Living in Wakarusa, KS: what to set up and who to call
Wakarusa has no town government of its own, so Shawnee County runs its elections and most services, and its children attend Auburn-Washburn Unified School District 437. Carbondale City Library, 5.2 miles away, is the closest library to Wakarusa.
I’m new in town
What to set up in Wakarusa, and who provides it. Tap an answer for the details and where they come from.
Power, water and internet
Who to call to start service at a new address in Wakarusa.
Power comes from Evergy
Evergy (Evergy Kansas Central, Inc.), an investor-owned utility, serves all of Wakarusa. Its homes paid an average of 14.6¢ per kWh in 2025, about $124 a month (its average across Kansas).
Start or move service: evergy.com
Service territory: HIFLD Electric Retail Service Territories (map dated Aug 2023). Prices and customers: EIA-861, 2025.
Water comes from Osage Co RWD 5
Osage Co RWD 5 supplies Wakarusa: about 58% of residents live in its service area. Shawnee Co RWD 3c serves another 30%. Osage Co RWD 8 serves another 13%. About 9% of homes are outside any mapped community water system, most likely on private wells, which EPA doesn’t regulate. It buys treated surface water (EPA lists Douglas Co RWD 3 and Public Wholesale WSD 25 and City of Carbondale as sellers) and serves 3,875 people in all.
No health-based violations reported to EPA in the five years to October 2026, like 80% of the 5,012 systems serving 3,301–10,000 people.
The latest lead result on file, the 90th percentile of homes sampled in Jan 2021–Dec 2023, was 2.8 ppb, below the 15 ppb action level that applied. That’s higher than 79% of similar systems’ latest results.
The system’s full record: EPA ECHO report
EPA SDWIS via Envirofacts (violations pulled Oct 9, 2026) and ECHO (lead samples, 2026Q3); service area: EPA Community Water System Service Area Boundaries v3.0. Violations are counted by the start of their compliance period. KS2013904.
Which providers serve Wakarusa
This card will list the home internet providers the FCC’s National Broadband Map shows in Wakarusa, the share of addresses that can get 100/20 Mbps and the share with fiber, with the map’s “as of” date.
Source to come: FCC Broadband Data Collection.
We don’t have Wakarusa’s trash rules yet
Pickup rules, the dump and recycling in Wakarusa.
Where your child goes to school
Public school districts and the school path by grade.
Most of Wakarusa (91%) is in Auburn-Washburn Unified School District 437; parts are in Shawnee Heights Unified School District 450 (9%).
Test scores and every school: see Schools →U.S. Department of Education, NCES Common Core of Data, 2024–25. Enrollment rules and registration are the district’s.
No town hall: the county runs things
Wakarusa is unincorporated, so Shawnee County is the local government.
Election office: FVAP local election office directory, updated Sep 2017; jurisdictions: EAC EAVS 2024. Registration rules and links: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Wakarusa is in ZIP code 66546
ZIP codes where Wakarusa residents live, with the share of the town in each.
| ZIP | Post office name | Share of Wakarusa | ZIP’s residents in Wakarusa |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66546 | Wakarusa, KS | 100% | 22% |
Census 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, by census block; post office names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). ZIPs created since 2020 are missing.
Getting around, the ER and the library
One line each; the subject pages have the rest.
ER: CMS hospital data. Library: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024.
Questions about living in Wakarusa
Who supplies Wakarusa’s drinking water, and has it had violations?
Osage Co RWD 5 (EPA ID KS2013904). It reported no health-based violations to EPA in the five years to October 2026; 80% of systems its size had none. Its latest lead 90th percentile was 2.8 ppb (Jan 2021–Dec 2023), against a 15 ppb action level.
Who provides electricity in Wakarusa?
Evergy (Evergy Kansas Central, Inc.), an investor-owned utility. Its homes paid about 14.6¢ per kWh in 2025 (EIA).
What ZIP codes are in Wakarusa?
66546. Census 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas.
What school district is Wakarusa in?
Auburn-Washburn Unified School District 437. Parts of the city are in Shawnee Heights Unified School District 450.
How do I register to vote in Wakarusa?
In Kansas you can register online until 21 days before Election Day, in person until 21 days before Election Day, or by mail (postmarked 21 days before). Elections here are run by the Shawnee County Election Commissioner. Check your registration at myvoteinfo.voteks.org.
Sources & dates
Every answer above names its source. Here they are with their dates.
- Water: EPA SDWIS (Envirofacts, pulled Oct 9, 2026), ECHO SDWA 2026Q3, EPA CWS Service Area Boundaries v3.0.
- Power: HIFLD Electric Retail Service Territories (map Aug 2023); EIA-861 final 2025.
- Trash: OpenStreetMap, Geofabrik extract of Oct 9, 2026. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
- ZIP codes: Census 2020 ZCTA relationship files; GeoNames postal codes (CC BY 4.0).
- Schools: NCES Common Core of Data, 2024–25.
- Registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024 (read Oct 10, 2026). Official sites and area codes: Wikidata.
- Election office: FVAP local election office directory (fetched Oct 10, 2026; each record dated), EAC EAVS 2024 jurisdictions; registration and lookup links from vote.gov’s state data, checked Oct 10, 2026.
- Internet (FCC): pending.