3,601 people (2024 Census estimate, −3.9% since 2020)
1,231 square miles of land · 3 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 Ellis County in the area they serve, reporting 2,494 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| SHATTUCK groundwater · local government · OK2002304 | 1,200 served |
| ARNETT groundwater · local government · OK2002305 | 496 served |
| GAGE groundwater · local government · OK2002301 | 429 served |
| FARGO groundwater · local government · OK2002303 | 326 served |
| ELLIS CO RWD#1 groundwater · local government · OK2002318 | 43 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 27 people were held in Ellis County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 1,263 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 14.
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 Ellis County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $7.1 million — $5.8 million to run schools, about $16,207 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.7 million local (mostly property tax), $3.2 million state, $670,000 federal. Long-term debt: $2.3 million.
Spent $5.4 million — $4.2 million to run schools, about $18,919 per student, plus $1.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.4 million local (mostly property tax), $2.3 million state, $540,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.8 million.
Spent $4.1 million — $3.5 million to run schools, about $21,679 per student, plus $537,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.9 million local (mostly property tax), $1.3 million state, $271,000 federal.
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 Ellis County about $5.7 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
153 bridges in Ellis County: 67 in good condition, 86 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 $-456,606 of work in Ellis County in fiscal 2025, about $-122 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 Oklahoma 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 Ellis 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 Ellis County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Oklahoma: the state government and every county in Oklahoma.
Nearby counties: Lipscomb County, TX (29 mi) · Woodward County (30 mi) · Roger Mills County (36 mi) · Harper County (40 mi) · Hemphill County, TX (41 mi) · Dewey County (44 mi).