million.
Spent $14.3 million — $12.7 million to run schools, about $13,604 per student, plus $1.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.3 million local (mostly property tax), $6.2 million state, $1 million federal. Long-term debt: $410,000.
Spent $13.3 million — $11.1 million to run schools, about $12,539 per student, plus $1.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9 million local (mostly property tax), $4.2 million state, $2.1 million federal.
Spent $13.8 million — $12.3 million to run schools, about $15,010 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.9 million local (mostly property tax), $6.1 million state, $1 million federal. Long-term debt: $4.4 million.
Spent $12.8 million — $10.1 million to run schools, about $20,714 per student, plus $1.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8.2 million local (mostly property tax), $5.9 million state, $834,000 federal. Long-term debt: $4.9 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 Van Wert County about $8.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
318 bridges in Van Wert County: 281 in good condition, 37 fair, and 0 poor (0.0%). “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.
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $4 million of work in Van Wert County in fiscal 2025, about $140 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 Van Wert 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 Van Wert County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Ohio: the state government and every county in Ohio.
Nearby counties: Paulding County (18 mi) · Adams County, IN (20 mi) · Mercer County (22 mi) · Allen County (26 mi) · Putnam County (26 mi) · Auglaize County (28 mi).