Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Kansas shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Kansas offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Kansas at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Kansas? Wrong! If the Kansas is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Kansas then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Kansas? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Kansas and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Kansas wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Kansas then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Kansas site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Kansas, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Kansas, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{US state | Name = Kansas | Fullname = State of Kansas | Flag = Flag of Kansas.svg | Flaglink = [Flag of Kansas | Seal = Kansas state seal.png | Map = Map of USA KS.svg | OfficialLang = English{{Cite news| url=http://www.kansas.com/news/legislature/story/68114.html| title=Bill makes English official language| publisher=Associated Press| date=[2007-05-12| accessdate=2007-05-26|--> House Bill No. 2140 was signed into law on May 11, the law begins July 1. | OfficialLang = English language[http://www.us-english.org/inc/official/states.asp U.S. ENGLISH,Inc| Nickname = The Sunflower State | Motto = [Ad astra per aspera | Capital = [Topeka, Kansas | LargestCity = [Wichita, Kansas | Governor = [Kathleen Sebelius (D)| Senators = [Sam Brownback (R)[Pat Roberts (R) | Representatives = [Nancy Boyda (D)[Dennis Moore (D)[Jerry Moran (R)[Todd Tiahrt (R) PostalAbbreviation = KS | AreaRank = 15th | TotalAreaUS = 82,277 | TotalArea = 213,096 | LandAreaUS = 81,815| LandArea = 211,901 | WaterAreaUS = 462| WaterArea = 1,196 | PCWater = 0.56 | PopRank = 33rd | 2000Pop = 2,688,418 | DensityRank = 40th | 2000DensityUS = 32.9| 2000Density = 12.7 | AdmittanceOrder = 34th | AdmittanceDate = January 29, [ | TimeZone = [Central Standard Time Zone: [Coordinated Universal Time-6/[Daylight saving time | TZ1Where = most of state | TimeZone2 = [Mountain Standard Time Zone: UTC-7/[Daylight saving time | TZ2Where = 4 western counties | Latitude = 37° N to 40° N | Longitude = 94° 35′ W to 102° 3′ W | WidthUS = 211| Width = 340 | LengthUS = 417 | Length = 645 | HighestPoint = Mount Sunflower{{cite web [ | url =http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html#Highest| title =Elevations and Distances in the United States| publisher =U.S Geological Survey| accessmonthday = November 6 | accessyear = 2006--> | HighestElevUS = 4,039 | HighestElev = 1,232 | MeanElevUS = 2,000 | MeanElev = 600 | LowestPoint = [Verdigris River | LowestElevUS = 679 | LowestElev = 207 | ISOCode = US-KS | Website = www.kansas.gov -->Kansas () is a Midwestern U.S. statehttp://www.census.gov/geo/www/us_regdiv.pdf in the Central United States of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the United States "Heartland". It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kaw (tribe) tribe, who inhabited the area.John Koontz, p.c. The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind", although this was probably not the term's original meaning.Rankin, Robert. 2005. "Quapaw". In Native Languages of the Southeastern United States, eds. Heather K. Hardy and Janine Scancarelli. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, pg. 492Connelley, William E. 1918. Indians. A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, ch. 10, vol. 1 Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans."

Historically, the area was home to large numbers of nomadic Native Americans in the United States that hunted bison. It was first settled by European Americans in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially Kansas-Nebraska Act by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionists from New England and pro-Slavery in the United States settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a Free state (USA) or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union (American Civil War) as a free state (USA). After the American Civil War, the population of Kansas exploded when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into productive farmland. Only sporadic patches of prairie grass remain for other grasses that are suitable for raising cattle have replaced the native grasses. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing many crops, and leading the nation in wheat and sunflower production most years. Far from flat, Kansas has varied topography with an expanding forest of hardwoods in the northeast, rugged hills and lakes, not to mention awe inspiring sunsets.

Geography Kansas is bordered by Nebraska on the north; Missouri on the east; Oklahoma on the south; and Colorado on the west. The state is divided up into List of counties in Kansas with List of cities in Kansas. It is located equidistant from the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. The Geographic Center of the Contiguous United States is located in Smith County, Kansas near Lebanon, Kansas. The Meades Ranch, Kansas of North America was located in Osborne County, Kansas until 1983. This spot was until then used as the central reference point for all maps of North America produced by the U.S. government. The geographic center of Kansas is located in Barton County, Kansas. Kansas is also one of the six states located on the Frontier Strip and one of several within Tornado Alley.

Topography The western two thirds of the state, lying in the Great Plains of the United States, has a generally flat or undulating surface, and on a large scale appears almost perfectly flat.http://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i3/kansas.html However, the eastern third is more hilly and forested. The land displays a gradual slope up from east to west; its altitude above the sea ranges from 684 foot (unit of length) (208 m) along the Verdigris River at Coffeyville, Kansas in Montgomery County, Kansas, to 4039 feet (1,231 m) at Mount Sunflower, one half mile from the Colorado border, in Wallace County, Kansas., KansasThe Missouri River forms nearly 75 miles (120 km) of the state's northeastern boundary. The Kansas River (locally known as the Kaw), formed by the junction of the Smoky Hill River and Republican River rivers at appropriately-named Junction City, Kansas, joins the Missouri at Kansas City, Kansas, after a course of 170 miles (274 km) across the northeastern part of the state. The Arkansas River, rising in Colorado, flows with a bending course for nearly 500 miles (800 km) across the western and southern parts of the state. It forms, with its tributaries (the Little Arkansas River (pronounced Ar-Kansas), Ninnescah River, Walnut River (west Kansas), Cow Creek (Kansas), Cimarron River, Verdigris, and the Neosho River), the southern drainage system of the state. Other important rivers are the Saline River (Kansas) and Solomon River, tributaries of the Smoky Hill River; the Big Blue River (Kansas), Delaware River (Kansas), and Wakarusa River, which flow into the Kansas River; and the Marais des Cygnes River, a tributary of the Missouri River.

National parks and historic sites Areas under the protection of the National Park Service include:

Climate Kansas contains three climate types, according to the Köppen climate classification: humid continental, semiarid steppe, and humid subtropical. The eastern two-thirds of the state has a humid continental climate, with cold winters and hot summers. Most of the precipitation falls in the summer and spring. The western third of the state has a semi-arid steppe climate. Summers are hot, often very hot. Winters are cold in the northwest and cool to mild in the southwest. Also, the western region is semiarid, receiving an average of only about 16 inches (40 cm) of precipitation per year. Chinook winds in the winter can warm western Kansas all the way into the 80 degree Fahrenheit (25 °C) range. The far south-central and southeastern reaches of the state have a humid subtropical climate, with long, hot summers, short, mild winters, and much more precipitation than the rest of the state.

Precipitation ranges from about 46 inches (1200 mm) annually in the southeast of the state, to about 16 inches (400 mm) in the southwest. Snowfall ranges from around 5 inches (130 mm) in the fringes of the south, to 35 inches (900 mm) in the far northwest. Frost-free days range from more than 200 days in the south, to 130 days in the northwest. Thus, Kansas is the 9th or 10th sunniest state in the country, depending on the source. Western Kansas is as sunny as parts of California and Arizona.

In spite of the frequent sunshine throughout much of the state, the state is also vulnerable to strong thunderstorms, especially in the spring. Many of these storms become Supercell thunderstorms. These can spawn tornadoes, often of Fujita scale strength or higher. According to statistics from the National Climatic Data Center, Kansas has reported more tornadoes (for the period 1st January 1950 through to 31st October 2006) than any state except for Texas - marginally even more than Oklahoma. It has also - along with Alabama - reported more Fujita scale than any other state. These are the most powerful of all tornadoes. Kansas averages over 50 tornadoes annually. NOAA National Climatic Data Center. Retrieved on October 25, 2006.

{| class="wikitable" "text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|| colspan="13" style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;background:#E8EAFA;"|Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various Kansas Cities|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color: #000000" height="17" | City! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jan! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Feb! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Mar! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Apr! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | May! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jun! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jul! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Aug! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Sep! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Oct! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Nov! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Dec|-! style="background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Concordia| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 36/17| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 43/22| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 54/31| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 64/41| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 74/52| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 85/62| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 91/67| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 88/66| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 80/56| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 68/44| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 51/30| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 40/21|-! style="background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Dodge City| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 41/19| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 48/24| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 57/31| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 67/41| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 76/52| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 87/62| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 93/67| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 91/66| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 82/56| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 70/44| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 54/30| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 44/22|-! style="background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Goodland| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 39/16| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 45/20| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 53/26| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 63/35| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 72/46| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 84/56| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 89/61| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 87/60| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 78/50| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 66/38| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 50/25| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 41/18|-! style="background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Topeka| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 37/17| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 44/23| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 56/33| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 66/43| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 75/53| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 84/63| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 89/68| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 88/65| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 80/56| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 69/44| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 53/32| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 41/22|-! style="background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Wichita| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 40/20| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 47/25| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 57/34| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 67/44| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 76/54| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 87/64| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 93/69| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 92/68| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 82/59| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 70/47| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 54/34| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 43/24|-| colspan="13" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;background:#E8EAFA;"||}

History For millennia, the land that is presently Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans in the United States. The first European to set foot in present-day Kansas was Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, who explored the area in 1541. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas until the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848. From 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory. The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured goods from Missouri and silver and furs from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Wagon ruts from the trail are still visible in the prairie today.

In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first permanent settlement of white Americans in the future state. The Kansas-Nebraska Act became law on May 30, 1854, establishing the Political divisions of the United States of Nebraska and Kansas. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included the sites of present-day Denver, Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Pueblo, Colorado. on Lawrence, KansasMissouri and Arkansas sent settlers into Southeastern Kansas, namely Crawford County, Bourbon County, and Cherokee County. These settlers attempted to sway votes in favor of slavery. The secondary settlement of Americans in Kansas Territory were abolitionists from Massachusetts and other Free-Staters, who attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Directly presaging the American Civil War, these forces collided, entering into skirmishes that earned the territory the name of Bleeding Kansas. Kansas was admitted to the United States as a free state on January 29, 1861, making it the 34th state to enter the Union. By that time the violence in Kansas had largely subsided. However, during the Civil War, on August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led several hundred men on a raid into Lawrence, Kansas, destroying much of the city and killing nearly two hundred people. Until the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Quantrill's raid was the single bloodiest act of domestic terrorism in America.

After the Civil War, many veterans constructed homesteads in Kansas. Many African Americans also looked to Kansas as the land of "John Brown (abolitionist)" and led by men like Benjamin "Pap" Singleton began establishing black colonies in the state. At the same time, the Chisholm Trail was opened and the American Old West era commenced in Kansas. Wild Bill Hickok was a deputy marshal at Fort Riley and a marshal at Hays, Kansas and Abilene, Kansas. Dodge City, Kansas was another wild cowboy town in the late 19th century. In one year alone, 8 million head of cattle from Texas boarded trains in Dodge City bound for the East, earning Dodge the nickname "Queen of the Cowtowns." Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp were both lawmen in Dodge City. In part as a response to the violence perpetrated by cowboys, on February 19, 1881, Kansas became the first U.S. state to adopt a Constitutional amendment prohibiting all alcoholic beverages.

Demographics {{USCensusPop|1860 = 107206|1870 = 364399|1880 = 996096|1890 = 1428108|1900 = 1470495|1910 = 1690949|1920 = 1769257|1930 = 1880999|1940 = 1801028|1950 = 1905299|1960 = 2178611|1970 = 2246578|1980 = 2363679|1990 = 2477574|2000 = 2688418-->

As of 2006, Kansas has an estimated population of 2,764,075, which is an increase of 15,903, or 0.6%, from the prior year and an increase of 71,128, or 2.6%, since the year 2000. State Population Estimates. Annual Estimates of the Population for the United States, Regions, and States and for Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006 (NST-EST2006-01). U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. Released 2006-12-22. Six year change is from 2000-07-01 to 2006-07-01. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 93,899 people (that is 246,484 births minus 152,585 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 20,742 people out of the state. Immigration to the United States from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 44,847 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 65,589 people. State Population Estimates. Cumulative Estimates of the Components of Population Change for the United States, Regions and States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006 (NST-EST2006-04). U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. Released 2006-12-22. The center of population of Kansas is located in Chase County, Kansas, at , approximately three miles north of the community of Strong City, Kansas.http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/statecenters.txt{|align=center||}

As of 2004, the population included 149,800 foreign-born (5.5% of the state population), and an estimated 47,000 illegal aliens (1.7% of state population). The largest reported ancestries in the state are: German American (25.9%), Irish American (11.5%), British American (10.8%), American ancestry (8.8%), French American (3.1%), and Swedish American (2.4%). Kansas - Race and Hispanic Origin: 1860 to 1990 People of Germans ancestry are especially strong in the northwest, while those of English people ancestry and descendants of white Americans from other states are especially strong in the southeast. Mexican American are present in the southwest and make up nearly half the population in certain counties. Many African Americans in Kansas are descended from the "Exodusters", newly freed blacks who fled the South for land in Kansas following the Civil War.

See Also British American and German-American

Rural flight {|align=right style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 1em; clear:right; text-align:right;"||}Kansas, as well as five other Midwest states (Nebraska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa), is feeling the brunt of a falling population. Known as a rural exodus, the last few decades have been marked by a migratory pattern out of the countryside into cities. The trends have people moving from rural areas into urban areas. Beginning in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, people moved for a variety of reasons. This problem persists to the present day in the western parts of Great Plains states such as Nebraska and Kansas.

Out of all the cities in these Midwestern states, 89% have fewer than 3000 people, and hundreds of those have fewer than 1000. In Kansas alone, there are more than 6,000 ghost towns, according to Kansas historian Daniel Fitzgerald. And between 1996 and 2004, almost half a million people left the six states surveyed. This "Rural flight," as it is called, has led to offers of free land and tax breaks as enticements to newcomers.http://www.kansasfreeland.com Rural flight has contributed to the urban sprawl of the major cities in Kansas, with people taking up residences in the suburbs at the fringe of urban areas.

Economy {|align=right|]| 21,000| Wichita, Kansas|-|#2| Cessna|-|#3| [Fort Riley|-|#4| [Raytheon|-|#5| Scanlon's [Limited liability company| 6,000| Leavenworth, Kansas|-|#6| University of Kansas Medical Center|-|#7| Via Christi St. Joseph Hospital| 5,000| [Wichita, Kansas|-|#8| Olathe Medical Center| 4,000| Olathe, Kansas|-|#9| Via Christi St. Francis Hospital| 3,300| Wichita, Kansas|-|#10| Kansas State University|-|}|}The 2003 [gross domestic product of Kansas was US$98 billion, an increase of 4.3% over the prior year, but trailing the national average increase of 4.8%. Its per-capita income was US$29,438. The December 2003 unemployment rate was 4.9%. The agricultural outputs of the state are cattle, sheep, wheat, sorghum, soybeans, cotton, Hog (swine), maize, and salt. The industrial outputs are transportation equipment, commercial and private aircraft, food processing, publishing, chemical products, machinery, apparel, petroleum and mining.

Kansas ranks 8th in U.S. petroleum production. Production has experienced a steady, natural decline as it becomes increasingly difficult to extract oil over time. Since oil prices bottomed in 1999, oil production in Kansas has remained fairly constant, with an average monthly rate of about 2.8 million barrels in 2004. The Oil price increases of 2004 and 2005 have made carbon dioxide sequestration and other oil recovery techniques more economical.

Kansas ranks 8th in U.S. natural gas production. Production has steadily declined since the mid-1990’s with the depletion of the Hugoton Natural Gas Area—the state's largest field which extends into Oklahoma and Texas. In 2004, slower declines in the Hugoton gas fields and increased coalbed methane production contributed to a smaller overall decline. Average monthly production was over 32 billion cubic feet (0.9 km³).

Kansas has three income brackets for income tax calculation, ranging from 3.5% to 6.45%. The state sales tax in Kansas is 5.3%. Various cities and counties in Kansas have an additional local sales tax. Except during the 2001 recession (March–November 2001) when monthly sales tax collections were flat, collections have trended higher as the economy has grown and two rate increases have been enacted. Total sales tax collections for 2003 amounted to $1.63 billion, compared to $805.3 million in 1990.

Revenue shortfalls resulting from lower than expected tax collections and slower growth in personal income following a 1998 permanent tax reduction has contributed to the substantial growth in the state's debt level as bonded debt increased from $1.16 billion in 1998 to $3.83 billion in 2006. Some increase in debt was expected as the state continues with its 10-year Comprehensive Transportation Program enacted in 1999. As of June 2004, Moody's Investors Service ranked the state 14th for net tax-supported debt per capita. As a percentage of personal income, it was at 3.8%—above the median value of 2.5% for all rated states and having risen from a value of less than 1% in 1992. The state has a statutory requirement to maintain cash reserves of at least 7.5% of expenses at the end of each fiscal year.

Major company headquarters in Kansas include the Sprint Nextel Corporation (with operational headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas), Embarq (with national headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas), and Payless Shoes (National headquarters and major distribution facilities in Topeka). Also, Pizza Hut was founded in Wichita, KS.

Transportation

Kansas is served by two Interstate Highway System with two spur routes, three bypass (road)es, and one beltway over a total of 874 miles. The first section of Interstate in the nation was opened on Interstate 70 just west of Topeka, Kansas on November 14, 1956. I-70 is a major east/west route connecting to St. Louis, Missouri and Kansas City, Missouri, in the east and Denver, Colorado, in the west. Cities along this route (from east to west) include Kansas City, Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, Topeka, Kansas, Junction City, Kansas, Salina, Kansas, Hays, Kansas, and Colby, Kansas. Interstate 35 is a major north/south route connecting to Des Moines, Iowa, in the north and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the south. Cities along this route (from north to south) include Kansas City (and suburbs), Ottawa, Kansas, Emporia, Kansas, El Dorado, Kansas, and Wichita, Kansas.

Spur routes serve as connections between the two major routes. Interstate 135, a north/south route, connects I-70 at Salina to I-35 at Wichita. Interstate 335, a northeast/southwest route, connects I-70 at Topeka to I-35 at Emporia. I-335 and portions of I-35 and I-70 make up the Kansas Turnpike. Bypasses include Interstate 470 (Kansas) around Topeka and Interstate 235 (Kansas) around Wichita. Interstate 435 is a beltway around the Kansas City Metropolitan Area while Interstate 635 (Kansas-Missouri) bypasses through Kansas City, Kansas.

US Route 69 runs north and south, from Minnesota to Texas. The highway passes through the eastern section of Kansas, from the Kansas City Metropolitan Area area, through Fort Scott, Kansas, Frontenac, Kansas, Pittsburg, Kansas, and Baxter Springs, Kansas before entering Oklahoma.

In January 2004, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) announced the new Kansas 5-1-1 traveler information service. By dialing 511, callers will get access to information about road conditions, construction, closures, detours and weather conditions for the state highway system. Weather and road condition information is updated every 15 minutes. The elaborate and efficient transportation system in Kansas has attracted praise from experts nationwide, including the former Mayor of New York City, Ed Koch, who frequents Kansas roadways.

The state's only major commercial airport is Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, located along U.S. Route 54 on the western edge of the city. Most air travelers in eastern Kansas fly out of Kansas City International Airport, located in Platte County, Missouri. For those in the far western part of the state, Denver International Airport is a popular option. Connecting flights are available from smaller airports in Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, Hays, Salina, and Topeka.

Law and government State and local politics Kathleen Sebelius The top executives of the state are Kansas Democratic Party Governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius and Lieutenant Governor Mark Parkinson. Both officials are elected on the same ticket to a maximum of two consecutive 4-year terms. Parkinson replaced John E. Moore who served as Lt. Governor during Sebelius's first term which ended on January 8, 2007. Sebelius will not be up for re-election in 2010. The state's Attorney General is Democrat Paul Morrison, a former Republican who was first elected in 2006.

The legislative branch of the state government is the Kansas Legislature. The bicameral body consists of the Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 members serving two year terms, and the Kansas Senate, with 40 members serving four year terms.

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Kansas has a reputation as a progressive state with many firsts in legislative initiatives—it was the first state to institute a system of workers compensation (1910). Kansas was also one of the first states to permit women's suffrage in 1912. Suffrage in all states would not be guaranteed until ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. The council-manager government was adopted by many larger Kansas cities in the years following World War I while many American cities were being run by political machines or organized crime. Kansas was also at the center of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, a 1954 Supreme Court decision that banned racially segregated schools throughout the U.S.

Since the 1960s, Kansas has grown more socially conservative. The 1990s brought new restrictions on abortion, the defeat of prominent Democrats, including Dan Glickman, and the Kansas State Board of Education 1999 decision to eliminate the Evolution from the state teaching standards, a decision that was later reversed.Los Angeles Times. Vote by Kansas School Board Favors Evolution's Doubters In 2005, voters accepted a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The next year, the state passed a law setting a minimum age for marriage at 15 years. http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0505MarriageAge05-ON.html

Although Kansas is considered to be one of the most Republican states in the nation, there has been a long-running feud between the socially moderate (or "mainstream") faction and the socially conservative faction of the party. This battle is so heated that it is often said that there are three parties in Kansas--Democrats, moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans. It is possible for a Democrat to win by winning the support of moderate Republicans and a few registered independents. Thus, recently, Kansas has been warming to Democrats, re-electing a Democratic Governor, Kathleen Sebelius in 2006, with 58% of the vote, as well as Democrat Paul Morrison (a former Republican) as replacement for incumbent Attorney General Phill Kline. Democrats also picked up six seats in the Kansas House of Representatives, and Democrat Nancy Boyda defeated conservative Republican Congressman Jim Ryun in the 2nd Congressional District.

Federal politics The state's current delegation to the Congress of the United States includes Republican Party (United States) Senators Sam Brownback of Topeka, Kansas and Pat Roberts of Dodge City, Kansas and Representatives Jerry Moran of Hays, Kansas (1st Congressional District of Kansas), Nancy Boyda of Topeka, Kansas (2nd Congressional District of Kansas), Dennis Moore of Lenexa, Kansas (3rd Congressional District of Kansas), and Todd Tiahrt of Goddard, Kansas (4th Congressional District of Kansas). Boyda and Moore are Democrats; Moran and Tiahrt are Republicans. Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932, when Franklin D. Roosevelt won his first term as President in the wake of the Great Depression. Senator Sam Brownback carries the distinction of being the most popularly-elected politician in Kansas history and is a current candidate for the Republican party nomination for President in 2008.

Historically, Kansas since the state's inception has strongly supported the Republican party. The people of Kansas supported Republican Presidential candidates every election from 1864 to 1888. Aside from Populist candidates winning Kansas' electoral votes in the 1890s, the only Democrats to win Kansas were Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. In recent history, Kansas has not supported a Democratic Party (United States) presidential candidate since 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson won the state's electoral vote. In 2004, George W. Bush won the state's 6 electoral votes by an overwhelming margin of 25 percentage points with 62% of the vote. The only two counties to support Democrat John Kerry in the same election were Wyandotte County, Kansas, which contains Kansas City, Kansas, and Douglas County, Kansas, home to the University of Kansas, located in Lawrence, Kansas.

State law See also: Alcohol laws of Kansas The legal drinking age in Kansas is 21. In lieu of the state retail sales tax, a 10% Liquor Drink Tax is collected for liquor consumed on the licensed premises and an 8% Liquor Enforcement Tax is collected on retail purchases. Although the sale of cereal malt beverage (also known as 3.2 beer) was legalized in 1937, the first post-Prohibition in the United States legalization of alcoholic liquor did not occur until the Kansas Constitution was amended in 1948. The following year the Kansas Legislature enacted the Liquor Control Act which created a system of regulating, licensing, and taxing, and the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) was created to enforce the act. The power to regulate cereal malt beverage remains with the cities and counties. Liquor-by-the-drink did not become legal until passage of an amendment to the state's constitution in 1986 and additional legislation the following year. As of November 2004, Kansas still has 32 dry county and only 15 counties have passed liquor-by-the-drink with no food sales requirement. Today there are more than 2600 liquor and 4000 cereal malt beverage licensees in the state.

The state's investigative branch is the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Important cities and towns {| class="wikitable" align="right" style="clear:right; margin-left:1em;"|+Cities with population of at least 10,000|-! !!City!!Population*!!Growth rate**!!Metro area|-|1||Wichita, Kansas||align="right"|354,865||align="center"|0.20%||Wichita|-|2||Overland Park, Kansas||align="right"|164,811||align="center"|1.89%||Kansas City Metropolitan Area|-|3||Kansas City, Kansas||align="right"|144,210||align="center"|-0.35%||Kansas City|-|4||Topeka, Kansas||align="right"|121,946||align="center"|-0.16%||Topeka|-|5||Olathe, Kansas||align="right"|111,334||align="center"|3.73%||Kansas City|-|6||Lawrence, Kansas||align="right"|81,816||align="center"|0.38%||Lawrence|-|7||Shawnee, Kansas||align="right"|57,628||align="center"|3.70%||Kansas City|-|8||Manhattan, Kansas||align="right"|49,462||align="center"|1.87%|| ‡|-|9||Salina, Kansas||align="right"|45,956||align="center"|0.08%|| ‡|-|10||Lenexa, Kansas||align="right"|43,434||align="center"|1.51%||Kansas City|-|11||Hutchinson, Kansas||align="right"|40,961||align="center"|-0.41%|| ‡|-|12||Leavenworth, Kansas||align="right"|35,213||align="center"|-0.15%||Kansas City|-|13||Leawood, Kansas||align="right"|30,145||align="center"|1.71%||Kansas City|-|14||Garden City, Kansas||align="right"|27,098||align="center"|-1.01%|| ‡|-|15||Emporia, Kansas||align="right"|26,456||align="center"|-0.27%|| ‡|-|16||Dodge City, Kansas||align="right"|26,104||align="center"|0.66%|| ‡|-|17||Prairie Village, Kansas||align="right"|21,454||align="center"|-0.55%||Kansas City|-|18||Derby, Kansas||align="right"|20,543||align="center"|2.55%||Wichita|-|19||Liberal, Kansas||align="right"|20,257||align="center"|0.57%|| ‡|-|20||Hays, Kansas||align="right"|19,632||align="center"|-0.38%|| ‡|-|21||Pittsburg, Kansas||align="right"|19,214||align="center"|-0.04%|| ‡|-|22||Newton, Kansas||align="right"|18,229||align="center"|0.56%||Wichita|-|23||Junction City, Kansas||align="right"|16,402||align="center"|-2.49%||Manhattan‡|-|24||Great Bend, Kansas||align="right"|15,440||align="center"|0.12%|| ‡|-|25||Gardner, Kansas||align="right"|14,317||align="center"|9.60%||Kansas City|-|26||McPherson, Kansas||align="right"|13,695||align="center"|-0.13%|| ‡|-|27||El Dorado, Kansas||align="right"|12,659||align="center"|-0.25%||Wichita|-|28||Ottawa, Kansas||align="right"|12,597||align="center"|1.08%||Kansas City|-|29||Winfield, Kansas||align="right"|11,861||align="center"|-0.58%||Winfield-Arkansas City‡|-|30||Arkansas City, Kansas||align="right"|11,581||align="center"|-0.65%||Winfield-Arkansas City‡|-|31||Parsons, Kansas||align="right"|11,212||align="center"|-0.47%|| ‡|-|32||Merriam, Kansas||align="right"|10,769||align="center"|-0.42%||Kansas City|-|33||Coffeyville, Kansas||align="right"|10,359||align="center"|-1.22%|| ‡|-|34||Lansing, Kansas||align="right"|10,214||align="center"|1.98%||Kansas City|-|35||Atchison, Kansas||align="right"|10,169||align="center"|-0.12%|| ‡|-|colspan=5|*Estimated as of July 1, 2005 Annual estimates of the population through 2005-07-01. Released 2006-06-21.
**Estimated annual growth rate 2000–2005
‡Defined as a United States micropolitan area|}

Kansas has 627 Municipal corporation. By state statute, City are divided into three classes as determined by the population obtained "by any census of enumeration". A city of the third class has a population of less than 5,000, but cities reaching a population of more than 2,000 may be certified as a city of the second class. The second class is limited to cities with a population of less than 25,000, and upon reaching a population of more than 15,000, they may be certified as a city of the first class. First and second class cities are independent of any Civil township and not included within the township's territory.

Northeast Kansas The northeastern portion of the state, extending from the Eastern border to Manhattan and from the Nebraska Border to south of Johnson County, has a rich history and is home to more than 1.5 million people in the Kansas City, Lawrence, Topeka, and St. Joseph metropolitan areas. In the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the cities of Johnson County, Kansas have some of the fastest growing populations and highest median incomes in the state and the entire country. Overland Park, Kansas, a young city incorporated in 1960, has the largest population and the largest land area in the county. It is home to Johnson County Community College, the state's largest community college, and the corporate campus of Sprint Nextel, the largest private employer in the metro area. In 2006 the city was ranked as the 6th best place to live in America; the neighboring city of Olathe, Kansas was 13th. Olathe is the county seat and home to Johnson County Executive Airport. The cities of Olathe, Shawnee, Kansas, and Gardner, Kansas have some of the state's fastest growing populations. The cities of Overland Park, Lenexa, Kansas, Olathe, and Gardner are also notable because they lie along the former route of the Santa Fe Trail. Among cities with at least one thousand residents, Mission Hills, Kansas has the highest median income in the state.

Several institutions of higher education are in the area including MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Ottawa University in Ottawa and Overland Park, Kansas City Kansas Community College and KU Medical Center in Kansas City, and KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park. Less than an hour's drive to the west, Lawrence, Kansas is home to the University of Kansas, the largest public university in the state, and Haskell Indian Nations University.

To the north, Kansas City, Kansas, with the second largest land area in the state, contains a number of diverse ethnic neighborhoods. Its attractions include Kansas Speedway, the Woodlands, and Kansas City T-Bones. Further up the Missouri River, the city of Lansing, Kansas is home of the state's first maximum-security prison. Historic Leavenworth, Kansas, founded in 1854, was the first incorporated city in Kansas. North of the city, Fort Leavenworth is the oldest active Army post west of the Mississippi River. The city of Atchison, Kansas was an early commercial center in the state and is well-known as the birthplace of Amelia Earhart.

To the west, nearly a quarter million people reside in the Topeka metropolitan area. Topeka, Kansas is the state capital and home to Washburn University. Built at a Kansas River crossing along the old Oregon Trail, this historic city has several nationally registered historic places. Further westward along Interstate 70 and the Kansas River is Junction City, Kansas with its historic limestone and brick buildings and nearby Fort Riley, well-known as the home to the "Big Red One". A short distance away, the city of Manhattan, Kansas is home to Kansas State University, the second largest public university in the state and the nation's oldest land-grant university, dating back to 1863. South of the campus, Aggieville dates back to 1889 and is the state's oldest shopping district of its kind.

Wichita , the largest city in the state of KansasIn south-central Kansas, the four-county Wichita metropolitan area is home to nearly 600,000 people. Wichita, Kansas is the largest city in the state in terms of both land area and population. 'The Air Capital' is a major manufacturing center for the aircraft industry and the home of Wichita State University. With a number of nationally registered historic places, museums, and other entertainment destinations, it has a desire to become a cultural mecca in the Midwest. Although Wichita's population growth has been anemic in recent years, surrounding suburbs are among the fastest growing cities in the state. The population of Goddard, Kansas has grown by more than 11% per year since 2000. Other fast-growing cities include Andover, Kansas, {{US state | Name = Kansas | Fullname = State of Kansas | Flag = Flag of Kansas.svg | Flaglink = [Flag of Kansas | Seal = Kansas state seal.png | Map = Map of USA KS.svg | OfficialLang = English{{Cite news| url=http://www.kansas.com/news/legislature/story/68114.html| title=Bill makes English official language| publisher=Associated Press| date=[2007-05-12| accessdate=2007-05-26|--> House Bill No. 2140 was signed into law on May 11, the law begins July 1. | OfficialLang = English language[http://www.us-english.org/inc/official/states.asp U.S. ENGLISH,Inc| Nickname = The Sunflower State | Motto = [Ad astra per aspera | Capital = [Topeka, Kansas | LargestCity = [Wichita, Kansas | Governor = [Kathleen Sebelius (D)| Senators = [Sam Brownback (R)[Pat Roberts (R) | Representatives = [Nancy Boyda (D)[Dennis Moore (D)[Jerry Moran (R)[Todd Tiahrt (R) PostalAbbreviation = KS | AreaRank = 15th | TotalAreaUS = 82,277 | TotalArea = 213,096 | LandAreaUS = 81,815| LandArea = 211,901 | WaterAreaUS = 462| WaterArea = 1,196 | PCWater = 0.56 | PopRank = 33rd | 2000Pop = 2,688,418 | DensityRank = 40th | 2000DensityUS = 32.9| 2000Density = 12.7 | AdmittanceOrder = 34th | AdmittanceDate = January 29, [ | TimeZone = [Central Standard Time Zone: [Coordinated Universal Time-6/[Daylight saving time | TZ1Where = most of state | TimeZone2 = [Mountain Standard Time Zone: UTC-7/[Daylight saving time | TZ2Where = 4 western counties | Latitude = 37° N to 40° N | Longitude = 94° 35′ W to 102° 3′ W | WidthUS = 211| Width = 340 | LengthUS = 417 | Length = 645 | HighestPoint = Mount Sunflower{{cite web [ | url =http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html#Highest| title =Elevations and Distances in the United States| publisher =U.S Geological Survey| accessmonthday = November 6 | accessyear = 2006--> | HighestElevUS = 4,039 | HighestElev = 1,232 | MeanElevUS = 2,000 | MeanElev = 600 | LowestPoint = [Verdigris River | LowestElevUS = 679 | LowestElev = 207 | ISOCode = US-KS | Website = www.kansas.gov -->Kansas () is a Midwestern U.S. statehttp://www.census.gov/geo/www/us_regdiv.pdf in the Central United States of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the United States "Heartland". It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kaw (tribe) tribe, who inhabited the area.John Koontz, p.c. The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind", although this was probably not the term's original meaning.Rankin, Robert. 2005. "Quapaw". In Native Languages of the Southeastern United States, eds. Heather K. Hardy and Janine Scancarelli. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, pg. 492Connelley, William E. 1918. Indians. A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, ch. 10, vol. 1 Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans."

Historically, the area was home to large numbers of nomadic Native Americans in the United States that hunted bison. It was first settled by European Americans in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially Kansas-Nebraska Act by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionists from New England and pro-Slavery in the United States settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a Free state (USA) or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union (American Civil War) as a free state (USA). After the American Civil War, the population of Kansas exploded when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into productive farmland. Only sporadic patches of prairie grass remain for other grasses that are suitable for raising cattle have replaced the native grasses. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing many crops, and leading the nation in wheat and sunflower production most years. Far from flat, Kansas has varied topography with an expanding forest of hardwoods in the northeast, rugged hills and lakes, not to mention awe inspiring sunsets.

Geography Kansas is bordered by Nebraska on the north; Missouri on the east; Oklahoma on the south; and Colorado on the west. The state is divided up into List of counties in Kansas with List of cities in Kansas. It is located equidistant from the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. The Geographic Center of the Contiguous United States is located in Smith County, Kansas near Lebanon, Kansas. The Meades Ranch, Kansas of North America was located in Osborne County, Kansas until 1983. This spot was until then used as the central reference point for all maps of North America produced by the U.S. government. The geographic center of Kansas is located in Barton County, Kansas. Kansas is also one of the six states located on the Frontier Strip and one of several within Tornado Alley.

Topography The western two thirds of the state, lying in the Great Plains of the United States, has a generally flat or undulating surface, and on a large scale appears almost perfectly flat.http://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i3/kansas.html However, the eastern third is more hilly and forested. The land displays a gradual slope up from east to west; its altitude above the sea ranges from 684 foot (unit of length) (208 m) along the Verdigris River at Coffeyville, Kansas in Montgomery County, Kansas, to 4039 feet (1,231 m) at Mount Sunflower, one half mile from the Colorado border, in Wallace County, Kansas., KansasThe Missouri River forms nearly 75 miles (120 km) of the state's northeastern boundary. The Kansas River (locally known as the Kaw), formed by the junction of the Smoky Hill River and Republican River rivers at appropriately-named Junction City, Kansas, joins the Missouri at Kansas City, Kansas, after a course of 170 miles (274 km) across the northeastern part of the state. The Arkansas River, rising in Colorado, flows with a bending course for nearly 500 miles (800 km) across the western and southern parts of the state. It forms, with its tributaries (the Little Arkansas River (pronounced Ar-Kansas), Ninnescah River, Walnut River (west Kansas), Cow Creek (Kansas), Cimarron River, Verdigris, and the Neosho River), the southern drainage system of the state. Other important rivers are the Saline River (Kansas) and Solomon River, tributaries of the Smoky Hill River; the Big Blue River (Kansas), Delaware River (Kansas), and Wakarusa River, which flow into the Kansas River; and the Marais des Cygnes River, a tributary of the Missouri River.

National parks and historic sites Areas under the protection of the National Park Service include:

Climate Kansas contains three climate types, according to the Köppen climate classification: humid continental, semiarid steppe, and humid subtropical. The eastern two-thirds of the state has a humid continental climate, with cold winters and hot summers. Most of the precipitation falls in the summer and spring. The western third of the state has a semi-arid steppe climate. Summers are hot, often very hot. Winters are cold in the northwest and cool to mild in the southwest. Also, the western region is semiarid, receiving an average of only about 16 inches (40 cm) of precipitation per year. Chinook winds in the winter can warm western Kansas all the way into the 80 degree Fahrenheit (25 °C) range. The far south-central and southeastern reaches of the state have a humid subtropical climate, with long, hot summers, short, mild winters, and much more precipitation than the rest of the state.

Precipitation ranges from about 46 inches (1200 mm) annually in the southeast of the state, to about 16 inches (400 mm) in the southwest. Snowfall ranges from around 5 inches (130 mm) in the fringes of the south, to 35 inches (900 mm) in the far northwest. Frost-free days range from more than 200 days in the south, to 130 days in the northwest. Thus, Kansas is the 9th or 10th sunniest state in the country, depending on the source. Western Kansas is as sunny as parts of California and Arizona.

In spite of the frequent sunshine throughout much of the state, the state is also vulnerable to strong thunderstorms, especially in the spring. Many of these storms become Supercell thunderstorms. These can spawn tornadoes, often of Fujita scale strength or higher. According to statistics from the National Climatic Data Center, Kansas has reported more tornadoes (for the period 1st January 1950 through to 31st October 2006) than any state except for Texas - marginally even more than Oklahoma. It has also - along with Alabama - reported more Fujita scale than any other state. These are the most powerful of all tornadoes. Kansas averages over 50 tornadoes annually. NOAA National Climatic Data Center. Retrieved on October 25, 2006.

{| class="wikitable" "text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|| colspan="13" style="text-align:center;font-size:120%;background:#E8EAFA;"|Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various Kansas Cities|-! style="background: #E5AFAA; color: #000000" height="17" | City! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jan! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Feb! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Mar! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Apr! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | May! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jun! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Jul! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Aug! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Sep! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Oct! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Nov! style="background: #E5AFAA; color:#000000;" | Dec|-! style="background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Concordia| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 36/17| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 43/22| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 54/31| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 64/41| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 74/52| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 85/62| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 91/67| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 88/66| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 80/56| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 68/44| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 51/30| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 40/21|-! style="background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Dodge City| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 41/19| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 48/24| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 57/31| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 67/41| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 76/52| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 87/62| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 93/67| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 91/66| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 82/56| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 70/44| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 54/30| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 44/22|-! style="background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Goodland| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 39/16| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 45/20| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 53/26| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 63/35| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 72/46| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 84/56| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 89/61| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 87/60| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 78/50| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 66/38| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 50/25| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 41/18|-! style="background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Topeka| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 37/17| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 44/23| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 56/33| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 66/43| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 75/53| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 84/63| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 89/68| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 88/65| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 80/56| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 69/44| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 53/32| style="text-align:center; background: #C5DFE1; color:#000000;" | 41/22|-! style="background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" height="16;" | Wichita| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 40/20| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 47/25| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 57/34| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 67/44| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 76/54| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 87/64| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 93/69| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 92/68| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 82/59| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 70/47| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 54/34| style="text-align:center; background: #F8F3CA; color:#000000;" | 43/24|-| colspan="13" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;background:#E8EAFA;"||}

History For millennia, the land that is presently Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans in the United States. The first European to set foot in present-day Kansas was Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, who explored the area in 1541. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas until the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848. From 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory. The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured goods from Missouri and silver and furs from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Wagon ruts from the trail are still visible in the prairie today.

In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first permanent settlement of white Americans in the future state. The Kansas-Nebraska Act became law on May 30, 1854, establishing the Political divisions of the United States of Nebraska and Kansas. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included the sites of present-day Denver, Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Pueblo, Colorado. on Lawrence, KansasMissouri and Arkansas sent settlers into Southeastern Kansas, namely Crawford County, Bourbon County, and Cherokee County. These settlers attempted to sway votes in favor of slavery. The secondary settlement of Americans in Kansas Territory were abolitionists from Massachusetts and other Free-Staters, who attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Directly presaging the American Civil War, these forces collided, entering into skirmishes that earned the territory the name of Bleeding Kansas. Kansas was admitted to the United States as a free state on January 29, 1861, making it the 34th state to enter the Union. By that time the violence in Kansas had largely subsided. However, during the Civil War, on August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led several hundred men on a raid into Lawrence, Kansas, destroying much of the city and killing nearly two hundred people. Until the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Quantrill's raid was the single bloodiest act of domestic terrorism in America.

After the Civil War, many veterans constructed homesteads in Kansas. Many African Americans also looked to Kansas as the land of "John Brown (abolitionist)" and led by men like Benjamin "Pap" Singleton began establishing black colonies in the state. At the same time, the Chisholm Trail was opened and the American Old West era commenced in Kansas. Wild Bill Hickok was a deputy marshal at Fort Riley and a marshal at Hays, Kansas and Abilene, Kansas. Dodge City, Kansas was another wild cowboy town in the late 19th century. In one year alone, 8 million head of cattle from Texas boarded trains in Dodge City bound for the East, earning Dodge the nickname "Queen of the Cowtowns." Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp were both lawmen in Dodge City. In part as a response to the violence perpetrated by cowboys, on February 19, 1881, Kansas became the first U.S. state to adopt a Constitutional amendment prohibiting all alcoholic beverages.

Demographics {{USCensusPop|1860 = 107206|1870 = 364399|1880 = 996096|1890 = 1428108|1900 = 1470495|1910 = 1690949|1920 = 1769257|1930 = 1880999|1940 = 1801028|1950 = 1905299|1960 = 2178611|1970 = 2246578|1980 = 2363679|1990 = 2477574|2000 = 2688418-->

As of 2006, Kansas has an estimated population of 2,764,075, which is an increase of 15,903, or 0.6%, from the prior year and an increase of 71,128, or 2.6%, since the year 2000. State Population Estimates. Annual Estimates of the Population for the United States, Regions, and States and for Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006 (NST-EST2006-01). U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. Released 2006-12-22. Six year change is from 2000-07-01 to 2006-07-01. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 93,899 people (that is 246,484 births minus 152,585 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 20,742 people out of the state. Immigration to the United States from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 44,847 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 65,589 people. State Population Estimates. Cumulative Estimates of the Components of Population Change for the United States, Regions and States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006 (NST-EST2006-04). U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. Released 2006-12-22. The center of population of Kansas is located in Chase County, Kansas, at , approximately three miles north of the community of Strong City, Kansas.http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/statecenters.txt{|align=center||}

As of 2004, the population included 149,800 foreign-born (5.5% of the state population), and an estimated 47,000 illegal aliens (1.7% of state population). The largest reported ancestries in the state are: German American (25.9%), Irish American (11.5%), British American (10.8%), American ancestry (8.8%), French American (3.1%), and Swedish American (2.4%). Kansas - Race and Hispanic Origin: 1860 to 1990 People of Germans ancestry are especially strong in the northwest, while those of English people ancestry and descendants of white Americans from other states are especially strong in the southeast. Mexican American are present in the southwest and make up nearly half the population in certain counties. Many African Americans in Kansas are descended from the "Exodusters", newly freed blacks who fled the South for land in Kansas following the Civil War.

See Also British American and German-American

Rural flight {|align=right style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 1em; clear:right; text-align:right;"||}Kansas, as well as five other Midwest states (Nebraska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa), is feeling the brunt of a falling population. Known as a rural exodus, the last few decades have been marked by a migratory pattern out of the countryside into cities. The trends have people moving from rural areas into urban areas. Beginning in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, people moved for a variety of reasons. This problem persists to the present day in the western parts of Great Plains states such as Nebraska and Kansas.

Out of all the cities in these Midwestern states, 89% have fewer than 3000 people, and hundreds of those have fewer than 1000. In Kansas alone, there are more than 6,000 ghost towns, according to Kansas historian Daniel Fitzgerald. And between 1996 and 2004, almost half a million people left the six states surveyed. This "Rural flight," as it is called, has led to offers of free land and tax breaks as enticements to newcomers.http://www.kansasfreeland.com Rural flight has contributed to the urban sprawl of the major cities in Kansas, with people taking up residences in the suburbs at the fringe of urban areas.

Economy {|align=right|]| 21,000| Wichita, Kansas|-|#2| Cessna|-|#3| [Fort Riley|-|#4| [Raytheon|-|#5| Scanlon's [Limited liability company| 6,000| Leavenworth, Kansas|-|#6| University of Kansas Medical Center|-|#7| Via Christi St. Joseph Hospital| 5,000| [Wichita, Kansas|-|#8| Olathe Medical Center| 4,000| Olathe, Kansas|-|#9| Via Christi St. Francis Hospital| 3,300| Wichita, Kansas|-|#10| Kansas State University|-|}|}The 2003 [gross domestic product of Kansas was US$98 billion, an increase of 4.3% over the prior year, but trailing the national average increase of 4.8%. Its per-capita income was US$29,438. The December 2003 unemployment rate was 4.9%. The agricultural outputs of the state are cattle, sheep, wheat, sorghum, soybeans, cotton, Hog (swine), maize, and salt. The industrial outputs are transportation equipment, commercial and private aircraft, food processing, publishing, chemical products, machinery, apparel, petroleum and mining.

Kansas ranks 8th in U.S. petroleum production. Production has experienced a steady, natural decline as it becomes increasingly difficult to extract oil over time. Since oil prices bottomed in 1999, oil production in Kansas has remained fairly constant, with an average monthly rate of about 2.8 million barrels in 2004. The Oil price increases of 2004 and 2005 have made carbon dioxide sequestration and other oil recovery techniques more economical.

Kansas ranks 8th in U.S. natural gas production. Production has steadily declined since the mid-1990’s with the depletion of the Hugoton Natural Gas Area—the state's largest field which extends into Oklahoma and Texas. In 2004, slower declines in the Hugoton gas fields and increased coalbed methane production contributed to a smaller overall decline. Average monthly production was over 32 billion cubic feet (0.9 km³).

Kansas has three income brackets for income tax calculation, ranging from 3.5% to 6.45%. The state sales tax in Kansas is 5.3%. Various cities and counties in Kansas have an additional local sales tax. Except during the 2001 recession (March–November 2001) when monthly sales tax collections were flat, collections have trended higher as the economy has grown and two rate increases have been enacted. Total sales tax collections for 2003 amounted to $1.63 billion, compared to $805.3 million in 1990.

Revenue shortfalls resulting from lower than expected tax collections and slower growth in personal income following a 1998 permanent tax reduction has contributed to the substantial growth in the state's debt level as bonded debt increased from $1.16 billion in 1998 to $3.83 billion in 2006. Some increase in debt was expected as the state continues with its 10-year Comprehensive Transportation Program enacted in 1999. As of June 2004, Moody's Investors Service ranked the state 14th for net tax-supported debt per capita. As a percentage of personal income, it was at 3.8%—above the median value of 2.5% for all rated states and having risen from a value of less than 1% in 1992. The state has a statutory requirement to maintain cash reserves of at least 7.5% of expenses at the end of each fiscal year.

Major company headquarters in Kansas include the Sprint Nextel Corporation (with operational headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas), Embarq (with national headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas), and Payless Shoes (National headquarters and major distribution facilities in Topeka). Also, Pizza Hut was founded in Wichita, KS.

Transportation

Kansas is served by two Interstate Highway System with two spur routes, three bypass (road)es, and one beltway over a total of 874 miles. The first section of Interstate in the nation was opened on Interstate 70 just west of Topeka, Kansas on November 14, 1956. I-70 is a major east/west route connecting to St. Louis, Missouri and Kansas City, Missouri, in the east and Denver, Colorado, in the west. Cities along this route (from east to west) include Kansas City, Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, Topeka, Kansas, Junction City, Kansas, Salina, Kansas, Hays, Kansas, and Colby, Kansas. Interstate 35 is a major north/south route connecting to Des Moines, Iowa, in the north and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the south. Cities along this route (from north to south) include Kansas City (and suburbs), Ottawa, Kansas, Emporia, Kansas, El Dorado, Kansas, and Wichita, Kansas.

Spur routes serve as connections between the two major routes. Interstate 135, a north/south route, connects I-70 at Salina to I-35 at Wichita. Interstate 335, a northeast/southwest route, connects I-70 at Topeka to I-35 at Emporia. I-335 and portions of I-35 and I-70 make up the Kansas Turnpike. Bypasses include Interstate 470 (Kansas) around Topeka and Interstate 235 (Kansas) around Wichita. Interstate 435 is a beltway around the Kansas City Metropolitan Area while Interstate 635 (Kansas-Missouri) bypasses through Kansas City, Kansas.

US Route 69 runs north and south, from Minnesota to Texas. The highway passes through the eastern section of Kansas, from the Kansas City Metropolitan Area area, through Fort Scott, Kansas, Frontenac, Kansas, Pittsburg, Kansas, and Baxter Springs, Kansas before entering Oklahoma.

In January 2004, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) announced the new Kansas 5-1-1 traveler information service. By dialing 511, callers will get access to information about road conditions, construction, closures, detours and weather conditions for the state highway system. Weather and road condition information is updated every 15 minutes. The elaborate and efficient transportation system in Kansas has attracted praise from experts nationwide, including the former Mayor of New York City, Ed Koch, who frequents Kansas roadways.

The state's only major commercial airport is Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, located along U.S. Route 54 on the western edge of the city. Most air travelers in eastern Kansas fly out of Kansas City International Airport, located in Platte County, Missouri. For those in the far western part of the state, Denver International Airport is a popular option. Connecting flights are available from smaller airports in Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, Hays, Salina, and Topeka.

Law and government State and local politics Kathleen Sebelius The top executives of the state are Kansas Democratic Party Governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius and Lieutenant Governor Mark Parkinson. Both officials are elected on the same ticket to a maximum of two consecutive 4-year terms. Parkinson replaced John E. Moore who served as Lt. Governor during Sebelius's first term which ended on January 8, 2007. Sebelius will not be up for re-election in 2010. The state's Attorney General is Democrat Paul Morrison, a former Republican who was first elected in 2006.

The legislative branch of the state government is the Kansas Legislature. The bicameral body consists of the Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 members serving two year terms, and the Kansas Senate, with 40 members serving four year terms.

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Kansas has a reputation as a progressive state with many firsts in legislative initiatives—it was the first state to institute a system of workers compensation (1910). Kansas was also one of the first states to permit women's suffrage in 1912. Suffrage in all states would not be guaranteed until ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. The council-manager government was adopted by many larger Kansas cities in the years following World War I while many American cities were being run by political machines or organized crime. Kansas was also at the center of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, a 1954 Supreme Court decision that banned racially segregated schools throughout the U.S.

Since the 1960s, Kansas has grown more socially conservative. The 1990s brought new restrictions on abortion, the defeat of prominent Democrats, including Dan Glickman, and the Kansas State Board of Education 1999 decision to eliminate the Evolution from the state teaching standards, a decision that was later reversed.Los Angeles Times. Vote by Kansas School Board Favors Evolution's Doubters In 2005, voters accepted a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The next year, the state passed a law setting a minimum age for marriage at 15 years. http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0505MarriageAge05-ON.html

Although Kansas is considered to be one of the most Republican states in the nation, there has been a long-running feud between the socially moderate (or "mainstream") faction and the socially conservative faction of the party. This battle is so heated that it is often said that there are three parties in Kansas--Democrats, moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans. It is possible for a Democrat to win by winning the support of moderate Republicans and a few registered independents. Thus, recently, Kansas has been warming to Democrats, re-electing a Democratic Governor, Kathleen Sebelius in 2006, with 58% of the vote, as well as Democrat Paul Morrison (a former Republican) as replacement for incumbent Attorney General Phill Kline. Democrats also picked up six seats in the Kansas House of Representatives, and Democrat Nancy Boyda defeated conservative Republican Congressman Jim Ryun in the 2nd Congressional District.

Federal politics The state's current delegation to the Congress of the United States includes Republican Party (United States) Senators Sam Brownback of Topeka, Kansas and Pat Roberts of Dodge City, Kansas and Representatives Jerry Moran of Hays, Kansas (1st Congressional District of Kansas), Nancy Boyda of Topeka, Kansas (2nd Congressional District of Kansas), Dennis Moore of Lenexa, Kansas (3rd Congressional District of Kansas), and Todd Tiahrt of Goddard, Kansas (4th Congressional District of Kansas). Boyda and Moore are Democrats; Moran and Tiahrt are Republicans. Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932, when Franklin D. Roosevelt won his first term as President in the wake of the Great Depression. Senator Sam Brownback carries the distinction of being the most popularly-elected politician in Kansas history and is a current candidate for the Republican party nomination for President in 2008.

Historically, Kansas since the state's inception has strongly supported the Republican party. The people of Kansas supported Republican Presidential candidates every election from 1864 to 1888. Aside from Populist candidates winning Kansas' electoral votes in the 1890s, the only Democrats to win Kansas were Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. In recent history, Kansas has not supported a Democratic Party (United States) presidential candidate since 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson won the state's electoral vote. In 2004, George W. Bush won the state's 6 electoral votes by an overwhelming margin of 25 percentage points with 62% of the vote. The only two counties to support Democrat John Kerry in the same election were Wyandotte County, Kansas, which contains Kansas City, Kansas, and Douglas County, Kansas, home to the University of Kansas, located in Lawrence, Kansas.

State law See also: Alcohol laws of Kansas The legal drinking age in Kansas is 21. In lieu of the state retail sales tax, a 10% Liquor Drink Tax is collected for liquor consumed on the licensed premises and an 8% Liquor Enforcement Tax is collected on retail purchases. Although the sale of cereal malt beverage (also known as 3.2 beer) was legalized in 1937, the first post-Prohibition in the United States legalization of alcoholic liquor did not occur until the Kansas Constitution was amended in 1948. The following year the Kansas Legislature enacted the Liquor Control Act which created a system of regulating, licensing, and taxing, and the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) was created to enforce the act. The power to regulate cereal malt beverage remains with the cities and counties. Liquor-by-the-drink did not become legal until passage of an amendment to the state's constitution in 1986 and additional legislation the following year. As of November 2004, Kansas still has 32 dry county and only 15 counties have passed liquor-by-the-drink with no food sales requirement. Today there are more than 2600 liquor and 4000 cereal malt beverage licensees in the state.

The state's investigative branch is the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Important cities and towns {| class="wikitable" align="right" style="clear:right; margin-left:1em;"|+Cities with population of at least 10,000|-! !!City!!Population*!!Growth rate**!!Metro area|-|1||Wichita, Kansas||align="right"|354,865||align="center"|0.20%||Wichita|-|2||Overland Park, Kansas||align="right"|164,811||align="center"|1.89%||Kansas City Metropolitan Area|-|3||Kansas City, Kansas||align="right"|144,210||align="center"|-0.35%||Kansas City|-|4||Topeka, Kansas||align="right"|121,946||align="center"|-0.16%||Topeka|-|5||Olathe, Kansas||align="right"|111,334||align="center"|3.73%||Kansas City|-|6||Lawrence, Kansas||align="right"|81,816||align="center"|0.38%||Lawrence|-|7||Shawnee, Kansas||align="right"|57,628||align="center"|3.70%||Kansas City|-|8||Manhattan, Kansas||align="right"|49,462||align="center"|1.87%|| ‡|-|9||Salina, Kansas||align="right"|45,956||align="center"|0.08%|| ‡|-|10||Lenexa, Kansas||align="right"|43,434||align="center"|1.51%||Kansas City|-|11||Hutchinson, Kansas||align="right"|40,961||align="center"|-0.41%|| ‡|-|12||Leavenworth, Kansas||align="right"|35,213||align="center"|-0.15%||Kansas City|-|13||Leawood, Kansas||align="right"|30,145||align="center"|1.71%||Kansas City|-|14||Garden City, Kansas||align="right"|27,098||align="center"|-1.01%|| ‡|-|15||Emporia, Kansas||align="right"|26,456||align="center"|-0.27%|| ‡|-|16||Dodge City, Kansas||align="right"|26,104||align="center"|0.66%|| ‡|-|17||Prairie Village, Kansas||align="right"|21,454||align="center"|-0.55%||Kansas City|-|18||Derby, Kansas||align="right"|20,543||align="center"|2.55%||Wichita|-|19||Liberal, Kansas||align="right"|20,257||align="center"|0.57%|| ‡|-|20||Hays, Kansas||align="right"|19,632||align="center"|-0.38%|| ‡|-|21||Pittsburg, Kansas||align="right"|19,214||align="center"|-0.04%|| ‡|-|22||Newton, Kansas||align="right"|18,229||align="center"|0.56%||Wichita|-|23||Junction City, Kansas||align="right"|16,402||align="center"|-2.49%||Manhattan‡|-|24||Great Bend, Kansas||align="right"|15,440||align="center"|0.12%|| ‡|-|25||Gardner, Kansas||align="right"|14,317||align="center"|9.60%||Kansas City|-|26||McPherson, Kansas||align="right"|13,695||align="center"|-0.13%|| ‡|-|27||El Dorado, Kansas||align="right"|12,659||align="center"|-0.25%||Wichita|-|28||Ottawa, Kansas||align="right"|12,597||align="center"|1.08%||Kansas City|-|29||Winfield, Kansas||align="right"|11,861||align="center"|-0.58%||Winfield-Arkansas City‡|-|30||Arkansas City, Kansas||align="right"|11,581||align="center"|-0.65%||Winfield-Arkansas City‡|-|31||Parsons, Kansas||align="right"|11,212||align="center"|-0.47%|| ‡|-|32||Merriam, Kansas||align="right"|10,769||align="center"|-0.42%||Kansas City|-|33||Coffeyville, Kansas||align="right"|10,359||align="center"|-1.22%|| ‡|-|34||Lansing, Kansas||align="right"|10,214||align="center"|1.98%||Kansas City|-|35||Atchison, Kansas||align="right"|10,169||align="center"|-0.12%|| ‡|-|colspan=5|*Estimated as of July 1, 2005 Annual estimates of the population through 2005-07-01. Released 2006-06-21.
**Estimated annual growth rate 2000–2005
‡Defined as a United States micropolitan area|}

Kansas has 627 Municipal corporation. By state statute, City are divided into three classes as determined by the population obtained "by any census of enumeration". A city of the third class has a population of less than 5,000, but cities reaching a population of more than 2,000 may be certified as a city of the second class. The second class is limited to cities with a population of less than 25,000, and upon reaching a population of more than 15,000, they may be certified as a city of the first class. First and second class cities are independent of any Civil township and not included within the township's territory.

Northeast Kansas The northeastern portion of the state, extending from the Eastern border to Manhattan and from the Nebraska Border to south of Johnson County, has a rich history and is home to more than 1.5 million people in the Kansas City, Lawrence, Topeka, and St. Joseph metropolitan areas. In the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the cities of Johnson County, Kansas have some of the fastest growing populations and highest median incomes in the state and the entire country. Overland Park, Kansas, a young city incorporated in 1960, has the largest population and the largest land area in the county. It is home to Johnson County Community College, the state's largest community college, and the corporate campus of Sprint Nextel, the largest private employer in the metro area. In 2006 the city was ranked as the 6th best place to live in America; the neighboring city of Olathe, Kansas was 13th. Olathe is the county seat and home to Johnson County Executive Airport. The cities of Olathe, Shawnee, Kansas, and Gardner, Kansas have some of the state's fastest growing populations. The cities of Overland Park, Lenexa, Kansas, Olathe, and Gardner are also notable because they lie along the former route of the Santa Fe Trail. Among cities with at least one thousand residents, Mission Hills, Kansas has the highest median income in the state.

Several institutions of higher education are in the area including MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Ottawa University in Ottawa and Overland Park, Kansas City Kansas Community College and KU Medical Center in Kansas City, and KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park. Less than an hour's drive to the west, Lawrence, Kansas is home to the University of Kansas, the largest public university in the state, and Haskell Indian Nations University.

To the north, Kansas City, Kansas, with the second largest land area in the state, contains a number of diverse ethnic neighborhoods. Its attractions include Kansas Speedway, the Woodlands, and Kansas City T-Bones. Further up the Missouri River, the city of Lansing, Kansas is home of the state's first maximum-security prison. Historic Leavenworth, Kansas, founded in 1854, was the first incorporated city in Kansas. North of the city, Fort Leavenworth is the oldest active Army post west of the Mississippi River. The city of Atchison, Kansas was an early commercial center in the state and is well-known as the birthplace of Amelia Earhart.

To the west, nearly a quarter million people reside in the Topeka metropolitan area. Topeka, Kansas is the state capital and home to Washburn University. Built at a Kansas River crossing along the old Oregon Trail, this historic city has several nationally registered historic places. Further westward along Interstate 70 and the Kansas River is Junction City, Kansas with its historic limestone and brick buildings and nearby Fort Riley, well-known as the home to the "Big Red One". A short distance away, the city of Manhattan, Kansas is home to Kansas State University, the second largest public university in the state and the nation's oldest land-grant university, dating back to 1863. South of the campus, Aggieville dates back to 1889 and is the state's oldest shopping district of its kind.

Wichita , the largest city in the state of KansasIn south-central Kansas, the four-county Wichita metropolitan area is home to nearly 600,000 people. Wichita, Kansas is the largest city in the state in terms of both land area and population. 'The Air Capital' is a major manufacturing center for the aircraft industry and the home of Wichita State University. With a number of nationally registered historic places, museums, and other entertainment destinations, it has a desire to become a cultural mecca in the Midwest. Although Wichita's population growth has been anemic in recent years, surrounding suburbs are among the fastest growing cities in the state. The population of Goddard, Kansas has grown by more than 11% per year since 2000. Other fast-growing cities include Andover, Kansas,

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