Wallace County area

Wallace County, Kansas covers 913.7 square miles: 913.7 square miles of land and 0.054 square miles of water. Its county seat is Sharon Springs. An estimated 1,441 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 201992026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area913.7 mi²
Water area0.054 mi²
Population (2025)1,441
People per mi²1.6

County outline

Generalized outline of Wallace County, Kansas
2025 Census cartographic boundary, fitted to this frame. County maps are not at a common scale. The 2026 area measurements below come from the separate Gazetteer release. Map source and limitations.

Where Wallace County is located

Wallace County highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 100% of Wallace County’s measured area and water for 0%. Its combined area converts to 2,366.5 square kilometers or approximately 584,772 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land913.6522,366.348584,737.3
Water0.0540.1434.6
Total913.7062,366.488584,771.8

How Wallace County compares

By original Census land area, Wallace County ranks #21 of 105 in Kansas and #811 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.252 times the Kansas county-equivalent median of 729.7 square miles. It accounts for 1.1% of the combined county land area in the state.

See the complete Kansas ranking · What counts as a county equivalent?

Population and density of Wallace County

The Census Bureau estimates that 1,441 people lived in Wallace County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #3,161 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #104 of 105 in Kansas. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 1,512, the population has declined by 71 (−4.7%), compared with +1.3% for Kansas as a whole.

With 913.7 square miles of land, that is 1.6 people per square mile (0.61 per km²), placing Wallace County #3,099 nationally for density and #104 in Kansas. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Kansas median is 8.1. Put another way, there are about 406 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate1,5121,5131,4911,5021,4801,441
Change—+1−22+11−22−39

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Wallace County

2 incorporated places lie at least partly in Wallace County. Together they are home to 761 people (52.8%); the other 680 (47.2%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Sharon Springs city, with 716 residents in the county.

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Sharon Springs cityCounty seat716−4.7%0.903
Wallace city45−4.3%0.402

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each place inside Wallace County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer, for the whole place even where it extends into other counties. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

Wallace County is not part of any metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area in the Office of Management and Budget’s July 2023 delineation; 1,306 other county equivalents are also outside one. These areas are built around an urban core of at least 10,000 people plus the counties tied to it by commuting, so counties outside them are generally rural.

ZIP codes

4 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Wallace County; 3 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

67758677616776267861

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Wallace County

Wallace County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents, including 2 in Colorado. It has more land than 2 of them. The largest neighbor is Kit Carson County (2,160.8 mi²) and the smallest is Wichita County (718.6 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Wallace County forms a block of 8,478.8 mi² of land, of which it holds 10.8%.

Map of Wallace County and the 6 county equivalents that border it Logan County, Kansas: 1,073 mi² landSherman County, Kansas: 1,056.1 mi² landGreeley County, Kansas: 778.4 mi² landCheyenne County, Colorado: 1,778.3 mi² landKit Carson County, Colorado: 2,160.8 mi² landWichita County, Kansas: 718.6 mi² land
Wallace County (dark) and its bordering county equivalents. Select a neighbor to open its profile. Drawn from the 2025 Census cartographic boundaries in an equal-area projection. How borders are determined.
Bordering county equivalentLand mi²Size vs. WallaceCompare
Kit Carson CountyColorado2,160.82.4× largerCompare
Cheyenne CountyColorado1,778.31.9× largerCompare
Logan County1,0731.2× largerCompare
Sherman County1,056.11.2× largerCompare
Greeley County778.41.2× smallerCompare
Wichita County718.61.3× smallerCompare

How big is Wallace County compared with U.S. states?

Wallace County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.1 times as much. Kansas’s county land could hold about 89 areas the size of Wallace County.

Land area: Wallace County and the closest-sized states
Wallace County913.7 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 30.2 miles (48.6 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Wallace County?

Wallace County has more land than 2,411 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Wallace County913.7 mi²
Kansas median729.7 mi²
National median604.5 mi²

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Wallace County at #922 nationally by total area, 111 places farther from the top than its land rank. Other county equivalents gain more area when their water measurements are included.

Its water share is 0%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1.2 percentage points lower. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Wallace County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#810Shackelford County, Texas914.3Compare
#811Wallace County, Kansas913.7This county
#812Rusk County, Wisconsin913.5Compare

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.

Representative coordinates

The Census internal point is 38.926626, -101.771103. It represents a location inside the geography; it is not necessarily the centroid or the address of a courthouse.

Source and precision

U.S. Census Bureau, 2026 Gazetteer Files, Counties. Original ALAND: 2,366,348,283 m²; AWATER: 140,936 m². Rankings use ALAND; exact ties use ascending GEOID. Tables preserve Census-published square miles to three decimals, with conversions based on those values.

Download the official county source ZIP ↗ · Methodology

Common questions

How big is Wallace County?

Wallace County, Kansas has 913.7 square miles (2,366.3 km²) of land and 0.054 square miles of water, for a total area of 913.7 square miles. It ranks #811 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Wallace County the largest county in Kansas?

No. Wallace County ranks #21 of 105 in Kansas by land area. The largest is Butler County, with 1,429.7 square miles of land.

What counties border Wallace County?

Wallace County shares a land border with Logan County, Sherman County, Greeley County, Cheyenne County, Colorado, Kit Carson County, Colorado, and Wichita County.

What is the population of Wallace County?

The Census Bureau estimates Wallace County had 1,441 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #3,161 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 1.6 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Wallace County?

The county seat of Wallace County is Sharon Springs.

What cities and towns are in Wallace County?

Wallace County has 2 incorporated places. The most populous are Sharon Springs city and Wallace city; 680 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Wallace County part of a metropolitan area?

No. Wallace County is outside every metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area in the July 2023 OMB delineation.

How many ZIP codes are in Wallace County?

4 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Wallace County, and 3 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Wallace County compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 1.1 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Wallace County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 584,737 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 584,772 acres. One square mile equals 640 acres.

Why might another source show a different area?

Check whether it reports land or total area, its Census vintage, and its rounding. Our guide explains how to reconcile county area figures.

Can this establish a property boundary?

No. Statistical measurements and generalized maps do not establish property lines. Consult the relevant local surveying or land-records authority.

Cite this county

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