29,007 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.2% since 2020)
900 square miles of land · 32 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
13 active community water systems list Ellis County in the area they serve, reporting 26,078 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| HAYS, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2005111 | 21,040 served |
| ELLIS, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2005114 | 2,001 served |
| VICTORIA, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2005119 | 1,149 served |
| ELLIS CO RWD 6 groundwater · local government · KS2005122 | 383 served |
| ELLIS CO RWD 1C buys groundwater · local government · KS2005124 | 340 served |
| COUNTRYSIDE ESTATES MHP HAYS KS, LLC buys groundwater · private · KS2005107 | 300 served |
| ELLIS CO RWD 3 groundwater · local government · KS2005113 | 200 served |
| SCHOENCHEN, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2005118 | 173 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 55 people were held in Ellis County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 281 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 56.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
3 school districts have their office in Ellis County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $64.9 million — $52.7 million to run schools, about $15,400 per student, plus $8.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $25.9 million local (mostly property tax), $29.2 million state, $11 million federal. Long-term debt: $2 million.
Spent $6.4 million — $5.7 million to run schools, about $16,507 per student, plus $730,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.9 million local (mostly property tax), $4.2 million state, $689,000 federal.
Spent $4.4 million — $4.1 million to run schools, about $14,335 per student, plus $302,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.2 million local (mostly property tax), $3.1 million state, $411,000 federal.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Ellis County about $16 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
275 bridges in Ellis County: 140 in good condition, 121 fair, and 14 poor (5.1%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| W. 12th Street over BIG CREEK · built 1940 | 590 vehicles a day |
| Antonino Road over SMOKY HILL TRIBUTARY · built 1940 | 385 vehicles a day |
| Catharine Road over N. FORK BIG CREEK · built 1938 | 375 vehicles a day |
| 125th Avenue over SALINE RIVER · built 1949 | 225 vehicles a day |
| Pfeifer Avenue over SMOKY HILL RIVER · built 1938 | 110 vehicles a day |
| Saline River Road over SALINE RIVER TRIBUTARY · built 1953 | 85 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $25.9 million of work in Ellis County in fiscal 2025, about $895 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Kansas are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Ellis County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Ellis County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kansas: the state government and every county in Kansas.
Nearby counties: Rush County (27 mi) · Russell County (29 mi) · Trego County (29 mi) · Rooks County (30 mi) · Barton County (42 mi) · Osborne County (42 mi).