9,561 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.5% since 2020)
566 square miles of land · 17 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 Nowata County in the area they serve, reporting 10,195 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| NOWATA MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY surface water · local government · OK1021503 | 3,971 served |
| CONSOLIDATED RWD #1 NOWATA AND ROGERS CO buys surface water · local government · OK3005301 | 1,580 served |
| NOWATA CO RWD #7 buys surface water · local government · OK3005321 | 1,050 served |
| SOUTH COFFEYVILLE buys surface water · local government · OK3005305 | 790 served |
| ELM BEND RWD INC buys surface water · local government · OK3005309 | 600 served |
| NOWATA CO RW & S DIST #1 buys surface water · local government · OK3005304 | 500 served |
| DELAWARE surface water · local government · OK1021502 | 456 served |
| NOWATA CO RWD #6 buys surface water · local government · OK3005308 | 450 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 8 people were held in Nowata County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 139 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 22.
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 Nowata County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $10.2 million — $8.9 million to run schools, about $11,812 per student, plus $1.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.5 million local (mostly property tax), $4.4 million state, $1.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $1.6 million.
Spent $8.1 million — $7.5 million to run schools, about $12,214 per student, plus $604,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.3 million local (mostly property tax), $4.6 million state, $2 million federal. Long-term debt: $1.5 million.
Spent $3.3 million — $2.6 million to run schools, about $9,973 per student, plus $630,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $841,000 local (mostly property tax), $1.5 million state, $783,000 federal. Long-term debt: $401,000.
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 Nowata County about $8.3 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
126 bridges in Nowata County: 57 in good condition, 55 fair, and 14 poor (11.1%). “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.
| S.H. 28 over PANTHER CREEK · built 1960 | 680 vehicles a day |
| 138 S. SYCAMORE over SEWER CREEK · built 1938 | 399 vehicles a day |
| N4134 over CREEK · built 1930 | 100 vehicles a day |
| N4135 over HICKORY CREEK · built 1930 | 100 vehicles a day |
| 5318C over FORK CREEK · built 1947 | 100 vehicles a day |
| 5328C over FOUR MILE CREEK · built 1947 | 100 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $2.4 million of work in Nowata County in fiscal 2025, about $256 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 Nowata 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 Nowata County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Oklahoma: the state government and every county in Oklahoma.
Nearby counties: Washington County (17 mi) · Craig County (23 mi) · Rogers County (28 mi) · Montgomery County, KS (29 mi) · Labette County, KS (33 mi) · Mayes County (39 mi).