16,982 people (2024 Census estimate, +2.2% since 2020)
797 square miles of land · 21 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.
6 active community water systems list Washburn County in the area they serve, reporting 4,899 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| SPOONER WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI8660305 | 2,653 served |
| SHELL LAKE WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI8660304 | 950 served |
| MINONG WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI8660303 | 561 served |
| BIRCHWOOD WATERWORKS groundwater · local government · WI8660302 | 442 served |
| BEAVER BROOK SANITARY DISTRICT buys groundwater · local government · WI8660734 | 200 served |
| BULIKS MOBILE HOME PARK groundwater · private · WI8660306 | 93 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 10 people were held in Washburn County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2025). In 2020 it was about 18.
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 Washburn County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $24.6 million — $16.4 million to run schools, about $16,203 per student, plus $4.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $15.4 million local (mostly property tax), $6 million state, $3.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $31.3 million.
Spent $11.9 million — $9.8 million to run schools, about $15,450 per student, plus $589,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.5 million local (mostly property tax), $5.2 million state, $1.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $13.3 million.
Spent $6 million — $5.2 million to run schools, about $16,463 per student, plus $125,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.7 million local (mostly property tax), $1.5 million state, $1.1 million federal.
Spent $5.7 million — $4.9 million to run schools, about $18,303 per student, plus $227,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.9 million local (mostly property tax), $1.6 million state, $654,000 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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Washburn County about $10.3 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
49 bridges in Washburn County: 25 in good condition, 23 fair, and 1 poor (2.0%). “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.
| LRD LAKESIDE RD. over TOTOGATIC RIVER · built 1926 | 50 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $2.9 million of work in Washburn County in fiscal 2025, about $175 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 Washburn 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 Washburn County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Wisconsin: the state government and every county in Wisconsin.
Nearby counties: Burnett County (28 mi) · Sawyer County (31 mi) · Barron County (32 mi) · Douglas County (40 mi) · Rusk County (43 mi) · Polk County (43 mi).