39,478 people (2024 Census estimate, −2.3% since 2020)
980 square miles of land · 40 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.
17 active community water systems list McKean County in the area they serve, reporting 33,889 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| BRADFORD CITY WATER AUTHORITY surface water · local government · PA6420014 | 18,500 served |
| PA AMERICAN WATER CO KANE surface water · private · PA6420019 | 5,725 served |
| PORT ALLEGANY WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · PA6420021 | 2,591 served |
| SMETHPORT BOROUGH groundwater · local government · PA6420023 | 2,400 served |
| AQUA PA MT JEWETT groundwater · private · PA6420018 | 972 served |
| LEWIS RUN BOROUGH buys surface water · local government · PA6420020 | 892 served |
| AIKEN WATER COMPANY groundwater · private · PA6420010 | 850 served |
| ELDRED BOROUGH WATER AUTH groundwater · local government · PA6420016 | 850 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 81 people were held in McKean County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 324 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 81.
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 McKean County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $58.9 million — $43.9 million to run schools, about $18,123 per student, plus $14.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $14.2 million local (mostly property tax), $28.4 million state, $8.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $10 million.
Spent $21 million — $17.6 million to run schools, about $17,896 per student, plus $2.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.2 million local (mostly property tax), $14.3 million state, $2.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $10.8 million.
Spent $17.5 million — $15.4 million to run schools, about $17,374 per student, plus $317,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.3 million local (mostly property tax), $12.5 million state, $3.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $9.3 million.
Spent $17.5 million — $15.4 million to run schools, about $20,273 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.4 million local (mostly property tax), $11.4 million state, $2.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $7 million.
Spent $14.1 million — $11.4 million to run schools, about $21,083 per student, plus $1.9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.4 million local (mostly property tax), $9.6 million state, $1.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $6.1 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 McKean County about $15 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
226 bridges in McKean County: 101 in good condition, 85 fair, and 40 poor (17.7%). “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.
| SR 46-PA 46 over TUNUNGWANT CREEK · built 1973 | 4,989 vehicles a day |
| SR 4013 over BOLIVAR RUN · built 1936 | 4,769 vehicles a day |
| SR 6-US 6 over IRON HOLLOW RUN · built 1921 | 2,049 vehicles a day |
| BARBOUR ST over BENNETT BROOK · built 1955 | 1,200 vehicles a day |
| SR 246-PA 246 over KENDALL CREEK · built 1954 | 1,106 vehicles a day |
| SR 646-PA 646 over PENNBROOK RUN · built 1930 | 1,044 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $9.3 million of work in McKean 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 McKean 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 McKean County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Pennsylvania: the state government and every county in Pennsylvania.
Nearby counties: Elk County (27 mi) · Cattaraugus County, NY (30 mi) · Cameron County (32 mi) · Potter County (35 mi) · Warren County (37 mi) · Forest County (41 mi).