72,040 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.3% since 2020)
801 square miles of land · 90 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.
10 active community water systems list Portage County in the area they serve, reporting 44,336 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| STEVENS POINT WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI7500141 | 26,717 served |
| PLOVER WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI7500726 | 13,486 served |
| WHITING WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI7500136 | 1,743 served |
| AMHERST WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI7500094 | 1,119 served |
| JUNCTION CITY WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI7500127 | 416 served |
| RECREACRES MHC LLC groundwater · private · WI7500138 | 320 served |
| EVERGREEN VILLA MOBILE HOMES groundwater · private · WI7500269 | 250 served |
| RIVERVIEW ESTATES MHP groundwater · private · WI7500133 | 150 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 52 people were held in Portage County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2025). In 2020 it was about 23.
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.
4 school districts have their office in Portage County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $119.3 million — $100 million to run schools, about $14,228 per student, plus $9 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $41.2 million local (mostly property tax), $66.4 million state, $12.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $91.4 million.
Spent $24.2 million — $15.9 million to run schools, about $13,067 per student, plus $6.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10 million local (mostly property tax), $8.4 million state, $1.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $29.6 million.
Spent $8.5 million — $7.5 million to run schools, about $15,762 per student, plus $57,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.3 million local (mostly property tax), $4.7 million state, $964,000 federal.
Spent $7 million — $5.5 million to run schools, about $14,537 per student, plus $122,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.5 million local (mostly property tax), $5 million state, $965,000 federal. Long-term debt: $86,000.
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 Portage County about $35.9 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
183 bridges in Portage County: 90 in good condition, 89 fair, and 4 poor (2.2%). “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.
| CTH O over MILL CREEK · built 1975 | 1,250 vehicles a day |
| CTH WW over FOUR MILE CREEK · built 2007 | 565 vehicles a day |
| CTH II over BEAR CREEK · built 1975 | 108 vehicles a day |
| LRD WASHINGTON ST over TOMORROW RIVER · built 1938 | 101 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $14.3 million of work in Portage County in fiscal 2025, about $203 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 Portage 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 Portage County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Wisconsin: the state government and every county in Wisconsin.
Nearby counties: Waupaca County (26 mi) · Wood County (27 mi) · Waushara County (28 mi) · Marathon County (32 mi) · Adams County (37 mi) · Shawano County (42 mi).