34,759 people (2024 Census estimate, +4.4% since 2020)
315 square miles of land · 110 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.
7 active community water systems list Rhea County in the area they serve, reporting 52,115 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| DAYTON WATER DEPT surface water · local government · TN0000174 | 25,054 served |
| WATTS BAR UTILITY DISTRICT buys surface water · local government · TN0000872 | 16,253 served |
| NORTH U.D. OF RHEA COUNTY buys surface water · local government · TN0000970 | 3,640 served |
| SPRING CITY WATER SYSTEM surface water · local government · TN0000656 | 2,920 served |
| GRANDVIEW UTILITY DISTRICT buys surface water · local government · TN0000863 | 2,226 served |
| GRAYSVILLE WATER DEPT groundwater · local government · TN0000269 | 1,872 served |
| LAURELBROOK SCHOOL groundwater · private · TN0000178 | 150 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 272 people were held in Rhea County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 1,279 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 141.
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.
2 school districts have their office in Rhea County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $51.1 million — $47.3 million to run schools, about $11,563 per student, plus $3.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $12.6 million local (mostly property tax), $28.4 million state, $10.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $29.6 million.
Spent $9.9 million — $9 million to run schools, about $10,657 per student, plus $788,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.3 million local (mostly property tax), $5.4 million state, $2.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $558,000.
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 Rhea County about $13.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
100 bridges in Rhea County: 23 in good condition, 71 fair, and 6 poor (6.0%). “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.
| FAP 30 over RICHLAND CREEK · built 1956 | 6,443 vehicles a day |
| FAP 29 over OVERFLOW PINEY RIVER · built 2008 | 5,821 vehicles a day |
| NFA A386 over CLEAR CREEK · built 1994 | 760 vehicles a day |
| NFA 2296 (SA 7218) over WHITES CREEK · built 1956 | 462 vehicles a day |
| NFA A024 over ROARING CREEK · built 1993 | 210 vehicles a day |
| NFA A298 over MUDDY CREEK · built 1950 | 40 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $3.4 million of work in Rhea County in fiscal 2025, about $103 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.
General election: Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Last day to register to vote: 2026-10-05. Early voting: 2026-10-14 to 2026-10-29. Mail ballot request deadline: 2026-10-24. Election Day: 2026-11-03.
Source: Tennessee Secretary of State: elections calendar · Tennessee Secretary of State: registration deadline FAQ · Tennessee Secretary of State: GoVoteTN
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Rhea 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 Rhea County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Tennessee: the state government and every county in Tennessee.
Nearby counties: Meigs County (10 mi) · Bledsoe County (14 mi) · McMinn County (22 mi) · Cumberland County (24 mi) · Roane County (29 mi) · Van Buren County (29 mi).