Discover the 5 Fastest-Growing Counties in Kansas

Kansas is known as America’s Heartland because of its agricultural production and central location within the United States. Although Kansas is the 15^th largest state in the country, it has 105 different counties. Some of them have a high population, while others have just a few thousand people living in them. Today, we’re going to look at the 5 fastest-growing counties in Kansas.

Learn which counties have experienced the most outright growth and percent growth in the state from the 2020 U.S. Census to 2022 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

What Are the 5 Fastest-Growing Counties in Kansas?

The state of Kansas as a whole had a population of 2,937,880 in 2020. However, the estimated population for the state in 2022 was 2,937,150. That means the state lost an estimated 730 people. That is not a major population change in the state.

Kansas has 105 counties, and most of them experienced small population losses. A few of them grew, though, and those are the ones upon which this list will focus. Take a look at the fastest-growing counties in Kansas and find out how many people they gained overall.

5. Pottawatomie County

Pottawatomie County is in northeastern Kansas, bordered to the south by the Kansas River. In 2020, the county had a population of 25,344. In 2022, the new population is estimated to have risen to 26,273. That represents a change of 929 individuals. This increase represents a change of 3.66%, a fair rise in terms of population.

Although this county is slowly gaining residents since the last census was taken, the county gained almost 4,000 people between the years 2010 and 2020.

4. Leavenworth County

Leavenworth County is also in northeastern Kansas. The northeastern part of the county has a border along the Missouri River. Meanwhile, the Kansas River bounds the southern part of the county. Leavenworth County is along the border with Missouri, directly west of Kansas City.

The county had a population of 81,897 people in 2020, and that number rose to 82,892 in 2022. That represents an increase of 995 people, a 1.2% growth.

3. Douglas County

Douglas County is in northeastern Kansas, close to the border with Missouri. The Kansas River forms the northern border of the county. Douglas County had a base population of 118,784 people in 2020, and that number grew to 119,964 in 2022.

This area is home to Lawrence, a medium-sized city that houses the vast majority of the people in the county.

2. Sedgwick County

Sedgwick County is the second-largest county by population in the state. The population in this area was 523,830 in 2020. By 2022, that number had risen to an estimated 525,525 people. That represents an increase of 1,695 people, but only a growth of 0.32%.

Sedgwick County is in the south-central part of the state, and it is well-known for being home to the largest city in the state, Wichita.

1. Johnson County

Johnson County is the most populous county in the state of Kansas. In 2020, the population in the area was 609,864 people. The estimates for 2022 showed a large growth to 619,195 residents. The county’s population grew by 1.53%, a total growth of 9,331 people in the county. Johnson County experienced the greatest population increase of any county in the state.

Johnson County is located in the northeastern part of the state. This county is directly on the border with Missouri near Kansas City. The reason the population in this region is so high is that the urban sprawl of Kansas City spills over the border into a city called Overland Park. Overland Park has the second-highest population of any city in Kansas.

Although many counties in Kansas lost a bit of their population between 2020 and 2022, a few counties thrived. One thing that readers should take away from this list of the fastest-growing counties in Kansas is that the largest counties grew the most over the last two years.

Trends in the Fastest-Growing Counties in Kansas

A few major trends emerge when one looks at the U.S. Census data from the last few years. A continuing trend from the years between 2010 and 2020 is that the population of Kansas continues to gravitate toward the most densely populated areas in the state.

The majority of the fastest-growing counties in the state are those with the highest populations to start with. Johnson County, Sedgwick County, and Douglas County are among the largest in the state. They each gained over 1,000 people in the last 3 years. At least, that is what the current estimates suggest.

Meanwhile, the less populous counties experienced population losses, though some of them were quite small. Also, the population of Kansas is slowly falling.

Considering the ongoing concentration of the population in cities, the less populated counties losing people, and the general population decreasing, people are certainly not leaving the state in droves. Instead, they may be gravitating towards different parts of it.

People generally move around within a state for economic opportunities, the desire to be in a livelier area, and the need to have access to modern amenities. In Kansas, 80 counties experienced a population drop in recent years. Even the fastest-growing counties are not keeping pace with the overall losses sustained in the area.

All in all, parts of Kansas are growing, but they are not growing fast enough to keep pace with the losses in the state. People are moving away from rural areas as they desire more amenities, jobs, and entertainment. Also, the increasing corporate influences in farming in the state could be making more people seek other occupations in cities and large towns. 

Summary of the 5 Fastest-Growing Counties in Kansas

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, these counties added more residents in the years 2020 – 2022 than others in the state of Kansas.

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