Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
93% more library visits per person than the typical Kansas town.
Ellinwood’s best subject grades are an A for cost of living and an A+ for civic life; its weakest is a C for schools. Ellinwood’s typical journey to work is 16 minutes, against 20 minutes in Kansas’ towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Only 9 of the 150 Kansas towns we compare have a lower typical rent than Ellinwood. On civic life, just 29 of Kansas’ 362 towns do better. Ellinwood has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Wolf Hotel and Wolf Park Band Shell. Ellinwood has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Ellinwood beats most towns.
Wolf HotelWhere Ellinwood’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kansas), ordered by how far Ellinwood is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 352 in 1880, a peak of 2,729 in 1960, 2,011 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1917 and 4 maps from 1891 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ellinwood, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Ellinwood.
Typical home values rose 4.8% in the year to September 2026. For households in Ellinwood, the share who are owner-occupiers is 74%.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Of its 4 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason. The public schools here belong to the Ellinwood Public Schools. The 3 public schools in Ellinwood teach 420 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ellinwood ElemLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 202 | B+ |
| Ellinwood HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 146 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KS on state tests and graduation
Half the trips to work are shorter than 13 miles. Among residents in Ellinwood, 14% live below the poverty line. For most workers, Ellinwood is a place to come home to: only 17% work in town. In Ellinwood, the typical household income is $56,000.
| Ellinwood | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 14% | 9.1% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $56,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 17% | 15% | 8% |
| Work from home | 9.1% | 8.7% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expect July afternoons of 92° and January nights of 20°, with about 15 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Ellinwood’s rate of thefts and burglaries stands at 5.1 per 1,000 residents. Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
| Ellinwood | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.1 per 1,000 residents | 11 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1 per 1,000 residents | 2.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
In Ellinwood, 29% of adults feel lonely. Against the Kansas average, Ellinwood comes out ahead on 1 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 8. Nearly two in five adults in the town have high blood pressure; 15% binge drink.
| Ellinwood | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 31% | 33% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 34% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 16% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 26% | 25% |
| What stands out | Ellinwood | KS |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 80.8% | 77.6% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.1% | 6.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Compared with 51% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage in Ellinwood is higher. Expected losses in Ellinwood break down as 31% from inland flooding and 23% from tornadoes. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Ellinwood after 6 declared disasters, most recently in 2019.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
1 within 15 miles of the center of Ellinwood
About 2 of every 100 Ellinwood residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Kansas.
2 places in Ellinwood on the National Register of Historic Places.
4 notable people were born in Ellinwood.
City in Barton County, Kansas
Ellinwood is a city in the southeastern corner of Barton County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,011.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Ellinwood.
| Town | KS rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellinwood | — | — | A | — | C | C+ |
| Lakin Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Ellinwood has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Ellinwood reports no FBI crime data of its own. Lakin Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Ellinwood with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
93% more library visits per person than the typical Kansas town.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.
4 notable people were born here, including Wally Hickel and Randall Roth.
