16,111 people (2024 Census estimate, +3.5% since 2020)
568 square miles of land · 28 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.
13 active community water systems list Pawnee County in the area they serve, reporting 13,227 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| CLEVELAND MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY surface water · local government · OK1021210 | 3,262 served |
| PAWNEE CO RWD #1 groundwater · local government · OK2005931 | 3,200 served |
| PAWNEE surface water · local government · OK1021209 | 2,230 served |
| PAWNEE CO RWD #2 buys surface water · local government · OK3005921 | 1,775 served |
| PAWNEE CO RWD #3 buys surface water · local government · OK3005911 | 685 served |
| PAWNEE CO RWD #4 buys surface water · local government · OK3005913 | 415 served |
| JENNINGS groundwater · local government · OK2005904 | 400 served |
| RALSTON groundwater · local government · OK2005901 | 335 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 22 people were held in Pawnee County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 228 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 52.
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 Pawnee County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $18.8 million — $16.2 million to run schools, about $10,038 per student, plus $2.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5 million local (mostly property tax), $10.2 million state, $3.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $3.8 million.
Spent $8 million — $7.3 million to run schools, about $11,558 per student, plus $702,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.7 million local (mostly property tax), $4.6 million state, $1.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $2.1 million.
Spent $3.3 million — $3 million to run schools, about $12,049 per student, plus $277,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $736,000 local (mostly property tax), $1.7 million state, $919,000 federal. Long-term debt: $625,000.
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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Pawnee County about $11.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
174 bridges in Pawnee County: 82 in good condition, 60 fair, and 32 poor (18.4%). “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.
| N3490 over CREEK · built 1938 | 886 vehicles a day |
| E0460 over CREEK · built 1939 | 886 vehicles a day |
| E0582 over CREEK · built 1938 | 250 vehicles a day |
| E0350 over ARKANSAS RIVER · built 1927 | 200 vehicles a day |
| N3460 over SKEDEE CREEK · built 1933 | 193 vehicles a day |
| E0470 over PAWNEE CREEK · built 1950 | 180 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $32.8 million of work in Pawnee County in fiscal 2025, about $2,108 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 Pawnee 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 Pawnee County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Oklahoma: the state government and every county in Oklahoma.
Nearby counties: Payne County (22 mi) · Osage County (27 mi) · Noble County (30 mi) · Creek County (33 mi) · Kay County (43 mi) · Lincoln County (43 mi).