Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The everyday basics are strong; the price of a home is the catch. On schools it is strong (A−): its schools rank ahead of 84% of Kansas towns. Overall, Hays earns a B+: better than 65% of U.S. towns, and 57th of 150 in Kansas. Walkability is another plus: it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 91% of U.S. towns. What holds it back is cost of living (C): the typical home is worth about $255K, 4 years of the Hays area’s $63K median household income. This Kansas town has 10 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Fort Hays and First Presbyterian Church. 63% of working residents work locally here, against 15% in Kansas’ towns and 8% across U.S. towns. The town is home to Fort Hays State University.
Figures: schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places · Census LEHD, 2023.
Where Hays beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Roosevelt Elem | K–5 | 420 |
| Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem | K–5 | 371 |
| Woodrow Wilson Elem | K–5 | 364 |
Census counts: 320 in 1870, 21,116 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1869 and 3 maps from 1961 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kansas), ordered by how far Hays is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Hays, 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 Hays.
Hays is shaped by its college students, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has commutes shorter than most of Kansas.
Walkers can cover 6.1 miles of trail in 23 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Frontier Historical Park, at 51 acres. The concentration of trails in Hays is 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Hays | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.2% | 2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hays Medical Center Walking Trail | 0.7 mi | 26 |
| 2. Frontier Historical Park | 0.4 mi | 51 |
| 3. Aubel Bickle Park | — | 16 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The public schools here belong to the Hays school district. Three of its 9 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. The 5 public schools in Hays teach 2,155 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hays Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 726 | B |
| Hays HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,017 | B |
| Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy ElemTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 371 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KS on state tests and graduation
20.9% of residents are enrolled in college, against 6.6% statewide, which pulls the median age down.
The share of adults 25 and older in Hays who hold a bachelor’s degree or more: 43%. Adults 18 to 34 are 37% of residents (23% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 29% of residents (36% statewide). For Hays, the median age is 30.2 years.
| Hays | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 30.2 years | 38.2 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 19% | 24% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 43% | 29% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 16% | 17% | 18% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1 point. Across Kansas, 49.8% of residents are women. Median age: women 33.1, men 28.1.
| Hays | KS | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.2% | 12.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.3% | 11.3% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 24.2% | 10.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.8% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.5% | 12.9% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 8.6% | 11.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 8.7% | 12.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.1% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.6% | 6.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.7% | 8% | 10.4% |
| High school | 25% | 25.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.5% | 21.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.1% | 22.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.5% | 13.4% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Against the 8,510 U.S. towns with household incomes like Hays’s, it is healthier than 93%, so its B+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Hays does better than the Kansas average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 4. In Hays, nearly a fifth of adults binge drink. 8.7% of adults here have diabetes; 30% have high blood pressure.
| Hays | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 16% | 16% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.7% | 11% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 35% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Hays | KS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 8.7% | 11.4% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5.4% | 6.4% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 8.6% | 7.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
July afternoons reach 93°, January nights drop to 18° and about 16 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 8,845 working residents takes 11.1 minutes, against 19.7 across Kansas.
Only 9 of the 151 Kansas towns we compare have a higher share of residents below the poverty line than Hays. The average trip to work for Hays comes to 11 minutes. Half the trips to work are shorter than 2 miles. For workers locally, the share who work from home is 5.2%.
| Hays | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 63% | 15% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 11 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 20% | 9.1% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 5.2% | 8.8% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts. Hays's reported crime rate is well below Kansas's. 48 violent crimes were reported in 2025.
| Hays | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.3 per 1,000 residents | 2.5 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 9.4 per 1,000 residents | 11.1 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected damage from storms and floods is lower here than in 59% of U.S. communities. Hays has had 47 paid flood insurance claims since 1980. Of the losses FEMA expects here, 32% come from inland flooding and 19% from tornadoes.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
57% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 43.5% across Kansas.
Homes sold in Hays spent a median 84 days on the market. A typical home here is worth about $255,000, up 2.9% in a year, close to the Kansas typical home. Also worth knowing: among households here, 59% own their home.
| Hays | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 59% | 72% | 73% |
| Median rent | $922 a month | $977 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Hays
College town 21 of every 100 Hays residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Kansas.
10 places in Hays on the National Register of Historic Places.
13 notable people were born in Hays.
City in Ellis County, Kansas
Hays is a city in and the county seat of Ellis County, Kansas, United States. The most populous city in northwestern Kansas, it is the economic and cultural center of the region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 21,116. Hays is home to Fort Hays State University.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Hays.
| Town | KS rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hays | #57 | B+ | C | — | A− | B+ |
| Big Creek Township | #21 | A− | B− | — | A− | B+ |
Hays and Big Creek Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Hays with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Hays grades B+ overall, better than 65% of U.S. towns and #57 of 150 in Kansas. It grades B+ for health and A− for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
13 notable people were born here, including John L. Allen Jr. and Ron Baker.
