6,037 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.0% since 2020)
662 square miles of land · 9 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.
9 active community water systems list Essex County in the area they serve, reporting 3,566 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| BRIGHTON WATER SYSTEM surface water · local government · VT0005105 | 1,200 served |
| CANAAN FIRE DISTRICT 1 groundwater · local government · VT0005106 | 970 served |
| LUNENBURG FIRE DISTRICT 2 groundwater · local government · VT0005113 | 400 served |
| CANAAN FD #2 groundwater · local government · VT0005107 | 350 served |
| LUNENBURG FIRE DISTRICT 1 groundwater · local government · VT0005112 | 250 served |
| AQUA HAVEN groundwater · local government · VT0005110 | 150 served |
| GUILDHALL WATER SYSTEM buys groundwater · local government · VT0005111 | 136 served |
| CONCORD ESTATES MHP, LLC. groundwater · private · VT0021384 | 60 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.
No county jail figure in the national data for Essex County — not gathered, never hidden. Some counties share a regional jail or have none.
3 school districts have their office in Essex County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $4.2 million — $3.9 million to run schools, about $23,195 per student, plus $39,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.2 million local (mostly property tax), $3.1 million state, $0 federal.
Spent $6.2 million — $9,000 to run schools, about $60 per student. Money in: $11,000 local (mostly property tax), $5.8 million state, $1,000 federal.
Spent $2.9 million — $2.5 million to run schools, about $18,377 per student, plus $7,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $19,000 local (mostly property tax), $2.7 million state, $7,000 federal.
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 Essex County about $3.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
66 bridges in Essex County: 33 in good condition, 30 fair, and 3 poor (4.5%). “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.
| VT 00102 ML over NULHEGAN RIVER · built 1937 | 470 vehicles a day |
| C3006 over MOOSE RIVER · built 1930 | 400 vehicles a day |
| C3004 over E. BR. PASSUMPSIC RIVER · built 1960 | 30 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $6.7 million of work in Essex County in fiscal 2025, about $1,135 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 Vermont 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 Essex 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 Essex County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Vermont: the state government and every county in Vermont.
Nearby counties: Coos County, NH (22 mi) · Caledonia County (26 mi) · Orleans County (26 mi) · Lamoille County (45 mi) · Oxford County, ME (51 mi) · Washington County (53 mi).