Kansas

How Kansas ranks among the states

Kansas sits in the less distressed half of the states, though its residents are as likely as Americans overall to have a bill with a debt collector. In early 2025, 13.4% of Kansans with a credit record had a debt in collections, against 13.2% for the U.S. (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia). Yet Kansans carry little debt: $46,720 per person with a credit report at the end of 2025, 6th lowest of the 50 states and D.C. (Federal Reserve Bank of New York). Renters’ housing costs do the most to keep Kansas’ score low: few Kansas renters pay half their income for housing (see the cost of living).

Kansas has stayed in the less distressed half of the states in every quarter since mid-2006

Kansas’ poorest county is Riley, by poverty rate; its most distressed is Wyandotte

Kansas has 105 counties. By the Census Bureau’s 2024 estimates, Riley County, home to Manhattan, has the highest poverty rate, 18.1%. Johnson County has the highest median household income, $109,357, and the lowest poverty rate, 6.0%. On our County Distress Index, which scores money strain on households in every U.S. county, Wyandotte County is the most distressed: its 89 means more distressed than 89% of U.S. counties.

Every county, by score

Wyandotte is the only Kansas county scoring 80 or more, and it holds 5.6% of Kansans. The 67 counties under 30 hold 47.6%, nearly half the state, and Johnson County, the most populous, is one of them.

Every Kansas county, ranked →

Is southeast Kansas worse off than Kansas City and Wichita? Yes, by a wide margin

Yes. We sorted Kansas’ 105 counties into six groups of our own and averaged each group’s County Distress Index scores, weighting each county by its population. The 13 southeast counties average 60 and hold only 6.2% of Kansans, yet 12 of the state’s 17 counties scoring 50 or more are among them. The Wichita area averages 43, and the Kansas City area 23, the lowest of the six.

Inside the Kansas City group, two next-door counties sit near opposite ends of the state’s list. Wyandotte scores 89, while Johnson County, home to 21.2% of Kansans, scores 5. Because the averages are weighted by population, Johnson’s size pulls this group’s score to the lowest of the six.

The southeast has the highest weighted poverty rate of the groups, 15.0%, against 8.0% in the Kansas City area. Our groups show where scores run high, not the reasons. See any county’s full page →

What changed in Kansas in the past year

1. Oct. 15, 2026

   Kansas income tax rates won’t be cut for 2027

   Under a 2025 law, Senate Bill 269, Kansas lowers its income tax rates only when state tax collections top an inflation-adjusted target. The Kansas Department of Revenue says collections for the 2026 fiscal year fell $214.3 million short of that mark. So there will be no rate cut for tax year 2027.

   Kansas Department of Revenue, Notice 26-11

2. Oct. 1, 2026

   New food assistance benefit and income limits took effect

   Food assistance is the Kansas name for SNAP, the federal food benefit once called food stamps. The state’s table for Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027, lists a top monthly benefit of $306 for one person and $1,023 for a household of four. A four-person household can earn up to $3,575 a month before taxes and still qualify on gross income.

   Kansas Department for Children and Families, food assistance program standards

3. Sept. 1, 2026

   June storms brought a federal disaster declaration for public assistance

   The president declared a major disaster, Public Assistance only, for storms from June 4 to 15, 2026. The Small Business Administration’s notice lists 30 counties, among them Geary, Crawford and Cherokee, the fourth, seventh and eighth most distressed counties in Kansas on our index. A second declaration the same day covers storms from June 18 to 30.

   Federal Register, SBA notice for DR-4940-KS; Federal Register, amendment for DR-4943-KS

4. April 9, 2026

   A new law lets tenants ask a court to expunge old eviction cases

   A new state law, House Bill 2357, lets a tenant ask the court to expunge an eviction case once three years have passed since the judgment, if any money judgment has been paid and no newer eviction judgment was entered. It also has courts consider mediation in eviction cases. It took effect July 1, 2026, when it was published in the statute book.

   Session Laws of Kansas 2026, chapter 132; Kansas Legislature, HB 2357; Kansas Secretary of State, session laws

5. Feb. 26, 2026

   Atmos Energy gas rates were set to rise in March

   The Kansas Corporation Commission approved a settlement allowing Atmos Energy a $12 million rate increase, less than the $19.1 million the company asked for. The commission put the added cost for an average home customer at about $5.69 a month, with new rates set to take effect March 1.

   Kansas Corporation Commission, news release of Feb. 26, 2026

6. Oct. 21, 2025

   Kansas warned the federal shutdown could hold up November food benefits

   The Kansas Department for Children and Families said November food assistance would not be paid unless federal action came by Oct. 28, because of the federal government shutdown. In a normal month, the department pays more than $34.4 million to more than 93,000 Kansas households.

   Kansas Department for Children and Families, news release of Oct. 21, 2025

Is Kansas cheap to live in? For renters, cheaper than most states

For renters, yes. Kansas’ median rent was $1,060 a month over 2020 to 2024, 13th lowest among the 50 states and D.C., against $1,413 for the U.S. (Census Bureau, American Community Survey). A year of that rent comes to 16.9% of the typical Kansas household’s 2024 income, against 20.8% nationwide, by our calculation. We don’t track prices for groceries, gas or other goods, so this page doesn’t rank Kansas’ overall cost of living.

The chart below follows a harsher measure: renters who pay half or more of their income for housing. Kansas has come in under the U.S. share in every year the Census Bureau has published since 2005.

That share is the only measure in the renters’ part of the State Distress Index, the part that does the most to hold Kansas’ score down (see how Kansas ranks).

What is the unemployment rate in Kansas? Close to the nation’s, and never above it in a yearly average since 1990

Kansas’ jobless rate was 3.8% in August 2026, against 4.1% for the U.S., 25th lowest among the 50 states and D.C. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). BLS does not count that gap as statistically significant. A year earlier the Kansas rate was 3.7%. The state’s yearly average has risen two years in a row, to 3.8% in 2025, though it stayed under the nation’s 4.3%.

Kansas trails on income. Personal income per resident, which counts wages, benefits and investment income, was $65,856 in 2024, 19th lowest among the states and D.C. The U.S. figure was $73,204 (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis).

The chart traces Kansas’ monthly jobless rate against the nation’s since 1990. The Kansas line sits under the U.S. line in nearly every month, including the April 2020 spike, when Kansas reached 12.1%.

Bourbon and Geary counties have the highest jobless rates in Kansas

County rates are not seasonally adjusted, so they swing more from month to month. Bourbon, Geary, Woodson and Chautauqua top the August list, and Sheridan, in the northwest, has the lowest.

Unemployment claims are filed with Kansas’ labor department. Is Kansas a poor state? →

Is Kansas a poor state? Its poverty rate is below the nation’s, but so are its incomes

Not by the poverty rate. In 2024, 10.9% of Kansans lived below the poverty line, against 12.1% nationally, 23rd lowest among the 50 states and D.C. Incomes tell a different story. The typical Kansas household earned $75,402, 16th lowest, against $81,604 for the U.S. (Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates).

The chart compares Kansas’ poverty rate with the nation’s in every year of the Census Bureau’s small-area estimates since 1989. Kansas’ rate has been the lower of the two each time, and it peaked at 14.0% in 2012.

On income, Kansas sits in the middle of its neighbors. The typical household earned $96,871 in Colorado and $76,578 in Nebraska in 2024, while households in Missouri and Oklahoma earned less: $71,583 and $66,124.

What weighs on Kansas’ economy

We found no single drag in the cited figures. Over 2020 to 2024, 8.8% of Kansans had no health insurance, against 8.4% for the U.S., and 13.5% reported a disability, against 13.3% (Census Bureau, American Community Survey). Benefit payments such as Social Security and Medicare made up 18.2% of Kansans’ income in 2024, close to the U.S. share of 18.3% (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis). We haven’t measured whether any of these holds incomes down.

Kansas has about half as many SNAP recipients per resident as the nation

The U.S. Department of Agriculture counted 154,781 Kansans getting SNAP food benefits in July 2026. That was 5.2% of the state’s 2025 population, tied for 3rd lowest among the states and D.C., against 10.5% for the U.S. The gap in poverty rates is far smaller: 10.9% for Kansas against 12.1% for the nation.

The July count was 17.4% lower than a year before, and below the 194,148 Kansas averaged from October 2019 to February 2020. A 2025 federal law changed who must meet SNAP’s time limit as of July 4, 2025 (U.S. Department of Agriculture). We can’t say how much of the drop that change explains.

Applications for food assistance go through the Kansas Department for Children and Families →

Why sites give different poverty rates for Kansas

Other sites often quote the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which puts Kansas’ rate a little higher. This page uses the bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, so the state and its counties come from one source. Programs that decide who qualifies for help use the federal poverty guideline instead: $15,960 a year for one person in 2026 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Are Kansans behind on their bills? →

Are Kansans behind on their bills? Less often than Americans overall, except with debt collectors

Less often than Americans overall, with one exception. In early 2025, 14.3% of Kansans with a credit record had a debt 90 or more days late, against 17.2% for the U.S., our population-weighted average of the states (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia). The exception is collections, where Kansas runs about level with the nation. These are debts households owe, not state government debt.

The chart sets Kansas beside the U.S. on each kind of debt, counting people rather than dollars.

Kansans were less likely than Americans overall to be 90 days behind on cards, car loans and mortgages in early 2025, and about as likely to have a debt in collections

For cards, car loans and mortgages, the share of borrowers 90 or more days late. For collections, the share of people with a credit record who had a debt there. Kansas and the U.S., first quarter of 2025.

Debt in collections

Kan. 13.4% U.S. 13.2%

Card borrowers 90+ days late

Kan. 11.5% U.S. 13.5%

Car-loan borrowers 90+ days late

Kan. 6.8% U.S. 8.5%

Mortgage borrowers 90+ days late

Kan. 1.0% U.S. 1.2%

Ranked from the highest share, Kansas places 21st of the 50 states and D.C. on collections, 32nd on cards, 28th on car loans and tied for 28th on mortgages. The U.S. bars are our population-weighted average of the states.

A larger share of Kansas card borrowers are 90 days or more behind than before the pandemic: 11.5% in early 2025, up from 7.8% at the end of 2019. The collections share moved the other way. It fell from 20.6% of Kansans with a credit record at the end of 2019 to a low in mid-2023, and it has edged up since.

Most of that fall came between mid-2022 and mid-2023, when the three big credit bureaus took most medical debts off credit reports. We can’t say how much of Kansas’ drop that change explains, and a debt dropped from a report may still be owed. Across the U.S., the share of people with a medical collection on their report went from about 14% in March 2022 to about 5% in June 2023 (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).

Bankruptcy in Kansas: filings rose a third straight year in 2025, but the rate is below the nation’s

Kansans filed 4,213 bankruptcy cases in 2025, up 8.9% from 2024 and a smaller rise than the 11.1% nationwide, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. That is 141.5 filings per 100,000 residents (2025 population), 26th highest rate among the 50 states and D.C. and under the U.S. rate of 166.3. Filings have risen every year since 2022, which had the fewest in U.S. Courts records since 2001, and 2025 brought the most since 2020.

Chapter 13 made up 44.7% of Kansas filings in 2025, 10th highest share among the states, against 35.9% nationwide. In a Chapter 13 case, the filer repays part of what they owe under a court-approved plan of three to five years. In Chapter 7, many debts are wiped out, but property the law doesn’t protect can be sold. Why Kansans pick Chapter 13 more often than filers elsewhere isn’t something our sources explain.

The table lists filings in selected years and every year since 2019.

Is Kansas a judicial foreclosure state? Yes: foreclosures go through a court

Yes. A Kansas lender forecloses through a court case that ends in a court-ordered sale, and the owner may still buy the home back afterward (Kansas Legal Services; K.S.A. 60-2414). The sale must be advertised once a week for three weeks in a row, with the last notice seven to 14 days before the sale (K.S.A. 60-2410).

How long the owner has to buy the home back depends on the case. The statute’s usual period is 12 months from the sale. The court sets three months instead when the owner fell behind before paying off a third of the original loan, and it can cut the period short for a home that has been abandoned (K.S.A. 60-2414).

The court has to confirm the sale and may refuse when the bid is far too low (K.S.A. 60-2415). If the sale brings in less than what is owed, the lender can ask the court for a judgment for the rest. Separately, a federal rule, 12 CFR 1024.41, generally bars a mortgage company from starting a foreclosure until a borrower is more than 120 days behind.

Kansas received $56.6 million from the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund and had helped 4,351 households with it by the first quarter of 2026 (U.S. Department of the Treasury). Counselors and legal aid are listed in Kansas’ foreclosure guide.

Renters facing eviction in Kansas

A Kansas landlord has to give three days’ written notice to pay overdue rent, or 14 days to fix other lease violations, before filing an eviction case, Kansas Legal Services says. Since July 1, 2026, a state law has let tenants ask a court to expunge an old eviction case three years after the judgment if any money judgment is paid (see what changed).

Kansas mortgage complaints to the CFPB: payment trouble comes up most

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau logged 1,809 mortgage complaints from Kansas from 2012 through October 2026. Trouble during the payment process came up most, in 550 complaints. Next came servicing, payments and escrow, in 356, and loan modification, collection and foreclosure, in 339.

What to watch before the next edition

These dates come from the agencies named in each item, nearest first.

1. Nov. 2, 2026

   Deadline for nonprofits’ SBA disaster loans after the June storms

   The Small Business Administration’s notice for the June 4 to 15 storms (DR-4940-KS) sets Nov. 2 as the last day for private nonprofit groups that provide essential services to apply for its physical damage loans. The declaration covers public assistance only, not aid to households.

   Federal Register, SBA notice for DR-4940-KS

2. Nov. 20, 2026

   Kansas’ October jobless rate is due from BLS

   The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to publish every state’s October jobless rate. It published no October figure in 2025, during the federal shutdown, so there is no year-earlier month to compare. Kansas’ August rate was 3.8%.

   U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, release schedule

3. Dec. 18, 2026

   November jobless rates for every state

   BLS lists Dec. 18 for the state rates for November, the last state release on its 2026 calendar.

   U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, release schedule

Where Kansas ranks highest and lowest