The most recent United States Census Bureau figures show a slight uptick in population in the state’s largest cities, but smaller cities are largely losing population.
According to estimated population numbers, in 2020, Wichita, the largest city in Kansas, had a population of 397,589. In 2024 that had grown to 399,763, and by last year it was 400,987 — an increase of about 4,000.
Kansas City went from 156,610 in 2020 to 157,195 in 2024 and 157,805.
Lawrence, Overland Park, Olathe, and Topeka all likewise saw modest gains of at most a few thousand residents
Salina saw a dip from 46,881 in the 2020 census to 45,987 in 2024, and a slight uptick in 2025 of an estimated 46,094 residents.
Dodge City likewise had a small dip from 27,793 in 2020 to 27,830 in 2024 and an estimate of 27,653.
Garden City, Hutchinson, and Pittsburg again all saw small reductions in population of a few hundred at most, while Hays had a slight uptick from 21,144 in 2020 to 21,234 in 2024 and 21,258 in 2025.
According to the Census Bureau, domestic migration is centering not so much around cities — as it once did — but more to suburban counties and to Southern states.
“Beginning in 2021, counties in five Southern states — Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas — have increasingly topped domestic migration rankings,” a Census Bureau study says.
It is notable that many of those southern states — such as Texas and Florida — have either no state income tax or very low state income taxes.
Indeed, domestic outmigration has cost Kansas some $8 billion in adjusted gross income in the last 30 years.
Kansas had a net loss of $361 million in adjusted gross income in 2023 from U.S. residents moving in and out of the state, and the loss over the last 30 years is almost $8 billion. To Friedman’s point, Kansas had significant net gains in 2023 from high-tax states such as California, Illinois, and Nebraska, while suffering net losses to low-tax states such as Texas, Florida, and Arizona. The Sunflower State’s largest net loss of $146 million was to Missouri, which is ranked the 12th-most competitive on state taxes by the Tax Foundation, whereas Kansas is ranked #23.
The IRS county-level data also shows people voting with their feet.
“Johnson County elected officials routinely brag that the county is the economic engine of the state, but it lost $125 million in AGI in 2023 due to domestic migration,” Kansas Policy Institute CEO Dave Trabert wrote in a recent editorial. “That’s the fourth consecutive year that Johnson County recorded a net loss, and the net loss over the last five years is $572 million.”
The Sentinel is a subsidiary of KPI.
According to the IRS, Sedgwick, Wyandotte, Shawnee, and Douglas counties have also posted net losses due to domestic migration, and among the largest counties in Kansas, only Leavenworth County has shown modest growth over the last five years of data. In 2023, Leavenworth County had a small gain of just under $10 million and approximately $84.5 million during the reporting period.
