18,835 people (2024 Census estimate, +4.0% since 2020)
1,258 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.
10 active community water systems list Sawyer County in the area they serve, reporting 3,878 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| HAYWARD WATER UTILITY groundwater · local government · WI8580532 | 2,552 served |
| WINTER WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI8580534 | 344 served |
| RADISSON WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI8580533 | 241 served |
| EXELAND WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI8581015 | 196 served |
| STONE LAKE SANITARY DISTRICT groundwater · local government · WI8580502 | 175 served |
| FLAMBEAU CORRECTIONAL CENTER groundwater · state · WI8581145 | 120 served |
| S AND J WILD RIVER MHP groundwater · private · WI8580535 | 90 served |
| TAMARACK HEALTH HAYWARD MEDICAL CENTER groundwater · private · WI8581004 | 85 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 49 people were held in Sawyer County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2025). In 2020 it was about 73.
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 Sawyer County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $43 million — $29.9 million to run schools, about $15,713 per student, plus $10.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $22.5 million local (mostly property tax), $7.4 million state, $6.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $100.8 million.
Spent $5.9 million — $4.7 million to run schools, about $18,908 per student, plus $380,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.6 million local (mostly property tax), $1.4 million state, $1.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $3.5 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 Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Sawyer County about $23.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
98 bridges in Sawyer County: 36 in good condition, 45 fair, and 17 poor (17.3%). “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 27 over NAMEKAGON RIVER · built 1996 | 13,500 vehicles a day |
| CTH B over HAY CREEK · built 1982 | 1,303 vehicles a day |
| CTH D over CHIPPEWA RIVER 24 · built 1972 | 1,094 vehicles a day |
| CTH T over SMITH CREEK · built 2012 | 819 vehicles a day |
| CTH B over E FK CHIPPEWA RIVER · built 1997 | 778 vehicles a day |
| CTH W over N FK FLAMBEAU RIVER · built 1983 | 397 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $25.4 million of work in Sawyer County in fiscal 2025, about $1,404 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 Sawyer 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 Sawyer County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Wisconsin: the state government and every county in Wisconsin.
Nearby counties: Rusk County (27 mi) · Washburn County (31 mi) · Price County (40 mi) · Barron County (45 mi) · Ashland County (52 mi) · Bayfield County (53 mi).