Cowley County vs Lyon County

A side-by-side comparison of Cowley County and Lyon County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cowley County has the higher population (34,487 vs 32,145 in Lyon County). Lyon County has the higher median household income ($59,078 vs $58,263 in Cowley County). Lyon County has the higher median home value ($142,200 vs $111,600 in Cowley County).

Population, income & housing

	Cowley County	Lyon County
Population	34,487	32,145
Median age	38.1 yrs	33.1 yrs
Median household income	$58,263	$59,078
Median home value	$111,600	$142,200
Median gross rent	$779	$796
Housing units	15,647	14,998
Homeownership rate	70.5%	58.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.3%	27.7%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cowley County	Lyon County
Population	35,351 → 34,487 (-2.4%)	33,251 → 32,145 (-3.3%)
Median household income	$50,102 → $58,263 (+16.3%)	$46,338 → $59,078 (+27.5%)
Median home value	$89,000 → $111,600 (+25.4%)	$106,800 → $142,200 (+33.1%)
Median gross rent	$694 → $779 (+12.2%)	$674 → $796 (+18.1%)

Cowley County

Population

35,35134,487

Median household income

$50,102$58,263

Median home value

$89,000$111,600

Median gross rent

$694$779

Lyon County

Population

33,25132,145

Median household income

$46,338$59,078

Median home value

$106,800$142,200

Median gross rent

$674$796

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cowley County	Lyon County
Under 5	5.4%	5.9%
5 to 17	18.2%	16.4%
18 to 24	10.4%	17.2%
25 to 34	10.9%	12.6%
35 to 44	12.4%	11.0%
45 to 54	11.2%	9.6%
55 to 64	12.7%	11.5%
65 to 74	10.5%	9.4%
75 and over	8.3%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cowley County	Lyon County
White (non-Hispanic)	77.2%	69.2%
Black or African American	2.2%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.2%	0.1%
Asian	1.9%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	5.3%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	11.9%	23.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cowley County	Lyon County
No high school diploma	8.4%	10.8%
High school graduate	31.0%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	36.4%	28.1%
Bachelor's degree	15.5%	15.5%
Graduate or professional degree	8.8%	12.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cowley County	Lyon County
Drove alone	79.1%	76.6%
Carpooled	12.2%	11.4%
Public transit	0.1%	0.2%
Walked	1.7%	4.4%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.3%
Worked from home	4.8%	6.4%
Other means	1.8%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cowley County	Lyon County
1-unit, detached	74.5%	62.3%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	8.6%
5 to 19 units	3.8%	13.0%
20 or more units	3.5%	6.1%
Mobile home & other	9.9%	8.1%

Poverty & households

	Cowley County	Lyon County
Poverty rate	13.9%	15.2%
Average household size	2.42	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	20	15
Median year structure built	1962	1970