Butler County vs Riley County

A side-by-side comparison of Butler County and Riley County: population, income, housing, and more.

Butler County and Riley County are counties in Kansas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Riley County has the higher population (71,710 vs 67,916 in Butler County). Butler County has the higher median household income ($80,375 vs $59,560 in Riley County). Riley County has the higher median home value ($231,200 vs $199,600 in Butler County).

Population, income & housing

	Butler County	Riley County
Population	67,916	71,710
Median age	38.3 yrs	25.2 yrs
Median household income	$80,375	$59,560
Median home value	$199,600	$231,200
Median gross rent	$984	$1,065
Housing units	27,175	30,674
Homeownership rate	78.2%	44.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.6%	48.0%
Unemployment rate	3.1%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Butler County	Riley County
Population	66,698 → 67,916 (+1.8%)	75,056 → 71,710 (-4.5%)
Median household income	$64,782 → $80,375 (+24.1%)	$51,208 → $59,560 (+16.3%)
Median home value	$148,600 → $199,600 (+34.3%)	$201,000 → $231,200 (+15.0%)
Median gross rent	$855 → $984 (+15.1%)	$946 → $1,065 (+12.6%)

Butler County

Population

66,69867,916

Median household income

$64,782$80,375

Median home value

$148,600$199,600

Median gross rent

$855$984

Riley County

Population

75,05671,710

Median household income

$51,208$59,560

Median home value

$201,000$231,200

Median gross rent

$946$1,065

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Butler County	Riley County
Under 5	5.7%	5.0%
5 to 17	19.3%	11.3%
18 to 24	8.8%	33.4%
25 to 34	11.5%	15.4%
35 to 44	13.9%	10.6%
45 to 54	12.0%	7.3%
55 to 64	13.0%	7.4%
65 to 74	9.7%	6.0%
75 and over	6.2%	3.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Butler County	Riley County
White (non-Hispanic)	86.3%	74.1%
Black or African American	2.0%	6.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.3%
Asian	1.6%	3.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.3%
Some other race	0.2%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.5%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	5.6%	9.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Butler County	Riley County
No high school diploma	5.9%	3.9%
High school graduate	28.2%	17.1%
Some college or associate's	33.3%	31.0%
Bachelor's degree	20.6%	26.3%
Graduate or professional degree	12.0%	21.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Butler County	Riley County
Drove alone	81.7%	64.3%
Carpooled	7.2%	9.5%
Public transit	0.1%	0.2%
Walked	1.8%	13.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.9%
Worked from home	8.3%	10.7%
Other means	0.8%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Butler County	Riley County
1-unit, detached	79.7%	47.8%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	9.6%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	11.7%
5 to 19 units	2.1%	18.0%
20 or more units	1.8%	7.5%
Mobile home & other	8.1%	5.4%

Poverty & households

	Butler County	Riley County
Poverty rate	9.0%	22.0%
Average household size	2.59	2.25
Mean commute (minutes)	24	16
Median year structure built	1984	1984