First Coast Technical College is public, post secondary vocational school with a campus in Palatka.

When in November 2022 a former Putnam County school resource deputy was accused of sneaking into a student's home to sexually batter her while her mom was at work or asleep, and asking her to dress up as a younger child and call him “daddy”, starting when she was 15 years of age, it was announced that the Florida Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission would review the case.

[19] The case was sent to the commission by the Putnam County Sheriff, who was seeking to have the deputy's certification as a law enforcement officer permanently revoked.

[21] Putnam County is served by the Putnam County Library System which has five branches: Up until the Civil Rights Act, Putnam County typically followed the Solid South pattern of voting Democratic, making exceptions for Herbert Hoover in 1928 (though a lot of White Southerners were against Democrat Al Smith due to his Northern Catholic background) and Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s.

The county also backed Independent segregationist George Wallace in 1968 and Democrat Jimmy Carter in both of his bids.

Today a staunchly Republican county, the last Democratic presidential candidate to win Putnam was Bill Clinton, the last to come within single digits of doing so was Al Gore in 2000, and the last to garner 40% of the county vote was John Kerry in 2004.

According to the Secretary of State's office, Republicans are a plurality of registered voters in Putnam County.

The historic Old Atlantic Coast Line Union Depot is the current Amtrak station in Palatka for Putnam County along the CSX Sanford Subdivision.