Demographic Changes in Kansas: Implications for State Policy

The purpose of this report is to identify the major demographic changes that are occurring in Kansas and to discuss several policy implications of these changes. The main focus will be on (1) the concentration of population growth in the state’s urban counties, (2) the aging of the population and (3) the rapid growth of the minorities, particularly Hispanics. Population growth in Kansas is below that of the U.S. as a whole and is entirely concentrated in the State’s nine urban counties. The urban counties are: Butler, Douglas, Harvey, Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami, Sedgwick, Shawnee, and Wyandotte. The remaining counties taken together are experiencing little population growth. Table 1 shows the population growth for Kansas and the United States. During the 1980’s Kansas population increased by 4.8% in contrast to an increase of 9.8% in the U.S. During the 1990s relative growth in Kansas was better with an 8.5% increase compared to 12.8% in the U.S. Nonetheless, Kansas continues to have population growth below that of the U.S. as is shown in the steadily decreasing population ratio in Table 1. In 1980 Kansas was 1.04% of the nation’s population; this ratio fell to 0.99 in 1980 and to 0.96 in 2000. The most significant population trend for Kansas is the rapid movement of population from rural to urban areas. In Table 1a we divide Kansas counties into three groups: the nine Large Metropolitan Counties (LMC), the eighteen Medium Counties