State bird
Western meadowlark
Sources: Designation & background
Local timeTopeka ·
U.S. States / Midwest · Card 016
Kansas
The Sunflower State
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve protects part of the Flint Hills.
Kansas and its surroundings
● State capital · Gold highlights Kansas.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
At a glance
- Capital
- Topeka
- Postal abbreviation
- KS
- Population
- 2,977,220July 1, 2025 · Census estimate
- Total area
- 213,100 km²82,278 square miles · land and water
- Statehood
- January 29, 1861State number 34
- Region
- Midwest
Sources: Census · population · Census · area
State symbols & traditions
State song
Home on the Range
Sources: Designation & background
Geography & flag
01
Location
Neighboring states: Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma.
02
Landscape & places
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve protects part of the Flint Hills. Much of North America’s tallgrass prairie was converted to farms and towns; the preserve shows the grassland ecosystem that once covered a much wider area.
03
Land and water
The total area includes 211,754 km² of land and 1,346 km² of water, according to Census area measurements.
State flag
The state seal, a sunflower and the word Kansas on a blue field.
Sources: Census · geographic reference · Census · area measurements · National Park Service · Tallgrass Prairie
How the landscape works
The Flint Hills preserve helps explain the difference between a remnant ecosystem and a landscape that was always rare. Tallgrass prairie once covered a much wider area. A protected remnant gives evidence of that larger past distribution. Grassland is an ecosystem with interacting plants, animals, soils, and disturbance, not simply land waiting to become a farm.
History
Why Kansas became a battleground over slavery
The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 removed the existing restriction on slavery in the area and allowed settlers to decide whether slavery would be permitted. Because control of territorial government could influence that decision, proslavery and antislavery groups competed to bring supporters into Kansas and win elections.
Election fraud, rival governments and armed attacks followed. The period became known as Bleeding Kansas. The conflict included attacks on antislavery Lawrence and killings by John Brown’s group at Pottawatomie Creek. Kansas finally entered the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861. Popular sovereignty had shifted the fight into the territory rather than resolving it peacefully.
Read more: Historical source ↗
Why this mattered
Popular sovereignty meant allowing settlers to decide whether slavery would be permitted. That policy did not remove the conflict over slavery; it moved the struggle into the territories. Proslavery and antislavery groups competed to influence Kansas’s political future, and violence followed. A procedure presented as a solution can intensify conflict when the underlying issue remains unresolved.
Key dates
-
Kansas Territory created
-
Statehood · State number 34
Sources: Congressional Research Service · statehood · U.S. Census Bureau · historical geography · National Park Service
People and place
Indigenous history and communities today
The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation provides a present-day tribal perspective from Kansas. The territorial conflict over slavery is important, but it is not a complete account of the peoples whose lives and lands are part of the state.
Continue with Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. This is one starting point, not a complete account of the peoples connected to this land.
Compare
Kansas and Colorado
| Measure | Kansas | Colorado |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2025) | 2,977,220 | 6,012,561 |
| Land area (km²) | 211,754 | 268,431 |
| People per km² of land | 14.1 | 22.4 |
Colorado has more people per square kilometer of land. Population density divides population by land area. It is an average across the whole jurisdiction, not a claim that residents are evenly spread out.
Calculated from the Census population series and land-area measurements used on these pages. Rounded figures; water area is excluded. Explore Colorado.
Economy
Main activities
In 2025, manufacturing was the largest of the broad industry groups compared here by current-dollar output. Other major groups included real estate and rental and leasing, government and government enterprises, and professional and business services.
Total economic output was $241.4 billion in current dollars in 2025.
Largest industry groups · 2025
- Manufacturing: 15.1%
- Real estate and rental and leasing: 12.9%
- Government and government enterprises: 11.9%
- Professional and business services: 11.1%
Share of total current-dollar GDP. These figures measure output, not employment.
Sources: BEA · annual GDP by state, SAGDP2
Production, jobs and wages answer different questions
The industry chart measures the value of production. It does not count workers. An industry with a large share of GDP need not employ the most people or pay the highest wages. Employment and wage data would be needed to answer those questions.
Population & economic trends
Population, 2020–2025
Millions of people2.982025 · millions of people
July 1 resident population estimates, using the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 series.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau
View data table
| Year | People |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 2,938,274 |
| 2021 | 2,938,966 |
| 2022 | 2,938,034 |
| 2023 | 2,949,749 |
| 2024 | 2,965,252 |
| 2025 | 2,977,220 |
Real GDP, 2010–2025
Billions of chained 2017 dollars185.142025 · billions of chained 2017 dollars
Real GDP measures economic output adjusted for inflation. The chart uses BEA’s chained 2017 dollars.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
View data table
| Year | Millions of chained 2017 dollars |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 143,870.1 |
| 2011 | 147,836.8 |
| 2012 | 150,077.1 |
| 2013 | 150,702.9 |
| 2014 | 154,110.1 |
| 2015 | 158,602.6 |
| 2016 | 164,643.7 |
| 2017 | 166,273.6 |
| 2018 | 169,796.9 |
| 2019 | 169,562.3 |
| 2020 | 166,621.4 |
| 2021 | 170,401.2 |
| 2022 | 177,776.1 |
| 2023 | 180,267.5 |
| 2024 | 181,599.6 |
| 2025 | 185,144.0 |
Read the trend, then ask what explains it
Kansas’s population increased by about 1.3% between 2020 and 2025 in this series. That shows the size of the change. The chart alone cannot tell us how much came from births, deaths or migration.
Real GDP adjusts for changes in prices, so it helps compare production over time. Current-dollar GDP includes price changes. Neither measure tells us how income is distributed among residents.
Representation
- Electoral votes
- 62024 & 2028 elections
- Voting U.S. House seats
- 42020 Census allocation
- U.S. Senate seats
- 2
Electoral votes equal the state’s U.S. House seats plus its two U.S. Senate seats. These allocations apply to the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.
Practice
Test your knowledge
Use the explanations and data on this page to answer ten questions. Hints and links to the relevant sections are available throughout.
10 questions about Kansas
Show a hint
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Sources & notes
Narrative and quiz updated 5 October 2026. Statistical data prepared 27 September 2026. Population: Census Bureau Vintage 2025, July 1 estimates for 2020–2025. Real GDP: BEA annual state accounts, SAGDP9, millions of chained 2017 dollars; industry shares: SAGDP2, current dollars. Data downloaded 27 September 2026. Area measurements include land and water.
Sources: Census · population estimates · BEA · state GDP · Census · area measurements · Natural Earth · map data
The capital clock shows current local time. Statistical figures are dated estimates and may be revised.
Updated 29 October 2026. Statistics retain the dated series shown in the charts; these are not live figures. Sources are linked beside each topic.