9,284 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.1% since 2020)
726 square miles of land · 13 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.
8 active community water systems list Rice County in the area they serve, reporting 8,153 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| LYONS, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2015903 | 3,556 served |
| STERLING, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2015902 | 2,318 served |
| RICE CO RWD 1 buys groundwater · local government · KS2015908 | 900 served |
| LITTLE RIVER, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2015904 | 474 served |
| CHASE, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2015906 | 390 served |
| GENESEO, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2015907 | 231 served |
| BUSHTON, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2015905 | 199 served |
| RAYMOND, CITY OF groundwater · local government · KS2015901 | 85 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 38 people were held in Rice County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2019), or 650 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2014 it was about 30.
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.
4 school districts have their office in Rice County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $17.4 million — $16.4 million to run schools, about $22,216 per student, plus $723,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $6.3 million local (mostly property tax), $10.7 million state, $2.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $12.7 million.
Spent $8.3 million — $6.8 million to run schools, about $14,406 per student, plus $1.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $2.6 million local (mostly property tax), $6 million state, $1.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $19.6 million.
Spent $5.5 million — $4.8 million to run schools, about $16,670 per student, plus $177,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.1 million local (mostly property tax), $3.1 million state, $319,000 federal. Long-term debt: $18.8 million.
Spent $3.2 million — $2.7 million to run schools, about $18,903 per student, plus $415,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1 million local (mostly property tax), $2.1 million state, $277,000 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 Rice County about $10.4 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.
261 bridges in Rice County: 126 in good condition, 127 fair, and 8 poor (3.1%). “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.
| US56 HWY over SPRING CREEK DRAINAGE · built 1931 | 3,406 vehicles a day |
| 22ND RD. | RS 560 over COW CREEK · built 1955 | 1,200 vehicles a day |
| 4TH RD. | RS 506 over SALT CREEK · built 1959 | 65 vehicles a day |
| 7TH RD. over PLUM CREEK · built 1967 | 40 vehicles a day |
| AVE. E over PLUM CREEK · built 1965 | 40 vehicles a day |
| 10TH RD. over COW CREEK OVERFLOW · built 1940 | 35 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $1 million of work in Rice County in fiscal 2025, about $111 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 Rice 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 Rice County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Kansas: the state government and every county in Kansas.
Nearby counties: Ellsworth County (24 mi) · Reno County (28 mi) · McPherson County (30 mi) · Barton County (32 mi) · Stafford County (35 mi) · Saline County (43 mi).