Which Kansas counties score best for off-grid living?

Of the 105 Kansas counties we have scored, Marion County scores highest at 95 and Stevens County lowest at 79. Kansas ranks 27th of 50 overall, at 86 out of 100 (Good with caveats). Food separates its counties most: 8 to 15 out of 15.

Updated 2026-09-27 · 105 counties · 523 spots of private rural land scored

Good with caveatsKansas ranks 27th of 50, 86 out of 100, in the Best States ranking: the typical parcel on the state's private rural land, with each scored spot weighted by the land it stands for. On a fresh draw of counties it would rank between #23 and #27. City counties with little private rural land have no page, and any parcel can be scored, free, below.

Every scored county in Kansas, best score first

Find a county105 counties


Marion → 12 people / sq mi	95	21	20	14	15	15	10
Dickinson → 22 people / sq mi	94	21	20	14	14	15	10
Morris → 8 people / sq mi	94	20	20	14	15	15	10
Nemaha → 14 people / sq mi	94	21	20	14	14	15	10
Sedgwick → 530 people / sq mi	94	21	20	14	14	15	10
Shawnee → 327 people / sq mi	94	20	20	14	15	15	10
Douglas → 265 people / sq mi	93	21	20	14	14	14	10
Ellsworth → 9 people / sq mi	93	20	20	14	14	15	10
Jackson → 20 people / sq mi	93	19	20	14	15	15	10
Leavenworth → 180 people / sq mi	93	19	20	14	15	15	10
Lincoln → 4 people / sq mi	93	20	20	14	14	15	10
Rice → 13 people / sq mi	93	20	20	14	14	15	10
Atchison → 37 people / sq mi	92	20	20	13	14	15	10
Bourbon → 23 people / sq mi	92	20	20	14	14	14	10
Brown → 16 people / sq mi	92	19	20	14	14	15	10
Clay → 12 people / sq mi	92	20	20	14	14	14	10
Coffey → 13 people / sq mi	92	19	20	14	15	14	10
Geary → 91 people / sq mi	92	20	20	14	14	14	10
Johnson → 1314 people / sq mi	92	19	19	14	15	15	10
Labette → 31 people / sq mi	92	20	20	14	15	13	10
McPherson → 34 people / sq mi	92	20	19	14	14	15	10
Pottawatomie → 31 people / sq mi	92	19	20	14	14	15	10
Republic → 6 people / sq mi	92	20	20	14	14	14	10
Smith → 4 people / sq mi	92	19	20	14	15	14	10
Sumner → 19 people / sq mi	92	20	20	14	13	15	10
Washington → 6 people / sq mi	92	19	20	14	14	15	10
Cherokee → 32 people / sq mi	91	23	20	14	14	13	7
Cloud → 12 people / sq mi	91	18	20	14	14	15	10
Harper → 7 people / sq mi	91	20	20	14	13	14	10
Jefferson → 34 people / sq mi	91	18	20	14	14	15	10
Marshall → 11 people / sq mi	91	18	20	14	14	15	10
Ottawa → 8 people / sq mi	91	18	20	13	15	15	10
Wabaunsee → 9 people / sq mi	91	18	20	14	14	15	10
Allen → 25 people / sq mi	90	18	19	14	14	15	10
Harvey → 62 people / sq mi	90	19	20	14	14	13	10
Jewell → 3 people / sq mi	90	18	20	14	14	14	10
Montgomery → 48 people / sq mi	90	19	20	14	14	13	10
Osage → 22 people / sq mi	90	18	19	14	14	15	10
Osborne → 4 people / sq mi	90	17	20	14	15	14	10
Barton → 28 people / sq mi	89	19	18	14	14	14	10
Butler → 48 people / sq mi	89	20	20	14	12	14	9
Miami → 61 people / sq mi	89	16	20	14	15	14	10
Pawnee → 8 people / sq mi	89	18	20	14	14	13	10
Reno → 49 people / sq mi	89	20	20	14	14	12	9
Rush → 4 people / sq mi	89	18	19	14	15	13	10
Saline → 74 people / sq mi	89	21	20	13	14	14	7
Chautauqua → 5 people / sq mi	88	17	20	14	15	14	8
Crawford → 66 people / sq mi	88	18	20	14	14	12	10
Doniphan → 19 people / sq mi	88	17	20	13	14	14	10
Elk → 4 people / sq mi	88	17	20	14	14	14	9
Mitchell → 8 people / sq mi	88	17	20	14	13	14	10
Phillips → 5 people / sq mi	88	18	19	14	15	12	10
Pratt → 12 people / sq mi	88	18	20	14	13	13	10
Riley → 117 people / sq mi	88	20	19	14	14	14	7
Woodson → 6 people / sq mi	88	18	20	14	15	14	7
Franklin → 46 people / sq mi	87	15	20	14	14	14	10
Graham → 3 people / sq mi	87	17	20	14	15	11	10
Kingman → 8 people / sq mi	87	19	15	14	14	15	10
Linn → 17 people / sq mi	87	19	20	14	14	13	7
Lyon → 38 people / sq mi	87	18	20	14	11	15	9
Norton → 6 people / sq mi	87	17	20	14	15	11	10
Trego → 3 people / sq mi	87	17	20	14	15	11	10
Wilson → 15 people / sq mi	87	18	20	14	15	13	7
Anderson → 14 people / sq mi	86	17	20	14	15	13	7
Chase → 3 people / sq mi	86	18	20	14	11	14	9
Edwards → 4 people / sq mi	86	18	20	14	11	13	10
Ellis → 32 people / sq mi	86	16	20	14	14	12	10
Gove → 3 people / sq mi	86	17	19	14	15	11	10
Neosho → 27 people / sq mi	86	18	20	14	14	13	7
Ness → 2 people / sq mi	86	17	20	14	14	11	10
Rooks → 5 people / sq mi	86	14	20	14	15	13	10
Scott → 7 people / sq mi	86	17	20	14	15	10	10
Sheridan → 3 people / sq mi	86	17	19	15	15	10	10
Decatur → 3 people / sq mi	85	16	19	15	15	10	10
Finney → 29 people / sq mi	85	16	20	14	15	10	10
Gray → 7 people / sq mi	85	17	20	14	14	10	10
Greeley → 2 people / sq mi	85	16	20	15	15	9	10
Hodgeman → 2 people / sq mi	85	17	19	14	14	11	10
Rawlins → 2 people / sq mi	85	16	19	15	15	10	10
Russell → 8 people / sq mi	85	13	20	14	15	13	10
Stafford → 5 people / sq mi	85	18	19	14	13	12	9
Thomas → 7 people / sq mi	85	16	19	15	15	10	10
Wichita → 3 people / sq mi	85	16	20	15	15	9	10
Wyandotte → 1090 people / sq mi	85	19	18	13	14	13	8
Clark → 2 people / sq mi	84	16	20	14	13	11	10
Comanche → 2 people / sq mi	84	17	19	14	12	13	9
Cowley → 30 people / sq mi	84	17	20	14	12	14	7
Ford → 31 people / sq mi	84	17	20	14	12	11	10
Greenwood → 5 people / sq mi	84	16	20	14	12	13	9
Kearny → 4 people / sq mi	84	16	20	14	15	9	10
Lane → 2 people / sq mi	84	16	19	14	15	10	10
Logan → 3 people / sq mi	84	16	19	15	15	9	10
Wallace → 2 people / sq mi	84	16	20	15	15	8	10
Barber → 4 people / sq mi	83	18	17	14	12	13	9
Cheyenne → 3 people / sq mi	83	16	19	15	15	8	10
Hamilton → 2 people / sq mi	83	16	17	15	15	10	10
Meade → 4 people / sq mi	83	16	19	14	14	10	10
Seward → 33 people / sq mi	83	16	20	14	14	9	10
Kiowa → 3 people / sq mi	82	18	20	14	10	11	9
Sherman → 6 people / sq mi	82	15	19	15	15	8	10
Grant → 12 people / sq mi	81	13	20	14	15	9	10
Haskell → 6 people / sq mi	81	14	19	14	15	9	10
Morton → 4 people / sq mi	81	15	18	15	15	8	10
Stanton → 3 people / sq mi	80	14	19	14	15	8	10
Stevens → 7 people / sq mi	79	14	18	14	15	8	10

Score is out of 100: Water 25, Legal 20, Solar 15, Hazard 15, Food 15, Buildability 10. Green cells score 80% or better of their maximum; amber cells under 70%.

Where the good land is

93% of Kansas's private rural land scores Good with caveats or better (80 or more). The strongest counties are Marion, Dickinson and Morris. The weakest are Stevens, Stanton and Grant. Where the land falls short, it is most often on growing food (season, soil and water for crops) and water (rain, wells and salty or weak wells).

What separates them

Food: Marion County scores 15 of 15, Stevens County 8. Soil quality, frost-free growing days, and rainfall: what decides whether you can actually feed yourself and your animals.
Water: Cherokee County scores 23 of 25, Grant County 13. Drinking, system, and irrigation water, the #1 reason off-grid and homestead plans collapse. A low score means a deep, costly well or hauled water.
Hazard: Marion County scores 15 of 15, Kiowa County 10. Flood, wildfire, seismic, and severe-weather exposure: the risks that raise insurance and build cost or strand a parcel.
Buildability: Marion County scores 10 of 10, Cowley County 7. Slope, the septic the ground needs, footings, and the county's land price. A steep or soggy lot that fails a septic test is the dealbreaker photos hide.
Legal: Marion County scores 20 of 20, Kingman County 15. Whether you can reach the land and live on it: road access, distance to emergency care, internet and cell, and how built up the area is, which decides how many lot-size, livestock, and zoning rules you will meet.

Solar barely moves across the sample: the counties score within two points of each other there, so those are state-level facts, not county choices.

The state's soft spot

Water is Kansas's weakest dimension, at 18 of 25 for the state as a whole. Drinking, system, and irrigation water, the #1 reason off-grid and homestead plans collapse. A low score means a deep, costly well or hauled water. Getting a parcel here off-grid runs $29k to $124k by our estimates across these counties, before the house. The full Kansas row in the Best States ranking has the state-wide spread and how the popular off-grid guides rank it.

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Before you buy in Kansas

The scores read the physical land. Whether you may legally live on it is a separate question, and it changes at the county line: Is it legal to live off-grid in Kansas? covers zoning, building code, septic, and wells for the state, with the counties that opt out. For the reason water carries a quarter of the score, how you get water on off-grid land is the read. And the five-point check is the order to do it in.

Good with caveatsKansas: 86 of 100, 27th of 50. A good state is not a good parcel. Score the one you are looking at, free, in about a minute.

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