43,437 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.4% since 2020)
920 square miles of land · 47 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.
12 active community water systems list Kay County in the area they serve, reporting 45,483 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| PONCA CITY MUN WATER surface water · local government · OK1021202 | 27,155 served |
| BLACKWELL MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY surface water · local government · OK1021101 | 7,668 served |
| TONKAWA groundwater · local government · OK2003603 | 3,299 served |
| NEWKIRK groundwater · local government · OK2003604 | 2,243 served |
| KAY CO RWD #1 buys surface water · local government · OK3003605 | 1,765 served |
| KAY CO RWD #3 buys surface water · local government · OK3003602 | 1,000 served |
| KAY COUNTY RURAL WATER DISTRICT 7 buys surface water · local government · OK3003601 | 920 served |
| KAY CO RWD #5 (DALE WATER CORP) buys groundwater · local government · OK3003603 | 765 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 313 people were held in Kay County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 1,192 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 194.
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.
6 school districts have their office in Kay County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $57.2 million — $49.2 million to run schools, about $10,667 per student, plus $6.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $25.8 million local (mostly property tax), $23.4 million state, $12.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $22.9 million.
Spent $12.5 million — $12.2 million to run schools, about $10,913 per student, plus $236,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5 million local (mostly property tax), $7.2 million state, $1.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $3.2 million.
Spent $8.4 million — $7.6 million to run schools, about $8,877 per student, plus $790,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3 million local (mostly property tax), $4.6 million state, $1.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $715,000.
Spent $11.7 million — $9.2 million to run schools, about $12,326 per student, plus $2.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.1 million local (mostly property tax), $4.2 million state, $1.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $4.5 million.
Spent $2.3 million — $2.1 million to run schools, about $16,728 per student, plus $99,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.1 million local (mostly property tax), $272,000 state, $426,000 federal. Long-term debt: $4.6 million.
Spent $2 million — $1.9 million to run schools, about $20,912 per student, plus $26,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.5 million local (mostly property tax), $229,000 state, $426,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.9 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Kay County about $33.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
419 bridges in Kay County: 129 in good condition, 268 fair, and 22 poor (5.3%). “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.
| E0180 over CHIKASKIA RIVER OFLOW · built 2017 | 2,886 vehicles a day |
| E0180 over CHIKASKIA RIVER · built 1962 | 1,500 vehicles a day |
| E0150 over CREEK · built 1950 | 250 vehicles a day |
| N3400 over CREEK · built 1965 | 150 vehicles a day |
| E0270 over CREEK · built 1919 | 118 vehicles a day |
| N3420 over SWEETWATER CREEK · built 1940 | 100 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $26.7 million of work in Kay County in fiscal 2025, about $612 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 Kay 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 Kay County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Oklahoma: the state government and every county in Oklahoma.
Nearby counties: Noble County (30 mi) · Cowley County, KS (34 mi) · Sumner County, KS (35 mi) · Grant County (36 mi) · Pawnee County (42 mi) · Osage County (43 mi).