City · Geary County, Kansas

Junction City, Kansas

Junction City is a city in Geary County, Kansas, part of the Manhattan, KS metro area. It has 22,331 residents. Junction City, Kansas has a quality-of-life score of 33 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,445 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Kansas it ranks #170 of 202 cities and towns. It ranks best on dentists (high), time spent in the emergency room (low) and drought exposure (low). It ranks worst on voter turnout (low), firearm deaths (high) and mammography screening (low).

33Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,445 of 15,651 cities and towns
Kansas: #170 of 202 in KS
Population: 22,331 (2020-2024)
Land area: 12 mi²
Density: 1,934.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 2035750

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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.

Safety17#12,958/15,637
Economy21#12,365/15,631
Housing91#1,319/14,977
Health28#11,281/15,609
Healthcare35#10,170/15,650
Environment49#7,848/15,453
Education63#5,838/15,649
Infrastructure65#5,421/15,650
Community20#12,482/15,651
Leisure & amenities10#14,008/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Junction City, Kansas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Geary 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

Dentists · high143 /100k
100/100Kansas 64 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGeary County value
Time spent in the emergency room · low86 min
99/100Kansas 129 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesGeary County value
Drought exposure · low0%
98/100Kansas 28%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAGeary County value
Rent-burdened households · low36.8%
98/100Kansas 43.5%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Rent as share of income · low25.3%
95/100Kansas 27.1%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Average commute time · low19.0 min
91/100Kansas 19.7 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013

Weaknesses

Voter turnout · low39.4%
1/100Kansas 62.9%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionGeary County value
Firearm deaths · high31.4 /100k
2/100Kansas 16.2 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataGeary County value
Mammography screening · low32.0%
3/100Kansas 50.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGeary County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Kansas 4.7 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyGeary County value
Mental health care shortage · high19.0
4/100Kansas 9.4United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationGeary County value
Food environment index · low6.1
4/100Kansas 7.0United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGeary County value

Trends

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

New homes permittedImproving
0.4 /1k (2023) → 2.2 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+402%3 yearsUS 4.5 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
81.4% (2015-2019) → 93.4% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Poverty rateWorsening
12.2% (2015-2019) → 17.5% (2020-2024)
+5.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Child poverty rateWorsening
20.3% (2015-2019) → 24.6% (2020-2024)
+4.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
22.1% (2015-2019) → 25.6% (2020-2024)
+3.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Median household incomeImproving
$53,932 (2015-2019) → $61,181 (2020-2024)
+13%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604

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, Junction City, Kansas improved on 1 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 12 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.

Improved1

Broadband+12 points81.4% → 93.4%

Declined1

Poverty+5.2 points12.2% → 17.5%

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Junction City, Kansas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.9 min2015-2019	19.0 min2020-2024	+1.1 min	Within the margin of error	35%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.1%2015-2019	25.6%2020-2024	+3.5 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Broadband subscriptions	81.4%2015-2019	93.4%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	69%
Child poverty rate	20.3%2015-2019	24.6%2020-2024	+4.3 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Effective property tax rate	1.83%2015-2019	1.56%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	70%
High school diploma or higher	92.6%2015-2019	91.5%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Home price to income ratio	2.7×2015-2019	2.8×2020-2024	+0.1×	Within the margin of error	71%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3642015-2019	0.3772020-2024	+0.013	Within the margin of error	40%
Median household income	$53,9322015-2019	$61,1812020-2024	+13%	Within the margin of error	21%
Poverty rate	12.2%2015-2019	17.5%2020-2024	+5.2 points	Declined	12%
Rent as share of income	25.3%2015-2019	25.3%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	55%
Rent-burdened households	38.4%2015-2019	36.8%2020-2024	−1.5 points	Within the margin of error	62%
Unemployment rate	4.4%2015-2019	6.2%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	18%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	9.1%2015-2019	10.3%2020-2024	+1.3 points	Within the margin of error	32%

“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 Junction City, Kansas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Junction 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, Junction City, Kansas itself moved −0.7 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

22,331 residents (±27)

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

9,526 households (±332)

Junction City, Kansas
Kansas share

Under $25k14%1,313
$25k–50k25%2,414
$50k–75k21%1,960

Homes

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

Owners and renters

9,526 households (±332)

Junction City, Kansas
Kansas share

Own50%4,802
Rent50%4,724

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+8.3 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

10,718 workers (±469)

Junction City, Kansas
Kansas share

Drive alone80%8,536
Carpool9.1%974
Public transit1.1%†115

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Manhattan, KS

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 Geary County, the county holding most of Junction City's residents.

Geary County has 566 employer establishments, 161 for every 10,000 residents (0.65× the US rate of 248; 0.62× Kansas's), with 7,910 paid employees at an average annual pay of $42,735. The Census Bureau also counts 1,814 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 566; 1,814 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 161; US 248 · Kansas 258
Paid employees: 7,910
Average annual pay: $42,735; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	52	14.8	0.80×About typical	931	$18,598	13
Lessors of real estate	43	12.2	0.99×About typical	227	$43,652	144
Ambulatory health care services	33	9.4	0.45×Fewer than typical	359	$56,111	49
Limited-service restaurants	25	7.1	0.88×About typical	548	$18,277	3
Specialty trade contractors	23	6.5	0.42×Fewer than typical	122	$65,926	79
Full-service restaurants	20	5.7	0.74×Fewer than typical	282	$20,670	6
Warehousing and storage	20	5.7	8.88×More than typical	681	$32,386	—
Real estate agents and brokers	19	5.4	1.11×About typical	43	$32,070	46
Religious organizations	18	5.1	0.92×About typical	90	$22,978	—
Services to buildings and dwellings	18	5.1	0.76×Fewer than typical	59	$21,085	82
Automotive repair and maintenance	17	4.8	0.96×About typical	73	$33,014	31
Banks and credit unions	13	3.7	1.14×About typical	175	$63,931	—

Rank places for an industry Open Geary County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 35,228 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

In FY2026, an estimated $78K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Junction City, Kansas: $3.50 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $78K; −44% vs FY2025
Per resident: $3.50; US $1,995
Sole-source: 15%; US 30%
Single offer: 8.5%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

ENGSTROMS WELDING & MACHINE, INC.$31.5K40%
STRATEGIC MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SOLUTIONS, LLC$22.7K29%
VALLEY VIEW SENIOR LIFE, LLC$8,67111%
JCIII ENTERPRISES LLC$4,1565.3%
GEARY COUNTY SHERIFF$2,8513.7%

Spending by fiscal year

90.5KFY2017
112.9KFY2018
108.4KFY2019
391KFY2020
413.3KFY2021
95.9KFY2022
109.5KFY2023
110.7K

Top industries (NAICS)

Management, scientific, and technical consulting services · 5416$22.7K29%
Cutlery and handtool manufacturing · 3322$11.1K14%
Semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing · 3344$9,24612%
Nursing care facilities (skilled nursing facilities) · 6231$8,67111%
Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$5,1526.6%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Junction City, Kansas, so they do not add up across cities.

Junction City, Kansas's figures are part of those of Geary County, KS ($88.7M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.1% of that total.

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

See federal money in Geary 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.

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

House

Derek SchmidtR-KS-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 0.7%

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.

Geary County48100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Manhattan, KS66

Other cities and towns in Geary 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/2035750

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends