Wichita County area

Wichita County, Kansas covers 718.6 square miles: 718.6 square miles of land and 0.024 square miles of water. Its county seat is Leoti. An estimated 2,031 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 202032026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area718.6 mi²
Water area0.024 mi²
Population (2025)2,031
People per mi²2.8

County outline

Generalized outline of Wichita 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 Wichita County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 100% of Wichita County’s measured area and water for 0%. Its combined area converts to 1,861.1 square kilometers or approximately 459,898 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land718.5661,861.077459,882.2
Water0.0240.06215.4
Total718.591,861.14459,897.6

How Wichita County compares

By original Census land area, Wichita County ranks #60 of 105 in Kansas and #1250 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.985 times the Kansas county-equivalent median of 729.7 square miles. It accounts for 0.9% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Wichita County

The Census Bureau estimates that 2,031 people lived in Wichita County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #3,118 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #98 of 105 in Kansas. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 2,154, the population has declined by 123 (−5.7%), compared with +1.3% for Kansas as a whole.

With 718.6 square miles of land, that is 2.8 people per square mile (1.1 per km²), placing Wichita County #2,997 nationally for density and #91 in Kansas. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Kansas median is 8.1. Put another way, there are about 226 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate2,1502,0822,0642,0952,0392,031
Change—−68−18+31−56−8

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 Wichita County

1 incorporated place lies at least partly in Wichita County. Together they are home to 1,397 people (68.8%); the other 634 (31.2%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Leoti city, with 1,397 residents in the county.

Metropolitan area

Wichita 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

3 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Wichita County; 2 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

678616786367871

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 Wichita County

Wichita County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents. It has more land than 1 of them. The largest neighbor is Logan County (1,073 mi²) and the smallest is Scott County (717.6 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Wichita County forms a block of 6,068.3 mi² of land, of which it holds 11.8%.

Map of Wichita County and the 6 county equivalents that border it Greeley County, Kansas: 778.4 mi² landScott County, Kansas: 717.6 mi² landKearny County, Kansas: 870.5 mi² landLogan County, Kansas: 1,073 mi² landWallace County, Kansas: 913.7 mi² landHamilton County, Kansas: 996.5 mi² land
Wichita 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. WichitaCompare
Logan County1,0731.5× largerCompare
Hamilton County996.51.4× largerCompare
Wallace County913.71.3× largerCompare
Kearny County870.51.2× largerCompare
Greeley County778.41.1× largerCompare
Scott County717.6about the sameCompare

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

Wichita County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.4 times as much. Kansas’s county land could hold about 114 areas the size of Wichita County.

Land area: Wichita County and the closest-sized states
Wichita County718.6 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 26.8 miles (43.1 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 Wichita County?

Wichita County has more land than 1,972 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Wichita County718.6 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 Wichita County at #1,373 nationally by total area, 123 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 Wichita County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#1249Furnas County, Nebraska719.2Compare
#1250Wichita County, Kansas718.6This county
#1251Rock County, Wisconsin718.2Compare

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 38.483856, -101.346259. 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: 1,861,078,199 m²; AWATER: 61,987 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 Wichita County?

Wichita County, Kansas has 718.6 square miles (1,861.1 km²) of land and 0.024 square miles of water, for a total area of 718.6 square miles. It ranks #1250 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Wichita County the largest county in Kansas?

No. Wichita County ranks #60 of 105 in Kansas by land area. The largest is Butler County, with 1,429.7 square miles of land.

What counties border Wichita County?

Wichita County shares a land border with Greeley County, Scott County, Kearny County, Logan County, Wallace County, and Hamilton County.

What is the population of Wichita County?

The Census Bureau estimates Wichita County had 2,031 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #3,118 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 2.8 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Wichita County?

The county seat of Wichita County is Leoti.

Is Wichita County part of a metropolitan area?

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

How many ZIP codes are in Wichita County?

3 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Wichita County, and 2 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

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

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 1.4 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Wichita County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 459,882 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 459,898 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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