{"id":3819,"date":"2023-06-05T21:29:46","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T21:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=3819"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:35:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:35:25","slug":"shawnee-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/shawnee-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Shawnee County, Kansas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Shawnee County is a county in Kansas, United States, about 60 miles west of Kansas City, in<br \/>\nthe northeastern part of the state. It had a population of 178,909 at the 2020 census, an<br \/>\nestimated 178,607 by 2025, and covers 556 square miles (1,440 km2), of which 544 square miles<br \/>\nare land, centred near 39\u00b003\u2032N 95\u00b046\u2032W.<\/p>\n<p>Topeka is the county seat and the county&rsquo;s largest city, and the capital of Kansas; its<br \/>\npostal code is 66603. The county holds 5 incorporated cities, 2 census-designated places and 7<br \/>\nunincorporated communities across 12 townships, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is<br \/>\n20177.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Shawnee County<\/h2>\n<p>Shawnee County has 14 named places on record: 5 incorporated cities, 2 census-designated<br \/>\nplaces (Tecumseh and Wakarusa) and 7 unincorporated communities with no local government of<br \/>\ntheir own. CDP stands for census designated place; Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural<br \/>\ncommunities with no formal boundary.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Township<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Topeka<\/td>\n<td>City &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>Topeka<\/td>\n<td>126,587<\/td>\n<td>66603<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Silver Lake<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>Silver Lake<\/td>\n<td>1,345<\/td>\n<td>66539<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Auburn<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>Auburn<\/td>\n<td>1,273<\/td>\n<td>66402<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Rossville<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>Rossville<\/td>\n<td>1,105<\/td>\n<td>66533<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tecumseh<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>Tecumseh<\/td>\n<td>696<\/td>\n<td>66542<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Wakarusa<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>242<\/td>\n<td>66546<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Willard<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>74<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Berryton<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>Monmouth<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>66409<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Dover<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>Dover<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Elmont<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Kiro<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Montara<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pauline<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Watson<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>One historic place does not appear on this list: Richland, in the county&rsquo;s southeast<br \/>\ncorner near the Wakarusa River, once had a bank, a newspaper and a population near 300, but its<br \/>\npost office closed in 1969 and the last buildings came down by 1974. It counts today as a ghost<br \/>\ntown, not a populated place, and Laura Ingalls Wilder is recorded as passing through in the<br \/>\nsummer of 1894. Willard also straddles a county line &mdash; part of the city sits across the<br \/>\nborder in Wabaunsee County, and its ZIP is administered there rather than in Shawnee County.<\/p>\n<h2>Townships<\/h2>\n<p>Shawnee County is divided into 12 townships. Township-level 2020 population counts are not<br \/>\nseparately published by the Census Bureau for Kansas townships, so the table below lists each<br \/>\ntownship&rsquo;s main settlement instead of a population figure.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Township<\/th>\n<th>Main settlements<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Topeka<\/td>\n<td>Topeka<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Auburn<\/td>\n<td>Auburn<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Silver Lake<\/td>\n<td>Silver Lake, Wakarusa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Rossville<\/td>\n<td>Rossville<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tecumseh<\/td>\n<td>Tecumseh<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Monmouth<\/td>\n<td>Berryton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Dover<\/td>\n<td>Dover<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Menoken<\/td>\n<td>rural, no incorporated place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mission<\/td>\n<td>rural, no incorporated place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Grove<\/td>\n<td>rural, no incorporated place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Soldier<\/td>\n<td>rural, no incorporated place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Williamsport<\/td>\n<td>rural, no incorporated place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>66603 &mdash; Topeka (downtown; the city&rsquo;s addresses span 66601 through 66699)<\/li>\n<li>66539 &mdash; Silver Lake<\/li>\n<li>66402 &mdash; Auburn<\/li>\n<li>66533 &mdash; Rossville<\/li>\n<li>66542 &mdash; Tecumseh<\/li>\n<li>66546 &mdash; Wakarusa<\/li>\n<li>66409 &mdash; Berryton<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dover, Elmont, Kiro, Montara, Pauline and Watson have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is<br \/>\ndelivered under the nearest post town&rsquo;s code. Willard&rsquo;s residential ZIP is<br \/>\nadministered from Wabaunsee County, not Shawnee County.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Shawnee County sits in the Kansas River valley on the boundary between the Flint Hills and<br \/>\nthe Glaciated Region, in the third tier of counties west of the Missouri River. Of its 556<br \/>\nsquare miles, 544 are land and 12 are water, about 2.1 percent &mdash; most of that surface<br \/>\nwater is the Kansas River, which crosses the county west to east through Topeka, plus Shunganunga<br \/>\nCreek and the Wakarusa River along the southern edge.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson County lies to the north, Jefferson County to the northeast, Douglas County to the<br \/>\neast, Osage County to the south, Wabaunsee County to the west and Pottawatomie County to the<br \/>\nnorthwest. <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/jackson-county-kansas\/\">Jackson County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/jefferson-county-kansas\/\">Jefferson County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/douglas-county-kansas\/\">Douglas County<\/a>, Osage County, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wabaunsee-county\/\">Wabaunsee County<\/a> and <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/pottawatomie-county\/\">Pottawatomie County<\/a> all border<br \/>\nShawnee directly; Osage County has no page on this site yet.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>Shawnee County had a population of 178,909 at the 2020 census, the third-highest count of any<br \/>\nKansas county, and a 2024 estimate puts the county near 178,025 residents, a slight decline.<br \/>\nTopeka accounts for well over two-thirds of that total, with Silver Lake and Auburn a distant<br \/>\nsecond and third among the incorporated places. Median household income runs $67,104, below<br \/>\nKansas&rsquo;s statewide figure of $70,333 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly<br \/>\n329 people per square mile of land, high for a Kansas county outside the Kansas City suburbs,<br \/>\nreflecting Topeka&rsquo;s weight in the total.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 14,158<br \/>\npeople, followed by public administration at 8,369 and manufacturing at 8,021 &mdash; state<br \/>\ngovernment being the single largest employer, with roughly 9,919 positions in Topeka. Stormont<br \/>\nVail Health, a regional hospital system, employs about 4,400 people, and Hill&rsquo;s Pet<br \/>\nNutrition, which makes pet food at a Topeka plant, employs about 3,439. Topeka Unified School<br \/>\nDistrict 501 employs about 2,500. Washburn University, a public university founded in Topeka in<br \/>\n1865, is the county&rsquo;s main higher-education institution. The Kansas State Capitol,<br \/>\ncompleted in 1903 after 37 years of construction, anchors downtown Topeka alongside the Brown v.<br \/>\nBoard of Education National Historical Park.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>The Kansas territorial legislature created Shawnee County on 25 August 1855, one of the<br \/>\noriginal 33 counties, and named it for the Shawnee people. Tecumseh served as the first county<br \/>\nseat before Topeka took over the role in 1858. Topeka itself was founded in 1854 by a group of<br \/>\nFree-State settlers opposed to slavery, and its name comes from a Kansa-Osage word usually<br \/>\ntranslated as &ldquo;place where we dig potatoes.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Topeka became a national landmark of the civil rights movement when Oliver Brown and other<br \/>\nparents sued the Topeka school board over segregated schools; the resulting 1954 U.S. Supreme<br \/>\nCourt decision, Brown v. Board of Education, ended legally mandated racial segregation in public<br \/>\nschools. On 8 June 1966, an F5 tornado tore through Topeka, causing roughly $100 million in<br \/>\ndamage and ranking among the costliest tornadoes in American history. In the county&rsquo;s<br \/>\nsoutheast corner, the once-thriving town of Richland &mdash; with a bank, a newspaper and a<br \/>\nrailroad stop &mdash; declined after its rail service ended in 1894 and is a ghost town today.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>Interstate 70 crosses the county east&ndash;west through Topeka, with I-470 looping the<br \/>\ncity&rsquo;s south side and the Kansas Turnpike (I-335) running along the southeast edge. US<br \/>\nRoutes 24, 40 and 75 and State Highway K-4 also serve the county.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lawrence &mdash; about 25 miles east<\/li>\n<li>Manhattan &mdash; about 55 miles northwest<\/li>\n<li>Emporia &mdash; about 55 miles south<\/li>\n<li>Kansas City &mdash; about 60 miles east<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Topeka Regional Airport, on the city&rsquo;s northeast side, offers commercial flights;<br \/>\nPhilip Billard Municipal Airport, closer to downtown, handles general aviation. Amtrak&rsquo;s<br \/>\nSouthwest Chief stops at Topeka station, running between Chicago and Los Angeles, with Lawrence<br \/>\nthe next stop east and Newton the next stop west.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Shawnee County located?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt sits in northeastern Kansas along the Kansas River, about 60 miles west of Kansas City,<br \/>\nbordered by Jackson, Jefferson, Douglas, Osage, Wabaunsee and Pottawatomie counties.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Shawnee County?<\/strong><br \/>\n178,909 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 178,025 &mdash; the third-most populous<br \/>\ncounty in Kansas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Shawnee County?<\/strong><br \/>\n556 square miles (1,440 km2) in total, of which 544 square miles are land.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Shawnee County?<\/strong><br \/>\nTopeka, which is also the capital of Kansas, has served as the county seat since 1858; Tecumseh<br \/>\nheld the role before that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns and cities are in Shawnee County?<\/strong><br \/>\nFive incorporated cities &mdash; Topeka, Auburn, Rossville, Silver Lake and Willard &mdash; plus<br \/>\ntwo census-designated places, Tecumseh and Wakarusa, and seven unincorporated communities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes does Shawnee County use?<\/strong><br \/>\n66603 for downtown Topeka (66601&ndash;66699 citywide), 66402 for Auburn, 66533 for Rossville,<br \/>\n66539 for Silver Lake, 66542 for Tecumseh, 66546 for Wakarusa and 66409 for Berryton.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is Shawnee County known for?<\/strong><br \/>\nBeing home to the Kansas state capital and to Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 U.S. Supreme<br \/>\nCourt case that ended legal school segregation.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/kansas\/\">Towns<br \/>\nand villages in Kansas<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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\u00b003\u2032N [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Shawnee County, Kansas","_seopress_titles_desc":"14 towns and communities in Shawnee County, Kansas - type, township, population and ZIP for each, plus Topeka history and Brown v. 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