Kansas Counties Map: Click All 105 Counties

Updated · By Edulist · 9 sources

Tap any county to learn about it. Turn off names in Map options to test yourself.

US Census Bureau cartographic boundaries via us-atlas (public domain)

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How to use it

  1. Explore the map

    Start in Learn mode. Every county is named; tap one to see its size, population and neighbors.

  2. Hide the names

    Open Map options and turn off Names. Try to name each county before you tap it.

  3. Take the quiz

    Choose Practice (no timer), Quiz (timed) or Challenge (60 seconds). Click, type, pick from four choices or drag labels.

  4. Retry what you missed

    The results list every county you missed. Retry missed runs just those, and your best score stays on this device.

Printables to go with it

How many counties are in Kansas?

Kansas has 105 counties. Four states have more, and 45 have fewer.

Kansas has 105 counties. Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, share one government, called the Unified Government, formed in 1997. Johnson County, in the Kansas City suburbs, has the most people.

How Kansas's counties were formed

The first Kansas Territorial Legislature created the first counties in 1855, all in the eastern part of the territory. As settlers pushed west in the 1870s and 1880s, rival towns fought county-seat wars, with rigged elections, lawsuits and sometimes gunfights, over which would get the courthouse. The map settled at 105 counties in 1893, after the Kansas Supreme Court found Garfield County smaller than the 432 square miles the state constitution required and it was joined to Finney County.

Kansas regions and the counties in each

Kansas rises from east to west. Northeast Kansas holds Johnson, Wyandotte, Douglas (Lawrence) and Shawnee (Topeka). The Flint Hills, the largest tallgrass prairie left in North America, cross Chase, Wabaunsee, Morris and Greenwood counties. South-central Kansas centers on Sedgwick County (Wichita). The Smoky Hills fill north-central Kansas, and the flat High Plains of western Kansas include Finney (Garden City), Ford (Dodge City) and Sherman counties, near Mount Sunflower, the state's highest point.

Notable places on the Kansas county map

Mount Sunflower, the state's highest point at 4,039 feet, is a gentle rise on a ranch in Wallace County near the Colorado line. Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is in Chase County, and the chalk towers of Monument Rocks stand in Gove County. The geographic center of the lower 48 states is near Lebanon in Smith County.

Kansas counties map: the biggest and smallest

Butler County is the largest county in Kansas, with 1,430 square miles of land, about 2% of the state. That's more land than the whole state of Rhode Island. Wyandotte County is the smallest, at 152 square miles.

RankCountyLand area (sq mi)Share of the state
1Butler County1,4302%
2Finney County1,3022%
3Reno County1,2552%
4Sumner County1,1821%
5Greenwood County1,1431%

The smallest counties by land area are Wyandotte County (152 sq mi), Geary County (385 sq mi) and Doniphan County (394 sq mi).

Which counties in Kansas have the most people?

Johnson County has the most people, about 632,276 in the Census Bureau's July 2024 estimate, or 21% of everyone in Kansas. The three biggest counties together hold 45% of the state's 2,970,606 people. Greeley County has the fewest, about 1,152.

RankCountyPopulation (2024 est.)People per sq mi
1Johnson County632,2761,335
2Sedgwick County536,081538
3Shawnee County177,942327
4Wyandotte County169,4181,118
5Douglas County121,989268
6Leavenworth County84,670183
7Riley County72,557119
8Butler County69,15848
9Reno County61,41749
10Saline County53,45974

The most crowded is Johnson County, with about 1,335 people per square mile. The emptiest is Greeley County, with about 1 person per square mile. Comparing the two is a quick way to show children that a big county on the map isn't always a big county in people.

What county is Topeka in?

Topeka, the capital of Kansas, is in Shawnee County. Shawnee County ranks 3rd of 105 by population. Kansas is called the Sunflower State, and it became the 34th state in 1861.

FactKansas
CapitalTopeka
Capital countyShawnee County
Number of counties105
Land area81,759 sq mi
Population (July 2024 est.)2,970,606
NicknameThe Sunflower State
Statehood1861 (34th state)
RegionMidwest

Counties on the Kansas border

Learning the edge of the map first gives children a frame to fill in. Kansas shares a border with Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Neighboring stateKansas counties on that border
ColoradoCheyenne, Greeley, Hamilton, Morton, Sherman, Stanton, Wallace
MissouriAtchison, Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Doniphan, Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami, Wyandotte
NebraskaBrown, Cheyenne, Decatur, Doniphan, Jewell, Marshall, Nemaha, Norton, Phillips, Rawlins, Republic, Smith, Washington
OklahomaBarber, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Clark, Comanche, Cowley, Harper, Labette, Meade, Montgomery, Morton, Seward, Stevens, Sumner

How Kansas's counties compare with other states

Kansas ranks 13th among the 50 states in land area and 34th in population. Its average county covers about 779 square miles and holds about 28,291 people. Across the 50 states, the average county-level area covers about 1,139 square miles and holds about 109,381 people, so Kansas's counties are smaller than usual in size. Small counties pack more names into the same space, so zooming in helps.

Landmarks for learning the counties of Kansas

  • Johnson and Wyandotte counties sit in the northeast corner by Kansas City.
  • Sedgwick County (Wichita) is in the south-central part of the state.
  • Shawnee County holds the capital, Topeka, in the northeast.

With 105 counties, work one region at a time: study it with names on, then take a Practice round and stop when you've found that group. Then print the Kansas county map worksheet to check that it sticks on paper.

All 105 Kansas counties

Every county on the map, A to Z, with its land area and July 2024 population estimate.

CountyLand (sq mi)Population
Allen County50012,425
Anderson County5807,908
Atchison County43116,249
Barber County1,1344,070
Barton County89524,835
Bourbon County63614,424
Brown County5719,142
Butler County1,43069,158
Chase County7732,507
Chautauqua County6393,339
Cherokee County58819,133
Cheyenne County1,0202,646
Clark County9751,873
Clay County6457,969
Cloud County7158,723
Coffey County6278,301
Comanche County7881,694
Cowley County1,12634,186
Crawford County59038,904
Decatur County8942,716
Dickinson County84718,621
Doniphan County3947,575
Douglas County456121,989
Edwards County6222,731
Elk County6442,436
Ellis County90029,007
Ellsworth County7166,316
Finney County1,30238,354
Ford County1,09834,072
Franklin County57226,273
Geary County38535,459
Gove County1,0722,658
Graham County8992,370
Grant County5757,097
Gray County8695,730
Greeley County7781,152
Greenwood County1,1435,871
Hamilton County9972,488
Harper County8015,413
Harvey County54033,642
Haskell County5783,591
Hodgeman County8601,673
Jackson County65613,525
Jefferson County53318,332
Jewell County9102,899
Johnson County474632,276
Kearny County8713,808
Kingman County8636,946
Kiowa County7232,436
Labette County64519,692
Lane County7171,482
Leavenworth County46384,670
Lincoln County7192,928
Linn County5949,841
Logan County1,0732,694
Lyon County84832,520
Marion County94411,670
Marshall County9009,950
McPherson County89830,334
Meade County9783,892
Miami County57635,737
Mitchell County7025,803
Montgomery County64430,459
Morris County6955,279
Morton County7302,485
Nemaha County71710,062
Neosho County57215,552
Ness County1,0752,617
Norton County8785,335
Osage County70615,737
Osborne County8933,353
Ottawa County7215,853
Pawnee County7546,012
Phillips County8864,733
Pottawatomie County84126,876
Pratt County7359,137
Rawlins County1,0692,432
Reno County1,25561,417
Republic County7174,613
Rice County7269,284
Riley County61072,557
Rooks County8914,748
Rush County7182,810
Russell County8866,620
Saline County72053,459
Scott County7184,914
Sedgwick County997536,081
Seward County64021,276
Shawnee County544177,942
Sheridan County8962,397
Sherman County1,0565,796
Smith County8963,541
Stafford County7923,901
Stanton County6802,071
Stevens County7275,035
Sumner County1,18222,336
Thomas County1,0757,802
Trego County8902,774
Wabaunsee County7947,112
Wallace County9141,472
Washington County8955,572
Wichita County7192,072
Wilson County5708,398
Woodson County4983,111
Wyandotte County152169,418

Kansas geography for homeschoolers

Pair this map with the Midwest states and capitals quiz and the US states quiz. If you teach at home, see homeschooling in kansas, and check kansas school choice to see whether a program may help pay for Kansas history and geography curriculum. Each program decides what it covers.

Sources

  1. US Census Bureau: Gazetteer Files (2020 county land areas)
  2. US Census Bureau: County Population Totals, 2020–2024 (Vintage 2024)
  3. US Census Bureau: Geographic Areas Reference Manual, Chapter 4 (counties and equivalents)
  4. Newberry Library: Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, Kansas
  5. Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas
  6. Kansas Historical Society (Kansapedia): County seat wars
  7. US Geological Survey: Highest and lowest elevations by state
  8. US Census Bureau: Census Regions and Divisions of the United States
  9. us-atlas: US Census Bureau cartographic boundary files (map data)

Questions

What is the largest county in Kansas?

By land area, Butler County is the largest, at about 1,430 square miles. By population, Johnson County is the largest, with about 632,276 people in the July 2024 Census estimate.

What county is Topeka, Kansas in?

Topeka is in Shawnee County. Its dot appears on the map when the Capitals option is on.

Is there a printable Kansas county map?

Yes. The [Kansas county map worksheet](/printables/maps/kansas-county-map) prints the same map with every county named. It's free to print for a family, co-op or class.

Can my child use the county quiz on a phone or tablet?

Yes. Tap counties directly, pinch to zoom, and use the full-screen button so the map fills the screen. List mode in Map options turns any round into multiple choice with a clue that names the neighboring counties.

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