As Kansas nears 3 million residents, most towns lost population to the cities

The vast majority of Kansas municipalities lost population according to the latest census figures.

Kansas saw its population grow 3% from 2010 to 2020 and the state will keep its four U.S. House seats. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the state had 2.9 million residents, or some 84,700 more than after the 2010 census.

Of the state’s 500 largest communities, 415 lost population. That shocking number also included the state capital of Topeka which saw a decrease of almost 3% since 2010.  Nicknamed “Top City,” its population dropped from 127,914 to 124,374, and was the only city in the top five to experience a decline.

Junction City was the biggest loser, shedding over 16% of its total residents.

Wichita remained the state’s largest city with a population of 391,352. Bucyrus, south of Olathe, grew the fastest over 10 years, seeing a  66.84% jump as the Kansas City Metropolitan area pushes further south into farm country.

Overland Park cracked 200,000 for the first time, gaining 25,000 residents to remain the state’s second-largest city. Lawrence broke into the 100,000 club growing over 13% to 100,205 residents.

Mid-size cities, and cities in rural Kansas, were the biggest losers. Salina, the state’s 10th largest city, experienced a 3.5% decline as it dropped from almost 48,000 to 46,236. Towns losing the most residents include Elkhart which shrank -27%.

On a positive note, several small communities saw growth of over 50%. These include Bucyrus plus Basehor, Maize, St. George, Vassar, Franklin and Ada.

While demographers will be studying the data, it appears that small towns are losing their populations to mid-size and large cities. Kansas does not fit the rural image popular in the media. It now counts almost 80% of its residents living in urban areas which is the national average. Four years ago in 2017, just 68% of the state was urban.

In another interesting factoid, the Kansas counties included in the Kansas City metropolitan area now represent almost 50% of the state’s total population.

Here’s the population rankings of the state’s top 500 communities.