28,461 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.1% since 2020)
879 square miles of land · 32 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 Lincoln County in the area they serve, reporting 13,376 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| MERRILL WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI7350123 | 9,661 served |
| TOMAHAWK WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI7350127 | 3,180 served |
| LINCOLN HILLS SCHOOL groundwater · state · WI7350121 | 316 served |
| LITTLE FLORIDA groundwater · private · WI7350124 | 170 served |
| DEER RUN MOBILE HOME COMMUNITY groundwater · private · WI7350094 | 49 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 85 people were held in Lincoln County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2025). In 2020 it was about 79.
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 Lincoln County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $44.4 million — $40.2 million to run schools, about $13,812 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $13.7 million local (mostly property tax), $25.3 million state, $6.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $111,000.
Spent $18.7 million — $17 million to run schools, about $14,139 per student, plus $598,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $13.8 million local (mostly property tax), $6 million state, $2.3 million 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Lincoln County about $19.3 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
158 bridges in Lincoln County: 71 in good condition, 78 fair, and 9 poor (5.7%). “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.
| STH 64-STH 107-W M over WISCONSIN RIVER 39 · built 1927 | 5,900 vehicles a day |
| STH 17 over BARNES CREEK · built 1973 | 2,600 vehicles a day |
| CTH M over S FK COPPER CRK · built 1980 | 302 vehicles a day |
| LRD RANGE LINE RD over PINE RIVER · built 1963 | 294 vehicles a day |
| LRD WOODFORD RD over NOISY CREEK · built 1922 | 119 vehicles a day |
| CTH T over BIG SOMO RIVER · built 1971 | 86 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $3 million of work in Lincoln County in fiscal 2025, about $104 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Wisconsin: the state government and every county in Wisconsin.
Nearby counties: Oneida County (28 mi) · Marathon County (30 mi) · Langlade County (33 mi) · Taylor County (38 mi) · Price County (39 mi) · Vilas County (51 mi).