23,948 people (2024 Census estimate, +3.7% since 2020)
858 square miles of land · 28 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.
12 active community water systems list Vilas County in the area they serve, reporting 3,183 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| EAGLE RIVER WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI7640113 | 1,530 served |
| PHELPS SANITARY DISTRICT groundwater · local government · WI7640114 | 550 served |
| LAND O LAKES SANITARY DIST groundwater · local government · WI7640112 | 450 served |
| HIAWATHA MH ESTATES CLBHSE groundwater · private · WI7440118 | 124 served |
| LOWENSTINE FUND CORPORATION groundwater · private · WI7641621 | 120 served |
| FOREST EDGE APARTMENTS LLC groundwater · private · WI7641097 | 100 served |
| HIAWATHA MH ESTATES OLD OFFICE groundwater · private · WI7441240 | 84 served |
| BALTIC RENTALS LLC groundwater · private · WI7640083 | 75 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 82 people were held in Vilas County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2025). In 2020 it was about 66.
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.
5 school districts have their office in Vilas County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $26.7 million — $24 million to run schools, about $17,227 per student, plus $1.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $19.6 million local (mostly property tax), $7.1 million state, $3.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $5.1 million.
Spent $9.5 million — $8.4 million to run schools, about $16,054 per student, plus $276,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $5.8 million local (mostly property tax), $3.1 million state, $954,000 federal.
Spent $18.4 million — $15.9 million to run schools, about $30,878 per student, plus $1.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.1 million local (mostly property tax), $5.8 million state, $8.4 million federal. Long-term debt: $110,000.
Spent $4.5 million — $3.9 million to run schools, about $25,216 per student, plus $135,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.9 million local (mostly property tax), $1.2 million state, $419,000 federal. Long-term debt: $385,000.
Spent $3.7 million — $2.9 million to run schools, about $34,647 per student, plus $80,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.5 million local (mostly property tax), $989,000 state, $361,000 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Vilas County about $18.7 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.
29 bridges in Vilas County: 13 in good condition, 13 fair, and 3 poor (10.3%). “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.
| USH 51 over MANITOWISH RIVER · built 1956 | 3,800 vehicles a day |
| LRD SUGARBUSH TRAI over SUGARBUSH CREEK · built 1940 | 102 vehicles a day |
| LRD IRR (RIVER RD) over BEAR RIVER · built 1958 | 73 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $15.5 million of work in Vilas County in fiscal 2025, about $672 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 Vilas 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 Vilas County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Wisconsin: the state government and every county in Wisconsin.
Nearby counties: Oneida County (23 mi) · Gogebic County, MI (33 mi) · Iron County (41 mi) · Forest County (44 mi) · Iron County, MI (47 mi) · Price County (48 mi).