Riley County vs Shawnee County

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

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

Shawnee County has the higher population (178,315 vs 71,710 in Riley County). Shawnee County has the higher median household income ($66,043 vs $59,560 in Riley County). Riley County has the higher median home value ($231,200 vs $170,400 in Shawnee County).

Population, income & housing

	Riley County	Shawnee County
Population	71,710	178,315
Median age	25.2 yrs	39.6 yrs
Median household income	$59,560	$66,043
Median home value	$231,200	$170,400
Median gross rent	$1,065	$970
Housing units	30,674	80,884
Homeownership rate	44.9%	67.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.0%	32.3%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Riley County	Shawnee County
Population	75,056 → 71,710 (-4.5%)	177,852 → 178,315 (+0.3%)
Median household income	$51,208 → $59,560 (+16.3%)	$56,762 → $66,043 (+16.4%)
Median home value	$201,000 → $231,200 (+15.0%)	$132,500 → $170,400 (+28.6%)
Median gross rent	$946 → $1,065 (+12.6%)	$825 → $970 (+17.6%)

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

Shawnee County

Population

177,852178,315

Median household income

$56,762$66,043

Median home value

$132,500$170,400

Median gross rent

$825$970

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Riley County	Shawnee County
Under 5	5.0%	5.8%
5 to 17	11.3%	17.5%
18 to 24	33.4%	8.6%
25 to 34	15.4%	12.0%
35 to 44	10.6%	12.5%
45 to 54	7.3%	11.4%
55 to 64	7.4%	13.3%
65 to 74	6.0%	11.3%
75 and over	3.8%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Riley County	Shawnee County
White (non-Hispanic)	74.1%	71.7%
Black or African American	6.1%	7.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.4%
Asian	3.9%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.9%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	9.9%	13.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Riley County	Shawnee County
No high school diploma	3.9%	6.5%
High school graduate	17.1%	30.3%
Some college or associate's	31.0%	30.9%
Bachelor's degree	26.3%	20.2%
Graduate or professional degree	21.7%	12.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Riley County	Shawnee County
Drove alone	64.3%	78.1%
Carpooled	9.5%	8.7%
Public transit	0.2%	0.6%
Walked	13.5%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.7%	10.1%
Other means	0.9%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Riley County	Shawnee County
1-unit, detached	47.8%	71.8%
1-unit, attached	9.6%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	11.7%	5.8%
5 to 19 units	18.0%	7.9%
20 or more units	7.5%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	5.4%	3.0%

Poverty & households

	Riley County	Shawnee County
Poverty rate	22.0%	12.4%
Average household size	2.25	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	16	18
Median year structure built	1984	1971