County facts · Land area · October 21, 2026
Largest Counties in Kansas by Area and Population
The largest Kansas counties by land area and by 2023 population, plus the smallest, county seats and a link to each official parcel map.
Looking for the largest counties in Kansas? Kansas has 105 counties covering about 81,759 square miles of land, based on the Census Bureau's 2020 Gazetteer. The largest by land area is Butler County, at about 1,430 square miles, roughly 9.4 times the size of the smallest, Wyandotte County (152 sq mi). Measured by people instead, the largest is Johnson County, with about 622,237 residents in the Census Bureau's July 1, 2023 estimate.
Each table below links the county's Platbookmapper page and its official parcel viewer, so you can go straight from the numbers to the property lines.
Kansas counties at a glance
- Counties: 105
- Land area: about 81,759 sq mi, plus about 520 sq mi of water inside county lines
- Residents, 2023 estimates: about 2,940,546, or about 36 people per square mile of land
- Median county land area: about 730 sq mi
- With a verified public parcel viewer in our directory: 102 of 105
The 10 largest Kansas counties by land area
| # | County | Seat | Land (sq mi) | 2023 pop. | People per sq mi | Parcel viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Butler County | El Dorado | 1,430 | 68,632 | 48 | ArcGIS Web AppBuilder |
| 2 | Finney County | Garden City | 1,302 | 37,466 | 29 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| 3 | Reno County | Hutchinson | 1,255 | 61,497 | 49 | Beacon (Schneider Geospatial) |
| 4 | Sumner County | Wellington | 1,182 | 22,334 | 19 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| 5 | Greenwood County | Eureka | 1,143 | 5,870 | 5.1 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| 6 | Barber County | Medicine Lodge | 1,134 | 4,071 | 3.6 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| 7 | Cowley County | Winfield | 1,126 | 34,157 | 30 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| 8 | Ford County | Dodge City | 1,098 | 33,980 | 31 | county web map |
| 9 | Ness County | Ness City | 1,075 | 2,618 | 2.4 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| 10 | Thomas County | Colby | 1,075 | 7,865 | 7.3 | ORKA (Kansas) |
Together these 10 cover about 14% of Kansas's land area and hold about 9% of its residents.
The 10 most populous Kansas counties
| # | County | Seat | 2023 pop. | Land (sq mi) | Parcel viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johnson County | Olathe | 622,237 | 474 | county web map |
| 2 | Sedgwick County | Wichita | 528,469 | 997 | county web map |
| 3 | Shawnee County | Topeka | 177,746 | 544 | county web map |
| 4 | Wyandotte County | Kansas City | 165,281 | 152 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| 5 | Douglas County | Lawrence | 120,553 | 456 | ArcGIS Experience Builder |
| 6 | Leavenworth County | Leavenworth | 83,518 | 463 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| 7 | Riley County | Manhattan | 71,402 | 610 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| 8 | Butler County | El Dorado | 68,632 | 1,430 | ArcGIS Web AppBuilder |
| 9 | Reno County | Hutchinson | 61,497 | 1,255 | Beacon (Schneider Geospatial) |
| 10 | Saline County | Salina | 53,098 | 720 | ORKA (Kansas) |
These 10 hold about 66% of Kansas's residents in the 2023 estimates.
The 5 smallest Kansas counties by land area
| County | Seat | Land (sq mi) | 2023 pop. | Parcel viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wyandotte County | Kansas City | 152 | 165,281 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| Geary County | Junction City | 385 | 35,047 | county web map |
| Doniphan County | Troy | 393 | 7,493 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| Atchison County | Atchison | 431 | 16,016 | ORKA (Kansas) |
| Douglas County | Lawrence | 456 | 120,553 | ArcGIS Experience Builder |
Most and least crowded
- Most people per square mile: Johnson County, about 1,314 (then Wyandotte County, 1,090, and Sedgwick County, 530)
- Fewest people per square mile: Greeley County, about 1.5 (then Wallace County, 1.7, and Clark County, 1.9)
Counties with the most water
The Census Bureau reports water separately from land. It counts lakes, reservoirs, rivers and, for coastal and Great Lakes counties, the water inside the county boundary.
- Coffey County: about 27 sq mi of water, 4% of its total area
- Jefferson County: about 24 sq mi of water, 4% of its total area
- Pottawatomie County: about 21 sq mi of water, 2% of its total area
Using these numbers in a land search
- Land area is not parcel count. A large rural county can hold fewer parcels than a small suburban one, so size alone says little about how busy its parcel map is.
- Search, don't scroll. In a big county, type an address, owner name or parcel number into the viewer's search box, where it has one, instead of panning across the map.
- Records follow the county line. Deeds, plats and tax bills are kept by the county where the parcel sits, so a tract that crosses a county line usually has a parcel number in each county.
- Rounded figures. Land and water areas are rounded to whole square miles. People per square mile is the 2023 estimate divided by land area.
Related guides
- Kansas county GIS websites by viewer
- Kansas landowner maps for hunting
- Colorado–Kansas border counties
- Kansas–Missouri border counties
- Kansas–Nebraska border counties
- Kansas–Oklahoma border counties
More: All Kansas counties on Platbookmapper
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer files, 2020 county land and water area.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, county totals, Vintage 2023 (July 1, 2023 estimates)
- Platbookmapper county GIS directory (live data file behind our county pages, pulled October 21, 2026) for each county's official parcel viewer.
- County seats: Wikidata (county seat property), cross-checked against Census place names.