Why Kansas Has So Few Americans Compared To Missouri And Colorado 

Hint for the city dwellers. Land is put to its most valuable use. The Kansas prairie is ideal for growing wheat. Wheat farming is most efficient when done on large plots of land. Kansas produces 25 times the amount of wheat needed to feed the entire human population of the U.S. Even beyond that, it produces massive amounts of other grains. These products are sold on an international market, so, by definition, increasing the supply of food, lowers the price of food internationally. Besides that, this productivity helps make the U.S. food independent. Food independence is actually a national security asset. Can we please give Kansas farmers some appreciation for how darn good they are at what they do? I just finished eating a lovely grilled sourdough chicken sandwich. The bread was deeee-li-cious! Beyond all the practical matters, there are few sights more beautiful than looking out over acres of golden wheat stalks waving in the wind. It looks like a "wheat ocean" makes a beautiful swishing sound which is as soothing as listening to ocean waves. In the summer, the sky is the most intense blue I have ever seen. In some places, you can see a 360-degree horizon: intense blue sky above, waving gold wheat below. Also, the ripe wheat produces a lovely soft aroma. O.K. you can go back to the city now.

Was driving thru western Kansas in 1980. Developed a leaky tire around 6 pm and pulled into a small town gas station. The owner was closing but stayed to fix my tire and only charged me $1.00. I have never forgotten his kindness. Good reflection on my time in Kansas.

I’ve lived here my entire life. Both sides of my family have been here since the 1800’s. I’ve traveled everywhere.. There’s still no place like home!

I moved to Kansas from Texas originally back in 2013 and I tell ya what, I enjoy the lack of population here. It’s peaceful! There’s hardly traffic in Wichita. Everyone else can go to Colorado and Missouri, go populate those states. I like my peace and quiet in Kansas 😂

Big, mechanized agriculture doesn't require a lot of workers. I rode my bicycle east to west across Kansas in 2018 on the route of the National Old Trails Highway. I was surprised to find that so many of the fine old farm houses were left vacant, bought up by big agriculture companies. Small towns had a forlorn feeling about them with big empty churches and long forgotten businesses. Never the less, I greatly enjoyed the Kansas part of my journey as it was all new to me. What a country! Never boring.

Nobody seems to show how beautiful the Flint Hills are in central Kansas.

BTW: "Osage" is pron "O-sage" like the spice. "Ute" is one syllable: "yout."

Kansas is full! Stay were you are!

Because their chasing the bright lights and big cities. The easy laid back life as a Kansan is what I desire. It fits me perfectly. Proud Kansan here !!!

As a Kansas resident for my entire life I love the Great Plains. There’s nothing more beautiful than the sun setting on a beautiful day as you can see for miles all around you

I worked in Topeka Kansas putting in Fiber Optic cables. Some of the nicest folks that I've met.

Driving on I-70 in Grainfield when we broke down (which turned into our rear differential going out). Everyone was so nice. We wanted pizza and the only restaurant was a pizza restaurant. The owner let our dog come in and gave her water, and helped us find a tow truck and hotel and drove us to Quinter (14 mi. away) to our hotel

Missouri is full of small towns. You will not feel isolated when you drive through Missouri because of the frequency of towns.

Take eastern Kansas. Woods, rivers, birds, parks, and Johnson County, Kansas, one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. (How could you miss Johnson County?) The farther west you go, the drier and flatter the land becomes. Water becomes harder to find. In some places, the wind blows so much it gets right under your skin. People complain that western Kansas is flat and boring, but that's because they are riding in I-70. Naturally the engineers picked the flattest land to build the freeway on. Duh! If you like nature, there is lots to see off the freeway in Kansas.

I have lived in Kansas a couple of different times in my lifetime. I first moved there as a 9-year-old child when my dad was stationed there in the military. My dad was reassigned to Kansas when I was about 16. Now, I do a lot of over-the-road traveling throughout the entire country. (No, I'm not a trucker.) I currently live on the heavily populated East Coast, where I experience congestion and bumper-to-bumper traffic nearly every day. When I'm traveling across country, I find it a great pleasure to drive through Kansas without having to deal with any traffic jams!! The people I've encountered from Kansas have always been polite and friendly. Furthermore, I also love the wide-open spaces of Kansas, where one can see for miles all around. I miss that openness living on the East Coast. This Texan gives Kansas a 👍!

I was born and raised in Kansas and have lived here my whole life. I love being a Kansan and I wouldn't move except to another town, as I'm tired of driving 50 miles round trip to the next town for groceries because the one here in town went out of business over 5 years ago. I'm a senior lady living in a tiny town and that 50 miles gets awful tiring. Hopefully I can get to move before I'm to old to do so. Ha! Kansas is a great state to live in and I don't care what others think because at least I don't have to worry about hurricanes, mountains, blizzards, haven't been in one yet, volcanoes or whatever. God bless.

I am born and raised in new jersey, 3 years ago i was a otr trucker. When i tell your people in missouri,kansas and colorado are way to nice man. Those people over there seem so happy and relaxed.

My husband and I bought a house in eastern Kansas last year. We chose Kansas for it's affordable housing and lower cost of living over all. But before we settled on a particular area we had travel through Kansas several times sast to west and north to south. Frankly western Kansas is so windy that I couldn't take it. But I love eastern Kansas, the flint hills, lush landscape and rich history. Our small town is wonderful too. Neighbors talk to one another, kids still play in their front yards and it feels safe! My only complaint is that the restaurants are not very good. But the local donut shop is awesome. 😂

I'm unsure why you left out Kansas City in favour of St. Louis and even Ft. Leavenworth. KC was a major setting off point and outfitting for the westward wagon trains and settlers. Later, it was also the hub in the US for cattle hence the nickname 'Cowtown'. When I was a boy the cattle-yards in the West Bottoms were immense.

Fun fact, when Denver was founded, it was in the western part of Kansas territory. Also in terms of average rainfall, Eastern Kansas is vastly different from western Kansas. Some parts of western Kansas average less than 10 inches of rain per year, and the Pittsburg area of SE Kansas averages around 46-47 inches. That's why the bulk of Kansas residents live in the eastern half. Eastern Kansas isn't immune to drought, but it was only a tiny part of western Kansas that was affected the Dust Bowl. Irrigation is extremely rare east of Wichita, because it's super rarely needed.

There was massive growth in South Central Kansas during World War II. It was centered in and around Wichita where B-29's were manufactured by Boeing at what was at that time the largest factory in the world. Most of Kansas' growth has been in the metro areas in Eastern half of the state with population densities similar to that of Missouri and Colorado as a whole. The Western half of Kansas is relatively very empty by comparison. Just a couple of things you might have overlooked. t.Kansas born and raised

I’m from Kansas and I don’t mind the geography at all, when I went to the east coast it felt weird constantly being surrounded by huge trees and not being able to see around you

Kansas has 2.9 million people. If it tried to have even 5 or 6 million the aquifer would be pumped dry in an attempt to obtain enough water for household use alone.

no one who has ever been to western kansas would be confused about why this is.

I grew up in Topeka and now live in Overland Park. The KC area (Lawrence included) is about the only area of the state that outsiders would even consider living in since it has all the amenities of a 2+ million person city. Wichita is ok, but the only reason you'd move there from another state is due to cheaper housing. Outside of that, Kansas is pretty sparsely populated and dotted with small towns. There are no mountains, no coastline, and our weather isn't what most people are looking for. Winters are generally too long and summers are too hot. May/June and September/October are pretty nice though.

Small correction. Spanish settlers did not name the region of Colorado. Spain just named the river (which flows through a lot of other former Spanish territories), and Americans later named the territory/state in 1861. Spanish Colorado was part of the New Mexico region of New Spain. (Southern California had earlier in 1859 considered separating into a new state called Colorado.) EDIT: See @b.y.2460's reply for a comment to my earlier post that said that the state was named after the river (now removed that part).

Kansas, which covers an area of 81,823 square miles, has a population, almost that of Mongolia, (3.3 Million). Mongolia, a totally land-locked Country, which covers 603,909 square miles, is the world's most sparsely populated Sovereign State. BTW, I lived there, my wife, Master's Degree in Linguistics, Mongolian/English & my daughter were born in Ulaanbaatar. 🙂

For much of the 19th century, Missouri was the fastest growing region because 1) it was the “jumping off place” for anyone going wet; 2) it’s fertile soil and moderate climate; 3) it’s abundant natural resources. St. Louis is our largest metro area, but Kansas City is our largest city.

when i road-tripped through kansas from missouri to colorado, i can say the first 2 ish hours (in eastern kansas) seemed normla just like in missouri with towns and cities but then the western part of kansas took like 4 hours to drive throguh with almost nothing in it apart from wind turbines and huge and mesmerizing thunderstorms if you’ve ever seen them. What’s even worse is that it extends into eastern colorado for 2 hours as well until you reach the rockies TLDR; like 70% of kansas is just a huge cornfield and is boring

Osage is pronounce Oh Sage. Until it became Colorado (when gold was discovered), the Eastern half of Colorado was Kansas territory. Much of the state depends on the Ogallala Aquifer for water. It's already shrinking. Most of Kansas doesn't have enough water to support a larger population. Especially since Colorado and Nebraska typically use more than they are allowed from shared rivers by their agreements with Kansas. Water has always been scarce for both people and agriculture; Kansas is well positioned to get screwed.

Kansas was already subdivided into large farms, leaving relatively little space for urban/suburban expansion. A farm would have to be more valuable as housing to be sold, thus a chicken and egg problem. Also urban areas generally build around geographical features. But Kansas is largely geographically featureless.

I hadn't thought of the dust bowl as a reason that Kansas lags behind Colorado and Missouri in population.

I'm from WI and drove through Kansas in 2019 and I actually loved the openness. In WI we have trees and hills everywhere, not saying that's a bad thing either. WI is a pretty state but sometimes wide open spaces do feel refreshing. I definitely don't find Kansas boring.

Colorado is almost like 2 separate states

Hi! I am from Wichita, we are a really cool town with a lot to do! Also I'm a storm chaser and western kansas has the best storm chasing terrain in the world because you can see an entire structure of a storm for miles and miles, and we have one of the best highway systems in the US :)

You just brushed over KCMO, as to its development, and contribution to western migration. At one point, Westport was a major town in the area. It is now a neighborhood of KCMO. Westport was a major outfitting/departure point for westbound wagon trains. The Missouri River was a navigable river from the confluence with the Kansas River and east. Supplies came in from the East and were unloaded in what is now KC. Those supplies were used to develop the city and support supplying the wagon trains. A major highway interchange, south of KCMO, is called the Three Trails Crossing. It's named for the historic Oregon, Santa Fe, and California Trails, that crossed close by, many years prior. KCMO population is 508K (Metro: 2.2M; area is 8.5K sq miles) St Louis population is 293K (Metro: 2.8M; area is also 8.5K sq miles)

The Great Plains of western Kansas and eastern Colorado are home to some of the most wild and wicked weather on earth. Aside from tornadic thunderstorms, that region also sees winter weather that can threaten human life. Also the Spanish were in the Missouri Ozarks long before the French. Would like to see you do a video on the Ozarks as its considered its own geographical sub-region.

Well done, Geoff, as always. Thanks!

This is my first time enjoying your RU-vid channel. Great content! Looking forward to hearing more from you! Your video was so informative. Thank you so much!

Great video Geoff!

Geoff, I really enjoy your channel, and all your segments including this one, kudos to you! For this one, the title was to me a bit misleading -- use of "Americans" when the context makes it clear what you really mean is "inhabitants" or "residents". Cheers!

I used to work for what is now a military-industrial company in Wichita, Kansas called Weckworth-Langdon. They got their start in manufacturing stage coach canopies to much later, providing the conductive gold back plate to one of the Mercury Space modules. You can see those items at the Kansas Space Museum in Hutchinson, KS.

Great content !! Very well structured . Good job!!

great video! Thanks!

Lived in Kansas much of my life. Been a lot of other places. If you can find a job here its a hell of a lot nicer than many other places. Kansan proud.

wow! i love your channel thank you.

The Dust Bowl wasn't the reason that Kansas has fewer people than Missouri or Colorado. Kansas was larger than Colorado all of the way through, and including, the 1970 census, The Dust Bowl was almost 4 decades in the rear view mirror at that point. If I had to pick one thing it would be the reliance on agriculture in Kansas and the diversification of employment opportunities in the other states as the reason. Farming has become centralized and there are fewer, but larger, farms.

I grew up there and it was a good place to grow up. Most people have to leave as adults though because it’s too hard to make a living. I would go back if I wasn’t settled elsewhere now

The 5 most populous counties in Kansas make up about 3% of land area, yet have 66% of the states population. Those 5 counties are Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, Wyandotte and Douglas, those make up the KC/Topeka and Wichita metro areas.

Love your videos. I’ve always believed that geography is responsible for the economic development (or non development) of an area.

I was born in Wichita in 1941 and my parents bought a small farm about 10 miles east of Wichita where I grew up. The land was still showing the damage of the dust bowl years during my childhood. There were features on our main pasture such as 'buffalo wallows" which were circular depressions left from the large animals rolling on the turf to ward off pests with the dust. They habitually used these until they were about 8" deep and would not support any vegetation within them. Vegetation other than the prairies grasses was still sparse except for the rows of hedges that divided the fields which were scraggly and dry. By the 1950s, the picture was beginning to change and our area was home to jack rabbits and cotton tail rabbits in abundance. Nowadays, there are no jacks and few cottontails to be seen.

People drive through i70 and think that's all KS is. Get off the highway, there is more to see.

Wichita has many aircraft plants and brings in people from all over the world. It has a history of entrepreneurship and many restaurant chains have started there. There is a thriving music scene. It doesn’t have tourist trap things like amusement parks but does have theatre, the best movie theaters, IMAX included, and museums for all ages. Affordable housing and low unemployment make it a good place to live.

You’re not gonna see the beauty of Kansas from an interstate. There’s a lot to see in Kansas it’s beautiful land.

I never even thought about this. Great video

There is no god west of Salina. Most people can't take the haunting emptiness. But there should be vast areas where few people live. It all comes down to water in the end.

Colorado Springs was never much of an industrial city. You need to go a bit further south for the next largest industrial city outside of the Denver Metro region, and that would be to Pueblo. Besides these two cities, most of Colorado’s industrialization was very dispersed and bestoke to the needs of mining and ranching.

I am a Western historian and I'm familiar especially with the history of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains Your descriptions of Colorado's historical development are often grossly inaccurate and obviously poorly researched. For example, the "Pikes Peak" gold rush of 1859 actually occurred far from Pikes Peak (though named for it) in the mountains near Denver and near Leadville. It was over by the early 1860's. Colorado Springs was not even established until 1870, then as a resort town. It was the silver mining boom that started in the early 1870's through 1893 that was Colorado's first major economic and population boom. After that, Colorado's population grew slowly--some places not at all--until World War II and after. Until after World War II, Pueblo and Denver were the industrial centers of Colorado.

For one thing, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis is a bit of a misconception. Almost all of the old pioneer trails that went west started in Independence MO, a modern suburb of Kansas City MO. Yes the Louis and Clark expedition started in St. Louis, but by the time of mass westward expansion in the 19th century the goalposts had already moved from the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, to the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers (KC). It was also the edge of the great forested region of the east and the grass prairie of the west - which was arguably the legitimate practical border of 'the west' back then. But more to your point, it's a simple matter of urban center locations and where the state boundaries were drawn. If you take out the St. Louis, Kansas City, and Denver metropolitan areas, all three states would be much closer in population. I mean, Kansas City KS alone (KC straddles the state line) is easily half of all of Kansas' population. The next biggest city in Kansas is Wichita, which is only like ~20% the population of KC Kansas...and that's not including the MO side. The Dust Bowl was a long time ago, and it doesn't explain why the population has remained low after a century of relatively disaster-free agriculture (tornados are less damaging and rarer than people think). What better explains the difference is the general trend for urban migration that is true over pretty much the entire nation. Kansas land is way more valuable as farmland, while forested areas (especially along rivers) are much more suited for transition to urban centers. There's a reason Denver is situated right at the foothills of the Rockies (after the gold ran out!), and not randomly somewhere on Colorado's eastern plains. Good farmland, and ranchland for that matter, are almost always going to have lower populations simply because of the nature of efficient land use.

Western Kansas isn’t fit for man nor beast, I use to say the Kansas State tree was a telephone pole but now days I think it’s a wind turbine, All that being said I have to say the people in Kansas are very nice folks

(last time i check) Kansas is one of the last states to offer homestead-free plots to build a house if you move there. However, the type of people they want are business creators. So you have to be able to build your home and be self-sustainable. (the requirements are kindda high considering, the value is around of the land is like 1500USD)

High taxes, pathetic politicians, corrupt systems, don't come here...

I don't even think Kansas the state was organized as a territory when Kansas City, MO was established. Kansas City's name has nothing to do with the state

Geo - I studied geography at the Univ of KS as 1 of my univ's and I love it there. When I moved there from CO though, many people thought "KS? That is the end of the world!" to which I reply, The Great Plains are beautiful in their own way, and #2 - get off the interstates to see the real towns and landscapes!

Because. Missouri has the Ozarks. Colorado has the Rockies. Kansas has the land that is not empty, it feeds not just the tourists, but a good chunk of the world. You cant grow a worlds worth of grain, and build condos in the same place. Weve all got our own priorities.

I forgot to mention the climate. From bitterly cold to scorching hot, with thunderstorms, snowstorms and the occasional tornado.

NIce work, very interesting

I lived in Colorado most of my life(65 years). I now live in Kansas just SW of KC. Yes, It's boring. It hasn't much to offer except for on thing. It's one hell of a lot less stressful. Being retired, living in Colorado was a continuous rat race no matter where you went or what you did. Each year it got worse. Horrendous traffic, hoards of people everywhere, and each year more and more people moving in. In short, Colorado is being loved to death. I miss Colorado, but I was saying that several years before I moved away.

You're a good man Geoff. Thanks for all the great videos.

Even though the saying is Pikes Peak or bust, the first gold and silver rushes were near Denver, not Colorado Springs.

Great video! Just subbed!

Same, love my home state! Truly beautiful in a unique way. But I left and settled in the northeast, never going back.

Things have never been the same since dorothy got taken by the tornado.😔

The real question is why Colorado has such a relatively large population.

Hey Kansas City resident here ... Showing John brown when you said pro slavery settlers was misleading and Kansas city was the last and largest railroad hub when it was established and for several decades Kansas City was the last stop of railroad because we were a slaughter town.. not to mention Colorado was originally part of the ks territory the dust bowls impact on Kansas city metro most of the populations Exodus and the Navy coming here after Pearl harbor was attacked... Building massive tunnels to house the American Way of Life in case of nuclear war ... Nuclear silos all over ... So much more ... Keep it up!!!

Lived in Kansas for 8 years, most peaceful years of my life Ong nothing ever happens other than big rain storms and a tornado every now and then but it’s chill

Sadly, the middle child is usually ignored. Sees Kansas in the middle... Jokes aside, I have family there, so I've spent time in Topeka and enjoyed the Waterpark in Wichita back in the 90's.

Seriously, Wichita is like Car Guy Central for RU-vidrs (Hoovie’s Garage, Car Wizard, Car Ninja, etc.)! 😎

Geography nerds' favorite RU-vid channel!😂❤

As a resident of St Louis, and frequent visitor to Colorado, I found your content interesting and compelling. I once drove across Nebraska en route from California to Chicago, and it seems to suffer the same geographical constraints as Kansas. Thanks for posting.

Hello from Kansas 🇺🇸

Not one mention of Kansas City? About 40% of Kansans live in the Kansas City metro area, so way far eastern Kansas and more attached to western Missouri than the remainder of Kansas. The KC metro area is fascinating with the state line going right through the middle of the metro area

Also the 100th Meridian runs right through Dodge City, Kansas. It was considered the line that divided the east from the west.

I have never heard the Osage Indians pronounced “Oh-sag-a” and I grew up in Missouri. I believe it is pronounced “Oh-sage”.

You get North of Oklahoma and the winters are just brutal with cold winds...that's why the the population drops off as you go further North.

It feels like Kansas City is in view here but gets completely ignored except for the one line at the beginning about it being on the KS/MO border. You're missing a big part of the story by ignoring us in KC.

I drove cross-country during Hurricane Andrew in August 1992. As I crossed the Continental Divide in Colorado heading east the weather suddenly went absolutely crazy. I drove through the heaviest rain I’ve ever experienced all the way to Salina, Kansas. Suddenly the clouds disappeared, and the sky was incredibly blue. But there was also a huge field with thousands and thousands of giant sunflowers. Brilliant yellow and brilliant green set against the brilliant blue sky. I would be hard pressed to recall a more beautiful site. Truly. Thirty-two years later I still recall what may be the most beautiful site I’ve ever seen.

Good to hear about the history of CO, KS & MO.

I had a feeling you would mention the dust bowl and the Great Depression of the 1930s. I wasn’t surprised at all.

Despite the dust bowl and it happening neraly 100 years ago, it is still weird that there is still such a stark contrast between Kansas and Colorado and Missouri,

I'm a Kansan, born & bred. Good video, Geoff! Thanks.

Colorado: Mineral wealth, legal marijuana, Denver is very well positioned for air traffic from east to west and north to south. Mountains and national parks for tourism. Missouri: Borders a major shipping lane, well connected by all 4 major freight railroads, mineral deposits, mountains in the south for tourism. Kansas: *FLAT*

Basically from the flint hills in eastern third of kansas to the front range is the desert plains.

The pay for people starting out in Kansas is as low as it gets anywhere in America. When they say minimum wage, they mean the $7.25 kind. The only thing for young people to do is leave. When you are earning double elsewhere, there is no reason to go back. Kansas will always have a population drain for that reason.

Hey… I live in KS! OP represent.

Where's my western Kansans at! Just me here? 😅

Western Kansas is just too damn windy for me, I can't stand that constant North or South wind

Interesting fact abbout the population density of Kansas: There are more people who live in Johnson County (Basically suburban KC) than live in all of Kansas west of I-135/US 81.

It’s very simple: it’s full of grassland and farms, which require massive amounts of space, meaning less people.

I thought it was because Kansas doesn’t have legal weed while both Missouri and Colorado do. I’m not serious and yes I live in Kansas. And yes we will be the last damn state to do so.