The largest county in Kansas

There are two right answers. By land area it is Butler County; by population it is Johnson County. Which one you want depends on what you meant by largest.

Largest by land area

Butler County

1,430 sq mi

1.7% of Kansas's land

Largest by population

Johnson County

636,906 people

21.4% of Kansas's population

Sources: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026; US Census Bureau, Gazetteer Files, 2025 Gazetteer Files, released 10 September 2025. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

By land area

The ten largest counties of Kansas by land area. Land area excludes inland and coastal water.
RankNameLand areaPopulation
1Butler County1,430 sq mi69,484
2Finney County1,302 sq mi37,505
3Reno County1,255 sq mi61,539
4Sumner County1,182 sq mi22,312
5Greenwood County1,143 sq mi5,826
6Barber County1,134 sq mi4,083
7Cowley County1,126 sq mi34,382
8Ford County1,098 sq mi33,993
9Ness County1,075 sq mi2,617
10Thomas County1,075 sq mi7,725

By population

The ten most populous counties of Kansas, from the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimates.
RankNamePopulationDensity
1Johnson County636,9061,345 per sq mi
2Sedgwick County538,433540 per sq mi
3Shawnee County178,607328 per sq mi
4Wyandotte County170,5971,125 per sq mi
5Douglas County120,920265 per sq mi
6Leavenworth County84,590183 per sq mi
7Riley County72,598119 per sq mi
8Butler County69,48448.6 per sq mi
9Reno County61,53949.0 per sq mi
10Saline County53,37774.1 per sq mi

And the smallest

Smallest by land area

Wyandotte County

151.6 sq mi

Least populous

Greeley County

1,182 people

More on Kansas

Rebuilt from source data 30 August 2026. How these figures are produced.