Shawnee County, Kansas

Shawnee County is a county in Kansas, United States, about 60 miles west of Kansas City, in
the northeastern part of the state. It had a population of 178,909 at the 2020 census, an
estimated 178,607 by 2025, and covers 556 square miles (1,440 km2), of which 544 square miles
are land, centred near 39°03′N 95°46′W.

Topeka is the county seat and the county’s largest city, and the capital of Kansas; its
postal code is 66603. The county holds 5 incorporated cities, 2 census-designated places and 7
unincorporated communities across 12 townships, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is
20177.

Towns & Villages in Shawnee County

Shawnee County has 14 named places on record: 5 incorporated cities, 2 census-designated
places (Tecumseh and Wakarusa) and 7 unincorporated communities with no local government of
their own. CDP stands for census designated place; Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural
communities with no formal boundary.

One historic place does not appear on this list: Richland, in the county’s southeast
corner near the Wakarusa River, once had a bank, a newspaper and a population near 300, but its
post office closed in 1969 and the last buildings came down by 1974. It counts today as a ghost
town, not a populated place, and Laura Ingalls Wilder is recorded as passing through in the
summer of 1894. Willard also straddles a county line — part of the city sits across the
border in Wabaunsee County, and its ZIP is administered there rather than in Shawnee County.

Townships

Shawnee County is divided into 12 townships. Township-level 2020 population counts are not
separately published by the Census Bureau for Kansas townships, so the table below lists each
township’s main settlement instead of a population figure.

ZIP Codes

• 66603 — Topeka (downtown; the city’s addresses span 66601 through 66699)
• 66539 — Silver Lake
• 66402 — Auburn
• 66533 — Rossville
• 66542 — Tecumseh
• 66546 — Wakarusa
• 66409 — Berryton

Dover, Elmont, Kiro, Montara, Pauline and Watson have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is
delivered under the nearest post town’s code. Willard’s residential ZIP is
administered from Wabaunsee County, not Shawnee County.

Geography

Shawnee County sits in the Kansas River valley on the boundary between the Flint Hills and
the Glaciated Region, in the third tier of counties west of the Missouri River. Of its 556
square miles, 544 are land and 12 are water, about 2.1 percent — most of that surface
water is the Kansas River, which crosses the county west to east through Topeka, plus Shunganunga
Creek and the Wakarusa River along the southern edge.

Jackson County lies to the north, Jefferson County to the northeast, Douglas County to the
east, Osage County to the south, Wabaunsee County to the west and Pottawatomie County to the
northwest. Jackson County, Jefferson County, Douglas County, Osage County, Wabaunsee County and Pottawatomie County all border
Shawnee directly; Osage County has no page on this site yet.

Demographics

Shawnee County had a population of 178,909 at the 2020 census, the third-highest count of any
Kansas county, and a 2024 estimate puts the county near 178,025 residents, a slight decline.
Topeka accounts for well over two-thirds of that total, with Silver Lake and Auburn a distant
second and third among the incorporated places. Median household income runs $67,104, below
Kansas’s statewide figure of $70,333 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly
329 people per square mile of land, high for a Kansas county outside the Kansas City suburbs,
reflecting Topeka’s weight in the total.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 14,158
people, followed by public administration at 8,369 and manufacturing at 8,021 — state
government being the single largest employer, with roughly 9,919 positions in Topeka. Stormont
Vail Health, a regional hospital system, employs about 4,400 people, and Hill’s Pet
Nutrition, which makes pet food at a Topeka plant, employs about 3,439. Topeka Unified School
District 501 employs about 2,500. Washburn University, a public university founded in Topeka in
1865, is the county’s main higher-education institution. The Kansas State Capitol,
completed in 1903 after 37 years of construction, anchors downtown Topeka alongside the Brown v.
Board of Education National Historical Park.

History

The Kansas territorial legislature created Shawnee County on 25 August 1855, one of the
original 33 counties, and named it for the Shawnee people. Tecumseh served as the first county
seat before Topeka took over the role in 1858. Topeka itself was founded in 1854 by a group of
Free-State settlers opposed to slavery, and its name comes from a Kansa-Osage word usually
translated as “place where we dig potatoes.”

Topeka became a national landmark of the civil rights movement when Oliver Brown and other
parents sued the Topeka school board over segregated schools; the resulting 1954 U.S. Supreme
Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, ended legally mandated racial segregation in public
schools. On 8 June 1966, an F5 tornado tore through Topeka, causing roughly $100 million in
damage and ranking among the costliest tornadoes in American history. In the county’s
southeast corner, the once-thriving town of Richland — with a bank, a newspaper and a
railroad stop — declined after its rail service ended in 1894 and is a ghost town today.

Getting There

Interstate 70 crosses the county east–west through Topeka, with I-470 looping the
city’s south side and the Kansas Turnpike (I-335) running along the southeast edge. US
Routes 24, 40 and 75 and State Highway K-4 also serve the county.

• Lawrence — about 25 miles east
• Manhattan — about 55 miles northwest
• Emporia — about 55 miles south
• Kansas City — about 60 miles east

Topeka Regional Airport, on the city’s northeast side, offers commercial flights;
Philip Billard Municipal Airport, closer to downtown, handles general aviation. Amtrak’s
Southwest Chief stops at Topeka station, running between Chicago and Los Angeles, with Lawrence
the next stop east and Newton the next stop west.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Shawnee County located?
It sits in northeastern Kansas along the Kansas River, about 60 miles west of Kansas City,
bordered by Jackson, Jefferson, Douglas, Osage, Wabaunsee and Pottawatomie counties.

What is the population of Shawnee County?
178,909 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 178,025 — the third-most populous
county in Kansas.

How big is Shawnee County?
556 square miles (1,440 km2) in total, of which 544 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Shawnee County?
Topeka, which is also the capital of Kansas, has served as the county seat since 1858; Tecumseh
held the role before that.

How many towns and cities are in Shawnee County?
Five incorporated cities — Topeka, Auburn, Rossville, Silver Lake and Willard — plus
two census-designated places, Tecumseh and Wakarusa, and seven unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Shawnee County use?
66603 for downtown Topeka (66601–66699 citywide), 66402 for Auburn, 66533 for Rossville,
66539 for Silver Lake, 66542 for Tecumseh, 66546 for Wakarusa and 66409 for Berryton.

What is Shawnee County known for?
Being home to the Kansas state capital and to Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 U.S. Supreme
Court case that ended legal school segregation.

More counties in this state: Towns
and villages in Kansas.