12,051 people (2024 Census estimate, −2.8% since 2020)
511 square miles of land · 24 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 Braxton County in the area they serve, reporting 11,204 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| FLATWOODS CANOE RUN PSD surface water · local government · WV3300402 | 4,344 served |
| SUGAR CREEK PSD surface water · local government · WV3300404 | 3,241 served |
| WVAW - GASSAWAY surface water · private · WV3300406 | 2,159 served |
| BURNSVILLE PUBLIC UTILITY surface water · local government · WV3300408 | 1,126 served |
| FLATWOODS CANOE RUN PSD PURCHASER buys surface water · local government · WV3300409 | 334 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 42 people were held in Braxton County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2024), or 571 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2019 it was about 45.
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.
1 school district has its office in Braxton County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $25.3 million — $23.6 million to run schools, about $13,685 per student, plus $817,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7 million local (mostly property tax), $12.7 million state, $7.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $7 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: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Braxton County about $8.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
148 bridges in Braxton County: 27 in good condition, 108 fair, and 13 poor (8.8%). “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.
| WV 5 over RIGHT FORK OF SALTLICK · built 1988 | 450 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROUTE 40 over STRANGE CREEK · built 1952 | 450 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROUTE 9 over RIGHT FORK STEER CREEK · built 1949 | 400 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROUTE 9 over RIGHT FORK STEER CREEK · built 1949 | 400 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROUTE 22 over PICKLES FORK OF SALTLICK · built 1940 | 200 vehicles a day |
| COUNTY ROUTE 22 over BENS RUN · built 1987 | 100 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $19.2 million of work in Braxton County in fiscal 2025, about $1,541 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 West Virginia 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 Braxton 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 Braxton County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of West Virginia: the state government and every county in West Virginia.
Nearby counties: Gilmer County (16 mi) · Webster County (21 mi) · Calhoun County (23 mi) · Lewis County (24 mi) · Clay County (25 mi) · Nicholas County (28 mi).