16,196 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.1% since 2020)
1,045 square miles of land · 15 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.
5 active community water systems list Ashland County in the area they serve, reporting 9,814 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| ASHLAND WATER UTILITY surface water · local government · WI8020373 | 8,000 served |
| GLIDDEN SANITARY DISTRICT groundwater · local government · WI8020376 | 750 served |
| MELLEN WATER UTILITY groundwater · local government · WI8020378 | 731 served |
| BUTTERNUT WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI8020375 | 283 served |
| ASPEN RIDGE groundwater · private · WI8020382 | 50 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 40 people were held in Ashland County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2025). In 2019 it was about 47.
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.
3 school districts have their office in Ashland County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $31.9 million — $28.3 million to run schools, about $15,272 per student, plus $255,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.6 million local (mostly property tax), $23.8 million state, $5.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $28.2 million.
Spent $5.2 million — $4.6 million to run schools, about $17,141 per student, plus $88,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.1 million local (mostly property tax), $3 million state, $1.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $303,000.
Spent $4.2 million — $3.6 million to run schools, about $18,366 per student, plus $59,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.3 million local (mostly property tax), $1.4 million state, $527,000 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 Ashland County about $8.6 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.
84 bridges in Ashland County: 35 in good condition, 45 fair, and 4 poor (4.8%). “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.
| STH 13 over CHIPPEWA RIVER 33 · built 1997 | 1,700 vehicles a day |
| CTH GG over MCCARTHY CREEK · built 1948 | 569 vehicles a day |
| STH 169 over BAD RIVER · built 1987 | 500 vehicles a day |
| LRD IRR (ENSINGER over BRUNSWEILER RIVER · built 1920 | 99 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $26.6 million of work in Ashland County in fiscal 2025, about $1,659 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 Wisconsin 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 Ashland 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 Ashland County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Wisconsin: the state government and every county in Wisconsin.
Nearby counties: Bayfield County (24 mi) · Iron County (25 mi) · Gogebic County, MI (42 mi) · Sawyer County (52 mi) · Douglas County (58 mi) · Price County (62 mi).