Kit Carson County is a county in Colorado, United States, on the High Plains along the Kansas border. It had a population of 7,087 at the 2020 census and covers 2,162 square miles (5,600 km2) centred near 39\u00b019\u2032N 102\u00b036\u2032W.<\/p>\n
Burlington is the county seat, and its postal code is 80807. The county has one incorporated city and five incorporated towns, no unincorporated census-designated places of note, and runs on Mountain time. It was organized in 1889.<\/p>\n
Six communities carry their own ZIP code in Kit Carson County: one city and five towns, all strung along Interstate 70 or U.S. Highway 24. There are no CDPs or unincorporated place names in general use beyond these six.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burlington<\/td>\n | City · seat<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 80807<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Flagler<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 80815<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Stratton<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 80836<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Seibert<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 80834<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bethune<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 80805<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Vona<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 80861<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n West Burlington and Peconic, both named in the county’s older place listings, are not incorporated municipalities and have no separate ZIP code; they are informal locales inside or adjoining Burlington’s own delivery area and are omitted from the table above for that reason.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nEvery incorporated community in the county has its own ZIP code and post office; there are no unclaimed rural routes of note.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nKit Carson County sits on the shortgrass High Plains, a flat to gently rolling landscape of dryland wheat and cattle country crossed by draws that drain toward the Republican and Arikaree river systems. Elevation runs roughly 3,700 to 4,700 feet, rising gradually from east to west.<\/p>\n The county borders Yuma County to the north, Washington County to the northwest, Lincoln County to the west, Cheyenne County, Colorado, to the south, and three Kansas counties to the east — Cheyenne County, Kansas, to the northeast, Sherman County, Kansas, directly east, and Wallace County, Kansas, to the southeast. None of these neighboring county pages are live on this site yet, so they are named here without a link.<\/p>\n Demographics<\/h2>\nThe county’s population was 7,087 at the 2020 census, a density of about 3.3 people per square mile. Burlington is by far the largest community, home to well over half the county’s residents, followed distantly by Stratton and Flagler. Median household income in Kit Carson County runs below the Colorado median of $92,911, typical of the state’s rural eastern plains counties, which depend heavily on agricultural earnings that swing with commodity prices.<\/p>\n Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\nDryland and irrigated wheat, corn, and cattle ranching anchor the county’s economy, supplemented by wind-energy development on the plains north and east of Burlington. Interstate 70 traffic supports a corridor of truck stops, motels, and restaurants through Burlington, Flagler, and Stratton. Burlington’s Kit Carson County Carousel, a Philadelphia Toboggan Company machine dating to 1905 and a National Historic Landmark, draws visitors off the interstate each summer, and the county fair in late July is the area’s biggest community event.<\/p>\n History<\/h2>\nKit Carson County was organized on April 11, 1889, and named for frontiersman and Army officer Kit Carson, who never lived in the county but whose name was already attached to a nearby town and rail stop. The Smoky Hill Trail, an 1859-era wagon route to the Colorado goldfields, crossed the region a generation before the county’s founding and is still marked at points along the route. Settlement followed the arrival of the Rock Island Railroad in the early 1900s, which laid out Flagler, Seibert, Stratton, and Vona as depot towns.<\/p>\n Getting There<\/h2>\nInterstate 70 runs the length of the county east to west, paralleled by U.S. Highway 24 and crossed by Colorado State Highway 59 at Stratton.<\/p>\n
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