44,276 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.2% since 2020)
1,304 square miles of land · 34 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.
4 active community water systems list Douglas County in the area they serve, reporting 26,503 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| SUPERIOR WATER LIGHT & POWER COMPANY surface water · private · WI8160147 | 26,084 served |
| MIDDLE RIVER HEALTH AND REHAB CENTER groundwater · private · WI8160143 | 200 served |
| GORDON CORRECTIONAL CENTER groundwater · state · WI8160142 | 124 served |
| MANITOU FALLS SANITARY DISTRICT NO 1 groundwater · private · WI8160145 | 95 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 115 people were held in Douglas County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2025). In 2020 it was about 143.
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 Douglas County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $68.2 million — $62.1 million to run schools, about $14,940 per student, plus $1.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $20.4 million local (mostly property tax), $46 million state, $10.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $84.2 million.
Spent $20.7 million — $18.7 million to run schools, about $14,429 per student, plus $160,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $9.6 million local (mostly property tax), $12 million state, $1.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $17.1 million.
Spent $6.2 million — $5.2 million to run schools, about $16,899 per student, plus $158,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.2 million local (mostly property tax), $3 million state, $752,000 federal. Long-term debt: $31,000.
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 Douglas County about $25.2 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.
136 bridges in Douglas County: 62 in good condition, 54 fair, and 20 poor (14.7%). “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 535 over ST LOUIS R; RR STREET · built 1961 | 28,098 vehicles a day |
| STH 35 over BLACK RIVER · built 1992 | 1,400 vehicles a day |
| STH 13 over BARDON CREEK · built 1931 | 1,400 vehicles a day |
| CTH B over NEBAGAMON CREEK · built 1969 | 790 vehicles a day |
| CTH B over AMNICON RIVER · built 1977 | 688 vehicles a day |
| CTH M over MOOSE RIVER · built 1934 | 325 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $27.2 million of work in Douglas County in fiscal 2025, about $613 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 Douglas 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 Douglas County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Wisconsin: the state government and every county in Wisconsin.
Nearby counties: Bayfield County (36 mi) · Carlton County, MN (38 mi) · Washburn County (40 mi) · Burnett County (47 mi) · Pine County, MN (48 mi) · Sawyer County (54 mi).