Russell County, Kansas

Russell County (standard abbreviation: RS) is a located in the  of. As of, the population is 7,370. The largest city and is.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,328 (899 ). 2,291 km² (885 sq mi) of it is land and 37 km² (14 sq mi) of it (1.59%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (south)
 * (southwest)
 * (west)

Highways
The city of Russell is the junction of, a major east-west highway through the , and , which begins at the United States-Canadian border in and ends at the U.S.-Mexican border in. I-70 also runs through Gorham on the western end of the county and Dorrance on the eastern end. is 30 miles west of Russell and is 67 miles east of Russell.

Further along I-70, Russell is approximately 250 miles west of and 360 miles east of.

, a major east-west state highway in northern Kansas, enters from Osborne County to the west and runs through Paradise before joining up with US 281 through Waldo. US 281 and K-18 split again at the city limits of Luray, and K-18 continues east through Lucas and into Lincoln County. US 281 heads north into Osborne County.

South of I-70, US 281 heads into Barton County and towards the city of.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 7,370 people, 3,207 households, and 2,020 families residing in the county. The was 3/km² (8/sq mi). There were 3,871 housing units at an average density of 2/km² (4/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 97.58%, 0.50% or , 0.56% , 0.33% , 0.01% , 0.27% from , and 0.75% from two or more races. 0.91% of the population were or  of any race.



There were 3,207 households out of which 25.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.40% were living together, 7.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.00% were non-families. 32.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.83.

In the county the population was spread out with 22.40% under the age of 18, 5.80% from 18 to 24, 23.30% from 25 to 44, 24.30% from 45 to 64, and 24.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 92.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $29,284, and the median income for a family was $40,355. Males had a median income of $25,916 versus $17,957 for females. The for the county was $17,073. About 9.10% of families and 12.00% of the population were below the, including 13.80% of those under age 18 and 8.50% of those age 65 or over.

Incorporated cities
Name and population (2004 estimate):
 * , 4,431 (county seat)
 * , 427
 * , 339
 * , 194
 * , 191
 * , 97
 * , 63
 * , 47

Townships
Russell County is divided into twelve. The city of is considered governmentally independent and is excluded from the census figures for the townships. In the following table, the population center is the largest city (or cities) included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size.

Unified school districts

 * Natoma/Paradise/Waldo USD 399 Web site
 * Russell USD 407 Web site

Claims to Fame
Russell, the county seat, was the home of former U.S. Senate Majority leader and 1996 GOP presidential nominee for many years. It was also the boyhood home of U.S. Senator of Pennsylvania, who was born in.