City · Graham County, Kansas

Hill City, Kansas

Hill City is a city in Graham County, Kansas. It has 1,511 residents. Hill City, Kansas has a quality-of-life score of 60 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #6,294 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Kansas it ranks #90 of 202 cities and towns. It ranks best on average commute time (low), distance to an emergency room (low) and pharmacies (high). It ranks worst on dentists (low), arts, entertainment and recreation (low) and distance to an airport (high).

60Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #6,294 of 15,651 cities and towns
Kansas: #90 of 202 in KS
Population: 1,511 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 898.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 2032175

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 70 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety78#3,410/15,637
Economy16#13,062/15,631
Housing74#3,840/14,977
Health34#10,235/15,609
Healthcare60#6,311/15,650
Environment67#5,100/15,453
Education59#6,389/15,649
Infrastructure28#11,346/15,650
Community90#1,569/15,651
Leisure & amenities49#7,911/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Hill City, Kansas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Graham County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Average commute time · low7.6 min
100/100Kansas 19.7 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Distance to an emergency room · low1.6 mi
100/100Kansas 5.2 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesGraham County value
Pharmacies · high4.2 /10k
99/100Kansas 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGraham County value
Social associations · high25.3 /10k
99/100Kansas 13.1 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGraham County value
Firearm deaths · low0.0 /100k
99/100Kansas 16.2 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataGraham County value
Students per teacher · low9.6×
99/100Kansas 13.3×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsGraham County value

Weaknesses

Dentists · low0 /100k
0/100Kansas 64 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGraham County value
Arts, entertainment and recreation · low0.0 /10k
1/100Kansas 3.4 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGraham County value
Distance to an airport · high176 mi
1/100Kansas 51 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauGraham County value
Traffic deaths · high41.9 /100k
3/100Kansas 13.5 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataGraham County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Kansas 4.7 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyGraham County value
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.0 /10k
4/100Kansas 1.0 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGraham County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
1,629 (2015-2019) → 1,511 (2020-2024)
−7.2%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateWorsening
8.3% (2015-2019) → 20.3% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
73.7% (2015-2019) → 85.3% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Poverty rateWorsening
8.8% (2015-2019) → 16.7% (2020-2024)
+7.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Average commute timeImproving
10.5 min (2015-2019) → 7.6 min (2020-2024)
−28%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
23.4% (2015-2019) → 28.8% (2020-2024)
+5.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Hill City, Kansas improved on 2 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Commute−2.9 min10.5 min → 7.6 min
Broadband+12 points73.7% → 85.3%

Declined1

Poverty+7.9 points8.8% → 16.7%

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Hill City, Kansas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	10.5 min2015-2019	7.6 min2020-2024	−2.9 min	Improved	79%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.4%2015-2019	28.8%2020-2024	+5.3 points	Within the margin of error	70%
Broadband subscriptions	73.7%2015-2019	85.3%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	67%
Effective property tax rate	1.86%2015-2019	1.97%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	6%
High school diploma or higher	93.9%2015-2019	93.2%2020-2024	−0.7 points	Within the margin of error	25%
Home price to income ratio	1.9×2015-2019	1.9×2020-2024	+0.0×	Within the margin of error	79%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4162015-2019	0.4472020-2024	+0.031	Within the margin of error	26%
Median household income	$42,2062015-2019	$48,5122020-2024	+15%	Within the margin of error	23%
Poverty rate	8.8%2015-2019	16.7%2020-2024	+7.9 points	Declined	7%
Rent as share of income	30.3%2015-2019	32.8%2020-2024	+2.5 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Rent-burdened households	50.7%2015-2019	52.2%2020-2024	+1.5 points	Within the margin of error	50%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	12.8%2015-2019	9.0%2020-2024	−3.8 points	Within the margin of error	81%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Hill City, Kansas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Hill City, Kansas in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Hill City, Kansas itself moved −5.6 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

1,511 residents (±136)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

748 households (±74)

Hill City, Kansas
Kansas share

Under $25k25%†190
$25k–50k28%209
$50k–75k17%†125

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

748 households (±74)

Hill City, Kansas
Kansas share

Own69%513
Rent31%235

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−9.9 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

745 workers (±84)

Hill City, Kansas
Kansas share

Drive alone84%626
Carpool5.0%†37
Public transit0.0%0

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Graham County, the county holding most of Hill City's residents.

Graham County has 91 employer establishments, 384 for every 10,000 residents (1.55× the US rate of 248; 1.49× Kansas's), with 588 paid employees at an average annual pay of $39,310. The Census Bureau also counts 308 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 91; 308 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 384; US 248 · Kansas 258
Paid employees: 588
Average annual pay: $39,310; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Graham County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	9	38	2.45×Too few to compare	20	$45,000	30
Religious organizations	6	25.3	4.56×Too few to compare	16	$14,875	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	5	21.1	4.19×Too few to compare	8	$28,750	6
Restaurants and other eating places	5	21.1	1.15×Too few to compare	34	$10,618	—
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	4	16.9	5.36×Too few to compare	3	$51,667	4
Full-service restaurants	4	16.9	2.20×Too few to compare	26	$13,077	—
Banks and credit unions	3	12.7	3.92×Too few to compare	25	$81,360	—
Building equipment contractors	3	12.7	2.10×Too few to compare	7	$38,714	3
Commercial and industrial machinery repair	3	12.7	18.6×Too few to compare	5	$65,600	—
Truck transportation	3	12.7	2.50×Too few to compare	3	$35,667	8
Accounting, tax preparation and payroll services	0	0	0.00×Too few to compare	0	—	7
Advertising, public relations and related services	0	0	0.00×Too few to compare	0	—	—

Rank places for an industry Open Graham County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 2,370 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

No federal contract obligations recorded here in FY2026.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Hill City is mostly in Graham County.

See federal money in Graham County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Hill City, Kansas is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Tracey MannR-KS-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 100%Missed 0.3%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Graham County69100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Graham County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2032175

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends