Finney County, KS

County Profile

38,084 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Finney 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.

56out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 29% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 33% of 1,255 counties measured63
Schools748th of 973 counties measured29
GrowthTop 22% of 1,226 counties measured65
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties measured100
Climate989th of 1,254 counties measured60
Physical resilience986th of 1,255 counties measured35
Access1241st of 1,255 counties measured0
Economic stabilityTop 21% of 1,255 counties measured81
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.5% and median household income $73,009, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published profiles.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hail, drought and tornado.

The nearest major airport is 183 miles away, which is farther than most measured US locations.

At a glance

Population
38,084
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$73,009
Top 30% nationally
Density
29/sq mi
1302.0 sq mi of land
Median age
31.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Finney County
Kansas
Metro area
Garden City, KS
Nearest major airport
ICT
183 mi · Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower Ntl
Median home value
$201,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.5% is lower than 79% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 0.9% over the past year, to 20,698 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,668$73,009Top 30%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,161$32,062Bottom 35%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate11.1%Bottom 32%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute16.2 minBottom 4%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher19.0%Bottom 32%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment20,698Bottom 25%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)3.5%Top 17%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.9%Bottom 43%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force21,449Bottom 25%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation69.2%Top 5%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.2%Top 40%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate3.5%Bottom 21%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/063.51.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.5% 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
202120222023202473k61k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $73,009 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.

24% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 29% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.3 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
21
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
23.6%
Bottom 23% in Kansas
Reading proficiency
28.6%
Bottom 18% in Kansas
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Garden City High SchoolGarden City1,94615.2
Jennie Wilson ElemGarden City79649.836%46%
Horace J. Good Middle SchoolGarden City58311.49%17%
Kenneth Henderson MiddleGarden City42513.717%22%
Charles O Stones Intermediate CtrGarden City37711.117%27%
Florence Wilson ElemGarden City37616.334%30%
Bernadine Sitts Intermediate CtrGarden City36713.112%27%
Victor Ornelas ElemGarden City35113.527%22%
Alta Brown ElemGarden City33614.026%30%
Abe Hubert Elementary SchoolGarden City28512.415%28%
Holcomb HighHolcomb26510.2
Holcomb MiddleHolcomb22712.622%12%

72.8% 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 $1,048 takes 17% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.8 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
17.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,048
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$201,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.76Bottom 41%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate64.9%Bottom 15%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3914,355Top 46%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$44$1,048Top 26%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,156$201,400Top 43%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.2%Top 47%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.8%Bottom 18%of 3,2222024 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
65/ 100
Top 22% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 3 consecutive years, 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 38,354 in 2024.

Permit activity has fallen for 3 consecutive years.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 5% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 3.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
150
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.9
Top 39% nationally
Year over year
+477%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
4.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202438k38k
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
202220232024202514536
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−75%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 92°F and January a low of 18°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 18.9 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station GARDEN CITY RGNL AP, 8.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation18.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low18°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing47°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

35 / 100
Physical resilience

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

DroughtModerate
HailHigh
Winter weatherModerate
Strong windModerate
TornadoElevated
Cold waveElevated
Heat waveModerate

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

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.

Finney County records 3.6 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 14.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 8.4 per 100,000 residents in Finney County.

Homicide
3.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
8.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
18.6
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 Finney 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 Finney County rather than Finney 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
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

No airport meeting the AreaProfile major-airport definition lies within 100 miles; the nearest is 183 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower NtlICT183 mi10,302 ft
Beech FactoryBEC194 mi8,001 ft
Enid Woodring RgnlWDG199 mi8,613 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
56
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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 Finney County, KS