Atchison County, KS

County Profile

16,208 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Atchison County, KS.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

64out of 100
Area Score
Top 45% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 46% of 1,255 counties57
Schools740th of 973 counties30
GrowthTop 34% of 1,226 counties58
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties100
Climate739th of 1,254 counties65
Physical resilienceTop 40% of 1,255 counties68
AccessTop 40% of 1,255 counties86
Economic stability726th of 1,255 counties57
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.7% and median household income $61,112, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

In the public schools here, 19% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 12.5 students for every teacher.

Rent takes 15% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 2.4 times that income.

At a glance

Population
16,208
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$61,112
Bottom 39% nationally
Density
38/sq mi
431.2 sq mi of land
Median age
36.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Atchison County
Kansas
Metro area
Atchison, KS
Nearest major airport
STJ
27 mi · Rosecrans Meml
Median home value
$145,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 31% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment grew 2.7% over the past year, to 8,215 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$7,953$61,112Bottom 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,108$30,244Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.0%Bottom 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.6 minBottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher21.8%Bottom 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment8,215Bottom 2%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)5.2%Top 8%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.7%Top 3%June 2026
Labor force8,620Bottom 2%June 2026
Labor force participation62.6%Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 45%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 31%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.72.1
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.7% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202462k52k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $61,112 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

19% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 29% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
18.8%
Bottom 9% in Kansas
Reading proficiency
29.1%
Bottom 23% in Kansas
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Atchison Elementary SchoolAtchison Public Schools69315.420%29%
Atchison High SchoolAtchison Public Schools41912.3
Atchison Middle SchoolAtchison Public Schools28711.517%12%
Atchison County Community JR/SR HighAtchison Co Comm Schools2549.85%25%
Atchison County Community Elementary SchoolAtchison Co Comm Schools24411.631%54%
Central SchoolAtchison Public Schools5110.2

58.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Kansas’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $765 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.4 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
15.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$765
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$145,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.38Bottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate71.9%Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±246,817Bottom 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$131$765Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$14,278$145,700Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income15.0%Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate15.9%Top 43%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
58/ 100
Top 34% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 16,249 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
24
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.5
Bottom 25% nationally
Year over year
+85%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202416k16k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2022202320242025224.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+450%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 17°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 34.8 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ST JOSEPH ROSECRANS AP, 26.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation34.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low17°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing50°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

68 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, heat wave and hail.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 84% of measured US locations.

WildfireElevated
HailElevated
DroughtModerate
Heat waveModerate
TornadoElevated
Winter weatherModerate
Strong windModerate

Low or minimal exposure: ice storm, landslide, lightning, earthquake, cold wave, inland flooding.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Atchison County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 16.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.2 per 100,000 residents in Atchison County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
20.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Atchison County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Atchison County rather than Atchison County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 27 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Rosecrans MemlSTJ27 mi8,061 ft
Kansas City IntlMCI36 mi10,801 ft
Topeka RgnlFOE44 mi12,803 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
64
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in Atchison County, KS