113,982 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.7% since 2020)
1,141 square miles of land · 100 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.
31 active community water systems list Cowlitz County in the area they serve, reporting 115,365 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| LONGVIEW WATER DEPARTMENT groundwater · local government · WA5348100 | 57,617 served |
| KELSO CITY OF groundwater (surface-influenced) · local government · WA5338000 | 15,775 served |
| BEACON HILL WATER & SEWER DISTRICT buys groundwater · local government · WA5315650 | 11,969 served |
| WOODLAND CITY OF groundwater (surface-influenced) · local government · WA5398200 | 10,640 served |
| KALAMA CITY OF groundwater (surface-influenced) · local government · WA5337550 | 8,020 served |
| CASTLE ROCK MUNICIPAL WATER surface water · local government · WA5311800 | 4,367 served |
| TOUTLE COMMUNITY REGIONAL WATER buys surface water · local government · WA5388905 | 3,215 served |
| CARROLLS WATER ASSN groundwater · private · WA5311300 | 449 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 207 people were held in Cowlitz County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 298 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 289.
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.
6 school districts have their office in Cowlitz County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $127.1 million — $109.1 million to run schools, about $17,280 per student, plus $15.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $24.1 million local (mostly property tax), $78.2 million state, $24.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $4.7 million.
Spent $101.1 million — $83.9 million to run schools, about $16,984 per student, plus $11.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $17.6 million local (mostly property tax), $70.7 million state, $12.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $87.2 million.
Spent $50.5 million — $46 million to run schools, about $18,928 per student, plus $1.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $11.7 million local (mostly property tax), $36.2 million state, $4.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $43.4 million.
Spent $24.5 million — $23.6 million to run schools, about $15,662 per student, plus $497,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.8 million local (mostly property tax), $17.9 million state, $2 million federal.
Spent $22.8 million — $15.4 million to run schools, about $13,374 per student, plus $2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.8 million local (mostly property tax), $13.9 million state, $2 million federal. Long-term debt: $55.3 million.
Spent $12.5 million — $10.7 million to run schools, about $15,514 per student, plus $148,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.7 million local (mostly property tax), $8.8 million state, $693,000 federal. Long-term debt: $5.2 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 Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Cowlitz County about $88.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
161 bridges in Cowlitz County: 75 in good condition, 80 fair, and 6 poor (3.7%). “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.
| I-5 over LOG DUMP RD & BN RY · built 1972 | 33,912 vehicles a day |
| SR 411 over COWLITZ RIVER · built 1963 | 6,753 vehicles a day |
| OLD 99 SOUTH over OWL CREEK · built 1922 | 6,500 vehicles a day |
| SR 503 over JIM CREEK · built 1945 | 1,969 vehicles a day |
| SR 504 over N FK TOUTLE RIVER · built 1965 | 955 vehicles a day |
| MILL CREEK RD over MILL CREEK · built 1958 | 700 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $78.7 million of work in Cowlitz County in fiscal 2025, about $710 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 Washington 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 Cowlitz 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 Cowlitz County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Washington: the state government and every county in Washington.
Nearby counties: Columbia County, OR (26 mi) · Lewis County (30 mi) · Clark County (31 mi) · Wahkiakum County (36 mi) · Skamania County (37 mi) · Multnomah County, OR (46 mi).