Colby vs Gem

A side-by-side comparison of Colby and Gem: population, income, housing, and more.

Colby and Gem are places in Kansas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Colby has the higher population (5,389 vs 125 in Gem). Colby has the higher median home value ($150,700 vs $58,600 in Gem). Since 2019, Colby's population has grown faster (-1.5% vs -12.0%).

Population, income & housing

	Colby	Gem
Population	5,389	125
Median age	32.7 yrs	30.3 yrs
Median household income	$66,731	—
Median home value	$150,700	$58,600
Median gross rent	$736	—
Housing units	2,443	54
Homeownership rate	69.6%	90.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.9%	9.5%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	6.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Colby	Gem
Population	5,473 → 5,389 (-1.5%)	142 → 125 (-12.0%)
Median household income	$56,358 → $66,731 (+18.4%)	$65,000 → $81,250 (+25.0%)
Median home value	$125,500 → $150,700 (+20.1%)	$53,300 → $58,600 (+9.9%)
Median gross rent	$634 → $736 (+16.1%)	—

Colby

Population

5,4735,389

Median household income

$56,358$66,731

Median home value

$125,500$150,700

Median gross rent

$634$736

Gem

Population

142125

Median household income

$65,000$81,250

Median home value

$53,300$58,600

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Colby	Gem
Under 5	6.4%	6.4%
5 to 17	19.5%	12.0%
18 to 24	12.8%	22.4%
25 to 34	13.8%	17.6%
35 to 44	8.4%	4.8%
45 to 54	10.2%	16.8%
55 to 64	13.5%	4.0%
65 to 74	6.5%	15.2%
75 and over	8.9%	0.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Colby	Gem
White (non-Hispanic)	90.4%	98.4%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.1%	0.8%
Hispanic or Latino	8.5%	0.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Colby	Gem
No high school diploma	8.8%	0.0%
High school graduate	20.2%	20.3%
Some college or associate's	41.1%	70.3%
Bachelor's degree	20.9%	9.5%
Graduate or professional degree	9.0%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Colby	Gem
Drove alone	80.9%	97.1%
Carpooled	6.6%	2.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.4%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.8%	0.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Colby	Gem
1-unit, detached	75.4%	75.9%
1-unit, attached	1.9%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.7%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	8.1%	0.0%
20 or more units	1.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	5.7%	24.1%

Poverty & households

	Colby	Gem
Poverty rate	8.2%	0.8%
Average household size	2.37	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	10	15
Median year structure built	1968	1954