32,520 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.3% since 2020)
847 square miles of land · 38 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.
12 active community water systems list Lyon County in the area they serve, reporting 30,663 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| EMPORIA, CITY OF surface water · local government · KS2011105 | 24,009 served |
| LYON CO RWD 1 buys surface water · local government · KS2011101 | 1,595 served |
| LYON CO RWD 5 buys surface water · local government · KS2011107 | 1,310 served |
| LYON CO RWD 4 buys surface water · local government · KS2011110 | 980 served |
| LYON CO RWD 2 buys surface water · local government · KS2011108 | 750 served |
| OLPE, CITY OF buys surface water · local government · KS2011112 | 513 served |
| LYON CO RWD 3 buys surface water · local government · KS2011113 | 479 served |
| HARTFORD, CITY OF buys surface water · local government · KS2011111 | 356 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 127 people were held in Lyon County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 594 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 138.
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 Lyon County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $152.8 million — $68.4 million to run schools, about $15,701 per student, plus $80.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $25 million local (mostly property tax), $48.1 million state, $6.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $78 million.
Spent $11.4 million — $9.5 million to run schools, about $16,646 per student, plus $1.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.7 million local (mostly property tax), $6.4 million state, $2.1 million federal. Long-term debt: $13 million.
Spent $7.6 million — $6.3 million to run schools, about $18,294 per student, plus $1.3 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.3 million local (mostly property tax), $4.1 million state, $701,000 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Lyon County about $17.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
494 bridges in Lyon County: 318 in good condition, 172 fair, and 4 poor (0.8%). “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.
| RD H 939.0-544.1 over MOON BRANCH CREEK · built 1928 | 80 vehicles a day |
| RS 413 E.7-16.0 over PESTER CREEK · built 1927 | 75 vehicles a day |
| RD P (N.0-25.7) over COTTONWOOD RIVER · built 1910 | 30 vehicles a day |
| RD. T (T.0-281) over STREAM · built 1971 | 30 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $12.1 million of work in Lyon County in fiscal 2025, about $378 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 Lyon 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 Lyon County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kansas: the state government and every county in Kansas.
Nearby counties: Chase County (26 mi) · Coffey County (28 mi) · Osage County (28 mi) · Morris County (31 mi) · Wabaunsee County (35 mi) · Greenwood County (40 mi).