65,743 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.5% since 2020)
381 square miles of land · 172 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.
29 active community water systems list Carbon County in the area they serve, reporting 44,457 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| LANSFORD COALDALE JT WATER AUT groundwater · local government · PA3130004 | 9,300 served |
| LEHIGHTON WATER AUTHORITY surface water · local government · PA3130009 | 9,000 served |
| PALMERTON MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY groundwater · private · PA3130012 | 7,000 served |
| SUMMIT HILL WATER AUTHORITY groundwater · local government · PA3130013 | 2,890 served |
| JIM THORPE BOROUGH WATER EAST groundwater · local government · PA3130043 | 2,853 served |
| NESQUEHONING BORO WATER AUTH groundwater · local government · PA3130026 | 2,850 served |
| WEATHERLY BORO MUN AUTH groundwater · local government · PA3130015 | 2,612 served |
| JIM THORPE BOROUGH WATER WEST surface water · local government · PA3130044 | 2,274 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 139 people were held in Carbon County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 343 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 219.
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 Carbon County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $43.1 million — $37.6 million to run schools, about $17,328 per student, plus $212,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $25.1 million local (mostly property tax), $19.9 million state, $4 million federal. Long-term debt: $49.9 million.
Spent $33.7 million — $30.2 million to run schools, about $16,708 per student, plus $207,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $12.7 million local (mostly property tax), $19.8 million state, $3.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $18.2 million.
Spent $45.6 million — $38.5 million to run schools, about $21,475 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $35.1 million local (mostly property tax), $11.6 million state, $1.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $30.4 million.
Spent $38.2 million — $31.9 million to run schools, about $19,299 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $23 million local (mostly property tax), $14.6 million state, $2 million federal. Long-term debt: $24.3 million.
Spent $15.8 million — $14.3 million to run schools, about $23,477 per student, plus $102,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $8 million local (mostly property tax), $7.5 million state, $1 million federal. Long-term debt: $11.3 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 Carbon County about $21.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
134 bridges in Carbon County: 28 in good condition, 83 fair, and 23 poor (17.2%). “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.
| PA TPK (I-476) over MUD RUN · built 1957 | 22,283 vehicles a day |
| SR 2002(APPL.1461) over LITTLE AQUASHICOLA CREEK · built 1922 | 10,968 vehicles a day |
| I80 EB (LR1009) over RAMPS G & H SR 8004 · built 1965 | 9,892 vehicles a day |
| SR 903(LR 550) over MUD RUN · built 1932 | 5,877 vehicles a day |
| PA 93 over QUAKAKE CREEK · built 1927 | 4,225 vehicles a day |
| PA 534 (LR 13018) over MUD RUN · built 1961 | 2,356 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $14.9 million of work in Carbon County in fiscal 2025, about $230 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 Pennsylvania 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 Carbon 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 Carbon County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Pennsylvania: the state government and every county in Pennsylvania.
Nearby counties: Monroe County (22 mi) · Lehigh County (22 mi) · Luzerne County (23 mi) · Northampton County (24 mi) · Schuylkill County (31 mi) · Lackawanna County (36 mi).