Feasibility Study Company Independent Feasibility Analysis

Kansas · Market Intelligence

Kansas Feasibility Studies

A Kansas feasibility study has to separate jobs promised from jobs filled. The state's tally of projects it attracted since 2019 runs to over $30 billion in commitments and almost 78,000 jobs 5, while the population rose by only 11,968 people, 0.4%, from July 2024 to July 2025 2, and the Panasonic plant at De Soto employed about 1,400 people in February 2026 against the 4,000 promised 48. Whether the lender is SBA, USDA or a bank, the study ties demand to a corridor, plant, hospital or campus it can name and prices hail into the operating budget, because severe storms account for 12 of the 17 federal declarations Kansas received in the five years to September 2026 29.

Request a methodology briefing Jump to the eight Kansas markets
2,977,220
Kansans on July 1, 2025 1
82,498
Storm insurance claims paid in Kansas, 2025 27
$18.3B
Industrial revenue bonds issued by Kansas counties, 2010 to 2024 10
496
SBA 7(a) loans to Kansas borrowers, calendar 2025 (FOIA-derived) 13
The Kansas Thesis

Commitments outrun headcount in Kansas, and hail sits in every operating budget.

Kansas markets itself on commitments. The Department of Commerce claims more than $30 billion of committed investment and almost 78,000 jobs attached to state-attracted projects since 2019 5. A feasibility study has to turn announcements of that kind into people on a payroll, and the De Soto battery plant in the Kansas City section shows how long the conversion can take: the credit officer's first question about any Kansas demand case is how much of it is still a promise.

Under the announcements, the household base barely moves. From an estimates base of 2,937,986 residents in April 2020 1, the state added 11,968 people, or 0.4%, between July 2024 and July 2025 2. Net international migration supplied about 7,400 of them and natural increase about 5,000, while net domestic migration subtracted about 519 3. Kansans are not being joined by movers from other states in any number, so a lease-up schedule that assumes a domestic inflow has no support in the state's own count.

That leaves the demand to be found at a named source: a Johnson County suburb growing faster than the urban core next to it, a plant still hiring toward its target, a regional hospital, or a packing town short of housing for the workers it already employs. The eight market sections, from Wichita to Garden City, each name that source and what the record holds about it.

Weather is the cost no announcement offsets. Severe storms dominate the state's federal disaster declarations 29, which puts hail and wind in the operating budget and the roof reserve rather than in a paragraph on remote risks. A site in a county on the Missouri, Nebraska or Oklahoma line adds one more adjustment: its customers and competitors cross the border, so its trade area should too.

Statewide Economy

Payrolls inch forward while the mix underneath them turns.

The Kansas rows of the BLS tables show a labor market adding builders and hospitality workers while government and personal services shed jobs.

Seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment in Kansas was 1,464.9k in July 2025 4, and the gain to the preliminary July 2026 count was 5.6k jobs 4. On the unadjusted series the state counted 1,455.3k jobs in July 2026, up 8.9k or 0.6% on the year 4. A study should name its series and flag that the latest month is preliminary: a gain this small can vanish in the annual benchmark revision, and a demand case built on it should survive that.

The direction of each sector matters more than the total. Construction employment rose by 3.9k, or 5.1%, to 80.1k 4, the signature of a cycle driven by a few large projects. It supports demand for workforce lodging and contractor flex space, and it tightens the labor pool a new project's own contractor hires from, so a budget prepared before 2026 should be re-bid, not escalated. Leisure and hospitality added 4.5k jobs, or 3.3%, reaching 141.7k 4: good for a hotel or restaurant demand case, harder on its payroll line. Government lost 3.6k jobs, or 1.5%, to 232.3k 4. In Topeka, Manhattan and Lawrence, where a state agency, a university or an Army post is the anchor, that decline is a local question a study must answer.

Kansas sectorJobs, July 2026 (p)12-month changeSource
Mining and logging6.0k0.0 (0.0%)4
Manufacturing174.5k+1.3k (+0.8%)4
Trade, transportation and utilities272.6k+0.2k (+0.1%)4
Information17.2k+0.1k (+0.6%)4
Financial activities79.6k-0.2k (-0.3%)4
Professional and business services176.0k+1.2k (+0.7%)4
Education and health services220.8k+2.5k (+1.1%)4
Other services54.5k-1.0k (-1.8%)4

Households and income set the ceiling on consumer demand. The 2020 to 2024 ACS five-year estimates count 1,174,060 Kansas households and put their median income at $74,275 76. Per capita personal income for 2024 comes to $65,856 in the federal income accounts 77. The BEA series counts farm proprietors' income, transfers and investment income that never appear in a household survey answer, so a retail study that sizes spending from it in a farm county will overstate what households spend in town. A reviewer will want to know which of the two measures sits under the spending estimate.

Two more register values describe the people a housing project would serve: 499,834 Kansans are 65 or older, and the median gross rent is $1,060 76. They frame a trade area without measuring one. A senior project's market is the older households within a reasonable drive who can carry its monthly charge, and an apartment defends its rent against named buildings nearby, so both statewide numbers belong in the context paragraph, never in the absorption schedule.

Capital Access

Two SBA districts, a thin 7(a) channel and a state that leans on bonds.

Kansas small business credit runs through a split SBA map, a handful of active lenders, a state companion-loan fund and a long habit of county bond financing.

SBA divides Kansas between two offices. Seventy-seven counties report to the Wichita District Office 11. Its Kansas City counterpart, across the state line in Missouri, takes the rest of eastern Kansas: SBA states 28 Kansas counties 11, although the published county list names 27 12. A project in Johnson, Wyandotte, Douglas or Shawnee County is reviewed by a district whose book also spans western Missouri, so the study should keep its Kansas evidence easy to separate from the Missouri side of the market.

The 7(a) channel is modest. GoSBA, which derives its counts from SBA's loan-level release, puts Kansas 7(a) volume at $243.6M in calendar 2025 13. Among the four lenders in GoSBA's table, Live Oak Bank booked the largest dollar volume on the smallest loan count, the pattern of a national lender writing larger specialty loans, while Emprise Bank wrote the most loans for a smaller total. A community bank knows the town; a national specialty lender knows the asset class. The study has to satisfy both.

Lender, Kansas 7(a)LoansVolumePeriodSource
Emprise Bank29$7.2MCY202513
Huntington26$10.9MCY202513
OakStar Bank16$9.9MCY202513
Live Oak Bank15$18.1MCY202513

The register data give the longer view. Over FY2016 to FY2025, Kansas borrowers received 382 SBA 504 loans totaling $306.3 million, counted as approvals net of cancellations 78. Seasoned cohorts show where the losses fell: among Kansas loans approved FY2011 to FY2020, 6.4% of the 7(a) loans ended in a charge-off, counted loan by loan, and 2.3% of the 504 loans 78. The gap follows the structure: a 504 loan sits behind a senior bank lien with real estate collateral and more equity, while a 7(a) start-up often rests on projections. The thinner the collateral, the more of the credit argument the study carries.

For the eastern district the latest ranking found is FY2024: OakStar Bank with 107 loans and $91.3M, U.S. Bank with 86 loans and $16.7M and BayFirst with 37 loans and $5.6M, while Rural Missouri Inc., the busiest 504 development company, closed 25 loans for $30.4M 14. Those counts include the district's Missouri borrowers and cannot be read as Kansas totals; the Missouri page covers that side.

State and bond capital

A borrower short of equity may see the gap filled by a GrowKS companion loan: subordinate, up to $1M, and sized at 10 to 200 percent of the senior loan 8. It helps sources and uses but not coverage, since the companion note carries its own payment, so debt service belongs in the study twice, once on the senior loan alone and once on both notes. The money is federal. Network Kansas administers the allocation Treasury approved in 2022 under its small business credit initiative (SSBCI), up to $69,596,847, over 80 percent of it for the GrowKS loan fund and the angel capital program 78. The program's 2011 to 2013 generation had allocated $13,168,350 to the Kansas Capital Multiplier funds 9.

The bigger lever is bond finance. Counties forwent a potential $1.1 billion or so of property tax on industrial revenue bonds issued between 2010 and 2024, and annual issues rose from 39 to 82, according to Legislative Post Audit findings presented in July 2026 10. An IRB usually carries a property tax abatement 10, and the facility it finances can be exempt from sales tax on construction labor and materials 89. A study that models an abated tax line should state the term and show coverage after it ends, and the audit means a 2026 abatement request may face more questions than an older one did.

SBA in Kansas

Where Kansas projects meet SBA rules: new owners, special purpose buildings and rural counties.

Two SBA rules bear hardest on the Kansas projects this page describes: the top 504 equity tier and the FY2027 rural fee waiver.

The full rule set, coverage floors, loan sizes and terms among it, sits with the practice covering both SBA programs; two rules need a Kansas reading here. The first is the steepest equity test. A company no more than two years old that finances a building of limited or special purpose through 504 contributes 20% of project cost under SOP 50 10 8.1 81. In Kansas a file that would meet it is a newly formed company building a hotel near the Chiefs' future stadium in Wyandotte County ahead of its first season, where the demand is scheduled but not yet open. That injection is the largest cash test in such a file, so the study should trace it to documented sources and show revenue that carries the bank note and the debenture together. SBA's own power to ask for a study rests on 13 CFR 120.160(b), which says SBA may require one 80; the research note on that wording is the site's reading of the clause.

The second rule is fee relief for rural Kansas. For FY2027 SBA waives the upfront 7(a) guaranty fee when a rural business borrows $700,000 or less, one of several waiver categories 82. The SOP treats as rural a county that the U.S. Census Bureau has defined as at least 30 percent rural 81. Whether a given central or western Kansas county qualifies is therefore a matter of record, not of judgment, and the study should cite it and run sources and uses with and without the fee.

USDA, Conventional and EB-5

USDA, bank and bond capital, and EB-5: the other Kansas channels.

Outside SBA, Kansas projects lean on USDA guarantees in the rural west, and on banks and bonds in the cities; the research did not cover EB-5.

A USDA Business and Industry guarantee is decided parcel by parcel: eligibility comes from the agency's map for the exact site, and no county screen for Kansas turned up, so the map result belongs inside the study rather than in a cover letter. Garden City and Salina each serve a wide rural hinterland, and food processing, grocery and lodging there are the kinds of project the guarantee is built for. Applications run through the Topeka state office or the Hays, Iola or Newton area office 83. The agency also pays for energy savings: one January 2025 round gave $5,883,731 to 54 Kansas projects under its renewable energy program 6, and a study for a rural plant or grocery can test whether such a grant belongs in its sources and uses. The USDA Rural Development practice sets out the five components a USDA reviewer expects.

The Kansas Development Finance Authority may issue bonds for industrial, agricultural, health care and housing projects, and cities and counties issue their own industrial revenue bonds, with the volume cap allocated by the Secretary of Commerce 8788. Sales tax revenue bonds under the STAR program now carry the Wyandotte County stadium district 51, which the research ranks first among the 2025 announcements over $100 million. A lender inside one of these districts needs the study to separate the project's own revenue from the district's tax increment: the first depends on the project's customers, the second on sales across the whole district. Bank and institutional loans outside the SBA and USDA channels are the subject of the conventional and institutional practice.

The research did not cover EB-5, and it found no Opportunity Zone or HUBZone tract lists for the eight markets. A sponsor considering EB-5 should expect the study to establish the targeted employment area from tract data and count jobs with a model the reviewer accepts; the EB-5 practice explains the count.

Rules by Asset Class

Licences, tank funds and guest taxes: where Kansas law reaches a project.

Kansas sets licensing thresholds for care settings, runs its own petroleum tank funds and lets cities write their own lodging taxes. The rules shift often enough that the study date matters.

Senior housing and adult care

Under K.S.A. 39-923, an assisted living facility is an adult care home caring for six or more individuals 15; a home plus may serve not more than 12 residents 15, and an adult care home may convert one wing to a home plus of 5 to 12 beds 15. An assisted living or residential health care facility licensed for fewer than 61 residents may be run by a licensed operator rather than an administrator 16. That threshold is a cost line: a project sized just above it carries an administrator's salary a smaller one avoids. The research located no distinct memory care licence. A 2019 industry summary reports that HB 2520 raised the home plus cap to 16 96, against the 12 in the statute text reviewed, so the cap a home plus is sized to has to come from the state aging agency in writing.

Child care

The 2025 HB 2045 created the Kansas Office of Early Childhood and set the licensure threshold at 35 hours of care per week 17; licensing moved to the new office on July 1, 2026 97. Proposed K.A.R. 28-4 amendments, heard on July 13, 2026, were estimated to save providers about $763,000 per year 18. The direction is lighter regulation, but ratio and capacity tables were still under review, so a center's pro forma should cite the rules in force on the study date and model the staffing ratio for its planned age mix, because labor is the largest line.

Fuel stations and storage tanks

Kansas runs its own petroleum storage tank release funds, financed by a fee of $0.01 per gallon 1999. They pay up to $2.0M per release less a deductible 1999 that starts at $3,000 and rises by $500 per tank added 1999, and they sunset on July 1, 2034 1999. Unobligated balances at June 30, 2025 were $6,378,855.15 for underground tanks and $4,752,930.40 for aboveground tanks 20; the underground balance had been $7.79M at the end of January 2025 21. A gas station loan with a real estate term of up to 25 years outlives the funds, so the study should show private pollution coverage and an environmental reserve rather than lean on the fund.

Hotels and lodging taxes

Kansas has no state hotel tax. Lodging pays the 6.50% state sales tax plus local sales tax 22 and a locally set transient guest tax. The statutory default is 2%, but 153 jurisdictions levy the tax 23 and at least 102 cities exceed the default under home rule 23. Rates moved again in 2026: Miami County went to 6% on April 1 and Leavenworth County on July 1, both in the Kansas City metro outside the two counties covered below, and Mitchell County on July 1 34. A hotel study should apply the rate that binds the subject's own parcel and check whether competitors sit in a cheaper jurisdiction, because a few points of tax move rate parity for group and government travelers.

Wages, rentals and the gaps

The state minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and the tipped cash wage $2.13 24, but a pro forma that costs labor at the floor will not match what local employers advertise, so wages should come from local postings or the county occupational survey. Short-term rentals are a city matter: a secondary 2026 guide reports no state preemption, with cities regulating under home rule, and says HB 2481 (2026) barred municipal caps on rental permits from May 15 to July 25, 2026, a claim the research could not check against the bill text. A study relying on short-term rental supply or demand should read the city ordinance and the enacted bill. No published rules turned up for liquor licence quotas, car wash water recycling or RV park licensing; a study for those uses should get them from the city and the licensing agency.

Costs, Taxes and Insurance

Assessment ratios and storm losses: the two Kansas lines that move a pro forma.

Kansas assesses commercial property on a higher ratio than housing, and its storm losses have pushed insurance into the first rank of operating costs.

Kansas assesses commercial and industrial real property, and commercial machinery and equipment, at 25% of appraised value, against 11.5% for residential property 25. An apartment building is assessed as residential; a hotel, storage facility or medical office as commercial. A study that borrows a rate from a residential comparable, or from the owner-occupied effective rate the Tax Foundation reports at 1.21% for 2024 and 1.22% for 2023 26, will understate a commercial project's taxes. No effective commercial rate was found, so the tax line should come from the county mill levy and a defensible value. A proposed valuation cap, SCR 1603, has no confirmed status 98 and belongs in a study only as upside.

Insurance is the other line. The state insurance department reports that storm claims for the 2025 season nearly doubled in two years 27, and approved homeowners rate increases averaged 15.07% in 2024 and 5.17% in 2025, about +42% over five years 28. Those are homeowners figures; commercial premiums have no published rate filing series in the research, no insurer-of-last-resort data and no record of carriers leaving the state. The pro forma for any residential or senior project should price a premium a carrier has indicated for the subject, a wind and hail deductible from a current quote, and a roof reserve sized to hail exposure rather than age.

Building costs have no Kansas index in the research, and no impact fee schedule or state prevailing wage rule turned up either. Construction payrolls grew faster than any other sector between July 2025 and July 2026, so a bid priced before that hiring may not hold; a current contractor bid belongs in the study, with what an overrun does to coverage.

Hazards

Hail, wind and the federal declaration record.

Kansas declarations are dominated by storms. The aid totals the research records after them are Public Assistance to governments; private borrowers turn to SBA disaster loans.

Twelve of the 17 declarations Kansas received over the five years ending September 2026 were for severe storms 29. Kansas logged five declarations of all types in 2025, one of them for fire management, and, in 2026 through September 3, at least two more that the research identifies individually 29. DR-4869, declared on May 21, 2025 after a March winter storm with flooding and wildfires, designated 28 counties, and FEMA had obligated $621,986.26 in Public Assistance under it 30. DR-4897, declared on December 19, 2025 for the July storms, designated 12 counties, among them Wyandotte, Saline, Sumner and Barton 31.

Public Assistance repairs public facilities, not a private hotel or apartment building. A private borrower relies on insurance and, after a declaration, on SBA disaster loans with fixed deadlines. A Kansas study should list the declarations that touched the subject's county over those five years and show what each would have cost the project in deductibles and lost revenue. Fire enters the Kansas record through declarations rather than any exposure score the research could find: DR-4869 covered wildfires along with the storm, and the Yates Center fire drew a fire management declaration on March 14, 2025 29. That declaration history, read beside the county's hail record and the flood panel for the parcel, belongs in the site section.

Statewide Supply

What statewide supply data exists, and what does not.

Kansas publishes a child care count and the Census counts establishments. For most asset classes there is no statewide supply figure, and this page states none.

Kansas counted 4,200 licensed child care facilities serving 144,000 children in June 2025, at an average annual family cost of $15,156 32. That average is a reference point for tuition, not a cap: a center pricing above it needs a trade area whose incomes support the premium, and one in a lower-income county needs subsidy-eligible families in its mix. The count shows the sector is large; it does not say how many licensed seats sit within a short drive of the site, which is what decides absorption.

Census County Business Patterns for 2023 put Kansas restaurant establishments at 5,634 79. A statewide count says little about one corridor; a restaurant study needs the competitors inside its own trade area, by format and price point. No source the research reached counts Kansas hospitals, surgery centers, apartments, hotel rooms, storage space, warehouses, convenience stores, campgrounds or senior housing statewide. Current broker figures turned up only for Wichita and for Johnson and Wyandotte counties, and they sit in those market sections; in the other six markets a study has to build the competitive census itself rather than borrow a national average.

2025 to 2026

From storm declarations to a stadium deal: Kansas since January 2025.

The Kansas events of the last two years fall into four groups, storm declarations, child care licensing, guest tax increases and bond scrutiny, and each touches a different line of a pro forma: the reserve, the staffing plan, the room rate or the tax abatement.

  • January 15, 2025: USDA announces a round of renewable energy grants for rural Kansas projects 6.
  • April 2025: HB 2045 sets up a new early childhood office and orders a rewrite of child care rules 17.
  • May 21, 2025: FEMA declares DR-4869 for the March winter storm, floods and fires 30.
  • July 14, 2025: Panasonic opens its De Soto battery plant 50, the event at the center of the Kansas City section.
  • July 2025: the Legislative Post Audit reports on how cities spend transient guest tax revenue 23.
  • September 11 and December 19, 2025: DR-4891 (Public Assistance only) and DR-4897 are declared 8431.
  • December 22, 2025: the state and the Kansas City Chiefs announce the Wyandotte County stadium agreement, financed largely with STAR bonds 551.
  • April 1 and July 1, 2026: guest tax changes take effect in Kansas City, Kansas and in Miami, Osage, Geary, Leavenworth and Mitchell counties 34.
  • June 30, 2026: DR-4926 is declared for the late April storms 85.
  • July 1 and July 13, 2026: child care licensing moves to the new office 97, and amended K.A.R. 28-4 rules go to a public hearing 18.
  • July 12 and September 1, 2026: the bond audit reaches lawmakers 10, and DR-4940 is declared for the June storms 86.
Market Divergence

Eight Kansas markets

The eight sections below begin with the state's largest metro and end on the High Plains. Each names the anchor its demand depends on and the evidence that is missing.

Aviation manufacturing

Wichita

The state's largest metro rides on aircraft production, now under new ownership at its largest plant, with an industrial market still absorbing speculative space.

Suburban growth and megaprojects

Kansas City, Kansas

Johnson and Wyandotte counties hold fast-growing suburbs, a battery plant still ramping toward its target and a stadium district built on state sales tax bonds.

State government

Topeka

The capital's economy depends on state payrolls and a regional hospital, and its city lodging tax is about to rise again.

University and health care

Lawrence

A flagship university dominates employment in a one-county metro that sits between Topeka and the battery plant's hiring zone.

Army and university

Manhattan

Fort Riley and Kansas State University anchor a three-county market whose credit risk follows Army force decisions and enrollment.

Food and equipment manufacturing

Salina

A crossroads manufacturing town where large plant expansions arrived while the county's population drifted down.

Meatpacking and housing shortage

Garden City

A southwest Kansas packing center whose binding constraint is housing, not jobs.

Regional medicine and education

Hays

An Ellis County service hub for northwest Kansas, built on a regional hospital and a large state university.

Wichita

Wichita: aircraft payrolls under new ownership.

A Wichita study has to show that its demand survives the aerospace cycle, and price new supply against industrial, retail and apartment markets that all loosened in the last two years.

Economic base

The Wichita metro covers Sedgwick, Butler, Harvey and Sumner counties, and its economy is built on airframes. Boeing completed its $4.7B re-acquisition of Spirit AeroSystems once the deal's conditions were satisfied in December 2025 36, returning the metro's largest employer to the planemaker that spun it off. The lender's question shifts from whether a struggling supplier survives to how one owner allocates production between Wichita and its other plants. A study whose demand leans on plant payroll should state that exposure and run a slower-production case.

Wichita employerEmployeesDateSource
Boeing (former Spirit AeroSystems), FTE13,000Sep 202635
Textron Aviation11,000Sep 202635
USD 259 Wichita Public Schools9,100Sep 202635
McConnell Air Force Base6,000Sep 202635
Wichita State University5,500Sep 202635
NIAR (Wichita State), additional1,800Sep 202635
Ascension Via Christi3,300Sep 202635
Wesley Healthcare3,100Sep 202635
Dole VA Medical Center1,500Sep 202635

Two aircraft makers at the top of the list are the risk; the rest of the list is the cushion. An Air Force base, a research university, two hospital systems and a VA medical center do not move with aircraft orders, and a medical office, senior housing or extended-stay study can draw on that stable layer. Headcounts also depend on the publisher: an undated City of Wichita list carries 9,350 for Textron and 5,679 for McConnell 90, below the partnership's figures, and only the partnership table carries a date a reviewer can test.

Growth

The city of Wichita grew 0.9% from an April 2020 base of 397,589 to 400,987 residents in July 2025 37. The metro reached 663,809, up from 647,610 at the 2020 census 38. Annual average nonfarm employment rose from 308.6k in 2023 to 312.8k in 2024, a gain of 4.2k 39; no 12-month change for 2025 to 2026 was found. Growth this slow means a study must show where inside the four counties new households are forming, because a trade area drawn around the core can miss them.

Supply by asset class

A speculative 215,135 SF building delivered in Kechi during Q1 2026 40 entered an industrial market whose vacancy was about 9.0% at the end of 2025 and 8.07% that quarter 40. Retail vacancy stood at 10.24% in Q1 2026 40. A new flex, warehouse or retail project needs a named tenant or a clear location edge, such as frontage on the stretch of Maize Road between 21st and 37th streets that a local broker calls a premier, competitive corridor 91, rather than a market lease-up assumption.

HUD put multifamily vacancy at 8.4% in the third quarter of 2023, against 6.4% twelve months before 41, and Apartment List's median asking rent was $1,029 in October 2026, down 1.1% on the year 42. The HUD reading dates from 2023 and the asking rent is falling, so an apartment pro forma should hold rents flat or lower through lease-up. Hotel performance was not found; short-term rentals give a partial read: in the twelve months ending August 2026, 911 listings were booked 67% of available nights, earning a $121 nightly rate on average and $81 RevPAR 43. New supply includes the 156-room Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites at the airport, which HVS showed as planned for May 2025 44 and a hotel listing site shows as opened in November 2025 92, and a downtown AC Hotel that opened in July 2025 92. A hotel study needs a competitive set report, not rental data.

Local rules and lenders

Guest tax varies across the metro, and Wichita also charges a 2.75% tourism fee paid to the city, per a 2022 secondary source to be confirmed with the city 45. Wichita borrowers took 32 SBA 7(a) loans worth about $26M in 2025 by GoSBA's count, 6 of them from Fidelity Bank for about $4M and 7 from Emprise Bank for about $2M 46. Over FY2021 to FY2026, SBA Loans HQ credits Emprise with 75 of the 355 Wichita 7(a) loans it ranks 47. Local banks lead the count, so a study's list of competing operators will be read by lenders who may finance some of them. No USDA, Opportunity Zone or HUBZone determination for the metro turned up; one hotel directory lists an Opportunity Zone business as owner of an open Delano hotel 93, a hint that tracts near downtown may qualify, which the federal map settles.

Wichita metro jurisdictionGuest taxAs ofSource
Wichita6.00%October 1, 202634
Sedgwick County5.00%October 1, 202634
Derby8.00%October 1, 202634
Andover8.00%October 1, 202634
Goddard (since January 2026)9.00%October 1, 202634
Maize (since October 2026)8.00%October 1, 202634
Kansas City, Kansas

Kansas City, Kansas: Johnson and Wyandotte counties, a battery plant and a stadium.

Johnson and Wyandotte counties only. The metro's Missouri counties, and the Kansas counties outside the research, are not covered here.

Every figure in this section belongs to Johnson County, Wyandotte County or a city inside them; none is a reading for the whole bi-state metro. Leavenworth, Linn and Miami counties share the metro but not the research, and the Missouri counties fall outside this page (see the Missouri page). Shoppers, renters and hotel guests cross State Line Road without noticing, so the trade area for a site close to it should still reach into Missouri.

Two megaprojects

The Panasonic battery plant in De Soto, in western Johnson County, cost $4 billion and covers 4.7M SF 48. At the July 14, 2025 grand opening the state said approximately 1,000 staff had been hired 50; two days later a local paper reported about 1,100 employees, with 1 of 8 production lines running 49. By February 2026 the plant had about 1,400 employees against 4,000 jobs promised, a target leaders had said in July 2025 it would reach within 18 months 48. A study that sizes K-10 corridor housing, retail or hotel demand from the target is projecting jobs that did not exist in early 2026. The current headcount is the base case; the target is an upside scenario with a date attached.

The Chiefs' domed stadium in Wyandotte County, announced on December 22, 2025 for the 2031 season, costs $3 billion, funded with $1.8 billion of state STAR bonds and $1.2 billion of private money 51. Entertainment districts at the stadium and the Olathe headquarters site add $1 billion, split 60% public and 40% private 52. The state projects a construction-phase impact of $4.4 billion and over 20,000 construction-phase jobs 5. The site covers about 236 acres near State Avenue and 126th Street, with about $450M of local sales-tax support approved by the county 53. For a hotel, restaurant or retail study near Village West, game days bring intense but infrequent demand; the base case is an ordinary week with nothing on the calendar, and debt service has to clear on that week alone.

Growth

Johnson County counted 636,906 residents in July 2025 55; its 2020 base was not found. Wyandotte County rose 0.8%, from 169,235 in April 2020 to 170,597 54. The suburban cities in the table are adding residents faster than Kansas City, Kansas, and that is the main argument a Johnson County study can make: the growth is in Olathe and Lenexa, not in the urban core.

CityPopulation, 2025Change since 2020Source
Overland Park203,677+3.3%56
Kansas City, Kansas157,805+0.8%56
Olathe150,025+6.2%56
Lenexa60,506+5.4%56

Supply

Johnson County held 63,275 apartment units at 6.7% vacancy in Q1 2026, by CoStar data reported by Cushman and Wakefield 57. With no Kansas-side pipeline count found, an apartment study should list projects under construction in its trade area from permit records and show absorption net of them. Industrial space is tighter: Johnson County vacancy was 4.3% by CBRE's count and 5.3% by Colliers' in the same quarter, and Wyandotte County's was 3.4% and 2.8% 58. The two brokers report different figures for the same quarter and the research does not say why, so a study should cite both rather than average them. Low vacancy helps a warehouse case only where the site itself has the highway access and utility capacity a large tenant needs.

Johnson and Wyandotte jurisdictionGuest taxSource
Kansas City, Kansas (incl. Homefield STAR district, since April 2026)10.00%34
Overland Park9.00%34
Olathe (since January 2026)9.00%34
Shawnee (since April 2026)9.00%34
Lenexa8.00%34
Leawood8.00%34
Merriam8.00%34
Bonner Springs (since October 2025)8.00%34
Edwardsville (since October 2025)8.00%34
De Soto6.00%34

The lodging tax spread is wide enough to move a hotel's position: a Kansas City, Kansas hotel in the Homefield district charges the highest rate in the table and a De Soto property the lowest, and a corporate travel manager sees the difference on the folio. A study should place every competitor in its taxing jurisdiction. The Olathe headquarters site is the open question nearby: a June 2026 report found its bonds unconfirmed 94, and the research found no later confirmation, so a study within reach of it should treat it as unbuilt. The only lender figures touching the two counties are the district-wide FY2024 rankings in the capital section, and the research holds no finding on Opportunity Zone, HUBZone or USDA status for either county.

Topeka

Topeka: the capital's payroll and a rising hotel tax.

In Topeka the employer of record is the state, so the first test of any demand case is whether the statewide cut in government jobs reached the capital.

The Topeka metro covers Shawnee, Jackson, Jefferson, Osage and Wabaunsee counties, and the state is its employer of record. The city's 2023 financial report counted 9,919 State of Kansas employees in Topeka at December 31, 2023, or 8.7% of 113,871 city jobs 59. Stormont Vail Health employed 4,400 and Topeka USD 501 employed 2,500 59. Statewide government employment fell over the year to July 2026, and a Topeka study should find out which agencies in the capital shed staff before counting state workers as tenants or customers.

Population is flat. The metro held 233,052 residents 60; the city's count slipped from 126,609 in 2020 to 125,795 in 2025, a decline of 0.6% 56. Nonfarm employment was a preliminary 118.9k in August 2026 against 116.8k in March 2026 61, two months that do not make a trend. Without a published vacancy, rent or pipeline figure for the five counties, a Topeka apartment or retail case draws its strength from tenants tied to the agencies, the hospital system or the schools.

Lodging tax is the rule that is moving. The city and Shawnee County each levy 7.00% 34. In May 2026 the city voted to raise its rate to 8.5% from January 1, 2027 with no sunset, replacing a schedule that would have cut it to 6% in 2028; the Hotel Topeka district charges 8%, rising to 8.5% 62. Osage County raised its rate to 6% on April 1, 2026 34. The revenue funds downtown anchors such as Evergy Plaza and the Jayhawk Theatre 62, which helps event demand, but a hotel study written before May 2026 used the wrong future rate.

Lawrence

Lawrence: one university, one hospital and a battery plant down the road.

A Lawrence study has to show demand that does not depend entirely on the university calendar, and decide how much of the De Soto hiring reaches Douglas County.

The Lawrence metro is Douglas County, and the University of Kansas is its economy: KU employed 8,845 people in December 2025, against 1,945 at LMH Health, the second employer 63. A town this dependent on one institution needs a study that separates student demand, which follows enrollment and the academic calendar, from the permanent household base, and that shows occupancy over the summer and in a weak enrollment year.

LMH Health ran an operating revenue budget of $448M in January 2025 64 and announced a $25M heart center project in May 2025 65. Medical office, outpatient and senior housing studies can lean on that system.

Douglas County grew 1.8% between April 2020 and July 2025, from 118,785 residents to 120,920 66; within it, the city of Lawrence reached 96,367 in 2025, up 1.5% from 94,941 in 2020 56. The guest tax has been 8.00% since January 2026 34. The open question is how much of the battery plant's workforce will live here: De Soto sits about twenty minutes east 48, and no commuting count was found. A housing study that claims plant workers as demand should show where current employees live, from employer or commute-flow data, rather than assume it.

Manhattan

Manhattan and Junction City: Fort Riley, K-State and the Geary County plant.

A Manhattan study carries two institutional risks, Army force structure and university enrollment, that no local market figure can diversify away.

The Manhattan metro covers Riley, Geary and Pottawatomie counties and held 136,122 residents in July 2025 60. Riley County, home to Kansas State University, held 72,598 60; Geary County, with Junction City beside Fort Riley, held 36,338 60; and Pottawatomie County held 27,186 60. Riley County grew 0.9% between 2020 and 2025 67. University and post headcounts were found only undated, so none is given here.

That concentration is the credit question. A unit moving in or out of Fort Riley, or a change in K-State enrollment, can shift rental demand faster than any developer can respond, so a study for apartments, hotels or retail should state the share of demand it draws from each and test a realistic reduction. That split is the first number a reviewer will check.

Private investment is arriving in Geary County: Camso Manufacturing's Junction City project carries $113,875,000 of capital investment and 181 jobs in the state's FY2025 budget narrative 33. Lodging tax differs across the market. Manhattan levies 7.50%, unchanged since July 2019, and Geary County moved to 7.00% on July 1, 2026 34; Manhattan first levied the tax in 1978 at 1.5% 23. A hotel study should place the property on the correct side of that line and model football weekends separately from ordinary weeks.

Salina

Salina: plant expansions in a shrinking county.

A Salina study has to reconcile two facts: large manufacturing investment and a county population that is still drifting down.

The Salina micropolitan area covers Saline and Ottawa counties at a junction of interstates across central Kansas. Its recent investment dates from 2022. Schwan's announced an expansion bringing its cumulative investment to $600M, with a 140,000 SF distribution center and 225 jobs 68. Great Plains Manufacturing, a Kubota company, opened a $178M construction equipment plant with 150 jobs at opening and plans for more than 900 69. No project over $50M was found for 2025 to 2026 and no current headcount for either plant, so a study should not assume the planned jobs were filled.

Population went the other way. Saline County fell 1.7%, from 54,302 in April 2020 to 53,377 in July 2025 70; the micropolitan area held 59,121 60 and the city 46,094 against 46,881 in 2020 56. Jobs without population growth usually mean commuters and tight housing: an apartment project may find plant workers who now drive in, while a retail project cannot count on a growing household base.

Guest tax runs 7.75% in Salina and 5.00% in Ottawa County 34, and the downtown STAR bond district 34 gives a hotel study an event and dining core to cite. The interstate junction supports fuel, travel center and limited-service hotel uses; with no traffic counts found, the study should take them from the state's count station nearest the site. Saline County was named in the July 2025 storm declaration, which belongs in any study's hazard section.

Garden City

Garden City: meatpacking jobs and a housing shortage.

A Garden City study starts from a labor market that wants more workers than the county can house, which makes housing the constraint and the opportunity.

The Garden City micropolitan area is Finney County, where Tyson runs a beef plant. Tyson planned to relocate 200+ associates from its closed Emporia plant in 2025 72. A prospect for a thermoforming plant of about 510,000 SF, with about 230 jobs and about $146M of investment, was reported in March 2025 71, from an automated meeting summary that should be checked against the minutes.

The population numbers run against the job news. Finney County's estimate fell to 37,505 in 2025 from 38,470 at the 2020 census, down 2.5% 73, and Garden City's fell to 27,402 from 28,158, down 2.7% 56. Local officials point to housing: people who would take the jobs cannot find homes. In September 2025 commissioners cited 853 housing units in design and a target of 3,000 units by 2030 74; a KSN report gives the city commission's goal as 4,000 units by 2030 95. The two goals differ, but both describe a shortage, and neither is an absorption count: that has to be built from the jobs and wages the study can document.

Garden City inverts the usual demand question. For an apartment or workforce housing project the open questions are construction cost, the rents local wages can carry, and the incentives the project depends on. A hotel or retail study faces the opposite problem: fewer residents and seasonal agricultural traffic. Finney County levies a 6.00% guest tax 34, and the state's rate table lists no separate Garden City rate.

Hays

Hays and Ellis County: a regional hospital and a state university.

A study in the Hays micropolitan area draws on a trade area that runs across much of northwest Kansas, so county figures understate both the demand and the competition.

The Hays micropolitan area is Ellis County, the medical, retail and education center for a wide stretch of northwest Kansas. This section works at the county level. Local press reports that the regional hospital has recently operated at a loss 75, so a medical office or senior housing study that depends on its referrals should read its latest financial statements, and a lodging or rental study near the university should count students who live in the county rather than enrollment.

Each city in the county sets its own lodging tax; the small city of Ellis levies 5.00% 34. A study here should rest on county and regional demand generators, the hospital, the university, interstate travel and agricultural business, and should list every competing project with its status and unit count, the benchmark a reviewer will measure absorption against.

What to Verify

Open questions a credit officer should put to a Kansas study.

The Kansas record as of October 2026 runs out in the places below. Each item names where a study can find the missing piece.

  1. SBA volume by district for FY2025

    SBA's year-end activity reports for Kansas were not among the sources reached, and the secondary FY2024 counts disagree. District activity quoted in a study should be computed from the federal loan-by-loan file, the basis of the register figures on this page.

  2. USDA authority this year

    Before a closing timetable goes into the study, the Topeka office's statement of remaining authority should be recorded with its date; the research found no FY2025 state total to stand in for it.

  3. Hotel performance and pipeline

    No market here has a published occupancy, average daily rate or RevPAR series. A hotel study should include a competitive set report and a pipeline list from city permits.

  4. Traffic counts

    No state traffic count station was captured for any market. A fuel or travel center study should cite the nearest station by number and year.

  5. Tax and insurance quoted for the subject

    The costs section lists what the Kansas record lacks on both lines. The credit file should hold the county's current levy sheet and a carrier's dated quote for the building, with any IRB abatement shown beside the full tax due after its term.

  6. Care licensing details

    The home plus cap conflicts between sources, memory care has no distinct licence, and child care ratio tables were under review in 2026. Confirm the rule with the licensing agency on the study date.

  7. Permits, impact fees and utilities

    No 2025 permit counts, impact fees, sewer moratoria or water records were found for any market. Permits come from the Census building permits survey; water, sewer and power capacity has to come from each provider in writing.

Worked Cases

Worked cases in Kansas

No published worked case is set in Kansas yet.

One existing case touches Kansas from outside: the Mississippi grocery case under USDA cites Kansas State University's work on rural grocery closures in its competitive context, the store-loss question a small Kansas town raises. The full set is in the case library.

By Asset Class

Kansas demand generators and the asset methods they call for.

Kansas demand clusters around interstates, packing plants, hospitals and campuses. Each of those generators points to a different asset method.

Interstate exits between Kansas City and the Colorado line feed the hotel, travel center and fuel and convenience methods, where the storage tank funds and the local guest tax shape the pro forma. In small Kansas towns the rural grocery method applies, and it turns on leakage to regional supercenters. The Garden City housing shortage points to the apartment method, the state's older residents to assisted living under the state's adult care home classes, and the new early childhood office to child care. The suburban growth of Johnson County supports car wash, storage and medical office studies.

Kansas Questions

Kansas feasibility study questions.

How should a Wichita feasibility study treat the aircraft payrolls?

Treat the two airframe makers as the layer that can shrink, and size the loan on what remains. Boeing's Wichita plant counted 13,000 FTE in September 2026 and Textron Aviation 11,000 35; they sit at the top of the employer table and move with aircraft orders. McConnell Air Force Base, Wichita State and the two hospital systems on the same list do not. The credit decision is how much of the subject's demand survives a slower production year: medical office or extended stay projects drawn on the stable employers can be underwritten on them, while one that depends on aircraft hiring needs coverage shown at a lower build rate.

Which SBA district office reviews a Kansas project?

Look up the county before the lender is chosen. The Wichita District Office takes 77 counties 11; the eastern ones, Johnson, Wyandotte, Douglas and Shawnee among them, fall to the Kansas City District Office across the state line, whose book also covers western Missouri 1214. For the credit officer the office decides which files the study is read beside: a Johnson County hotel may be judged next to Missouri loans the same reviewer handles, so the study should carry Kansas comparables labelled by county and state, and a borrower in the west should do the same for the Wichita District.

Can a Kansas gas station study rely on the state petroleum storage tank fund?

Not as a reserve, and not beyond July 1, 2034, when both funds sunset 1999. Each fund covers a release up to a $2.0M cap less the deductible 1999, and the unobligated underground balance stood at $6,378,855.15 on June 30, 2025 20, a figure that moves with every claim settled. A fuel site financed on a long real estate term outlives the program, so the lender should ask for private pollution coverage bound at closing and an environmental reserve in the budget, and read the fund only as the reason the borrower's exposure is the deductible plus anything above the fund's cap while it still runs.

How should a Kansas study price storm risk for a residential project from homeowners data?

The homeowners series sets the direction and the quote sets the number. Approved homeowners rate increases came to about +42% over five years 28, and the insurance department reported that storm season claims nearly doubled in two years to 2025 27. Commercial filings have no published series in the research, so a multifamily or senior housing pro forma cannot borrow a commercial trend from print. The credit officer should require an indicated premium for the subject with its wind and hail deductible, then test coverage with that premium raised by the homeowners trend; a building that cannot carry the uplift is betting that rates hold still.

Does the Kansas transient guest tax change a hotel feasibility study?

Yes, and the date matters as much as the place. Lodging tax is set locally, and a July 2025 audit found at least 102 cities above the 2% statutory default, levied under home rule 23. Rates also move inside a loan's first years: Topeka voted in May 2026 to lift its city rate to 8.5% from the start of 2027 62. The credit officer's question is which rate and which effective date the pro forma used, and whether the rate on the subject's parcel, special district included, will still apply when the hotel opens. A study dated before a council vote carries the wrong number.

Can a Wyandotte County hotel study count the Chiefs stadium as demand?

Only after the base case clears without it. The domed stadium announced on December 22, 2025 is planned for the 2031 season and costs $3 billion, $1.8 billion of it in state STAR bonds 51, while the Olathe headquarters site had unconfirmed bonds in October 2026 94. A lender financing a hotel or restaurant near Village West should underwrite a midweek stretch with no event scheduled, confirm the note is covered on those nights alone, and show game night revenue on a separate schedule starting no earlier than 2031. If the loan matures before the first season, the stadium does not belong in coverage at all.

Neighboring Markets

States that border Kansas.

Which Kansas county is the project in?

Start with the parcel. A Kansas site sits under its own guest tax rate and its own storm declaration record, and in some towns inside a STAR bond or IRB district that changes the tax line. The first reply checks all three against the address and the loan program you name.

Request a methodology briefing
Sources

Data sources and dates.

Each figure on this Kansas page carries the number of its entry below, with publisher, title and date. Where the research could reach only a news outlet, broker, aggregator or encyclopedia, the entry names that outlet, and a lender should confirm them against the primary record before relying on them.

Market data reviewed by Mark Otava · Updated

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Kansas (Vintage 2025), 2026 (April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025).
  2. World Population Review (secondary, citing Census Vintage 2025), Kansas Population 2026, 2026 (July 2024 to July 2025).
  3. USAFacts (secondary, citing Census components of change), Is Kansas's population growing or shrinking?, 2026 (July 2024 to July 2025).
  4. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Kansas City MO-KS Metropolitan Area Data Tables (Kansas statewide rows), September 2026 (July 2026 preliminary).
  5. Kansas Department of Commerce, Gov. Kelly and Kansas City Chiefs Announce Agreement on Plans for State-of-the-Art Domed Stadium in Kansas, December 22, 2025.
  6. WIBW (local news), USDA Rural Development invests $5M in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects across Kansas, January 20, 2025.
  7. U.S. Department of the Treasury, Press release jy0795: State Small Business Credit Initiative plan approvals, 2022.
  8. Network Kansas, About, accessed October 2026.
  9. KOAM News (secondary), Kansas Receives Additional $4.4 million from the Treasury to expand small business lending programs, undated (2011 to 2013 program period).
  10. High Plains Public Radio (reporting Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit), Kansas lawmakers hear about potential $1.1B in lost property taxes from industrial revenue bonds, July 12, 2026.
  11. U.S. Small Business Administration, Wichita District Office, accessed October 2026.
  12. Job Accommodation Network (secondary, county list), Small Business Administration (SBA) Kansas District Office, accessed October 2026.
  13. GoSBA Loans (secondary, derived from SBA FOIA data), Best Kansas SBA Lenders 2026, 2026 (calendar 2025 approvals).
  14. Springfield Business Journal (reporting SBA data), OakStar Bank leads SBA lending in western Missouri, eastern Kansas, November 15, 2024 (FY2024).
  15. Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes, K.S.A. 39-923, Definitions (adult care homes), current statute, accessed October 2026.
  16. Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes, K.S.A. 39-974, Operators of assisted living and residential health care facilities, current statute, accessed October 2026.
  17. Kansas Legislature, Summary of HB 2045 (2025), April 2025.
  18. Kansas Secretary of State, Kansas Register, Volume 45, Issue 20 (notice of hearing on K.A.R. 28-4 amendments), May 14, 2026.
  19. Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Storage Tank Trust Funds, accessed October 2026.
  20. Kansas Secretary of State, Kansas Register, Volume 44, No. 28, July 10, 2025 (balances at June 30, 2025).
  21. Kansas Secretary of State, Kansas Register, Volume 44, Issue 7, February 13, 2025 (balance at January 31, 2025).
  22. Kansas Department of Revenue, Publication 1540, Kansas Business Taxes for Hotels, Motels and Restaurants, 2026.
  23. Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit, Reviewing Select Cities' Use of Transient Guest Tax Revenues, July 2025.
  24. HiveDesk (secondary, summarizing K.S.A. 44-1203), Kansas Minimum Wage 2026, 2026.
  25. Kansas Department of Revenue, 2026 Personal Property Summary (assessment classes), 2026.
  26. Tax Foundation (secondary), Property Taxes by State and County, 2026, 2026 (2023 and 2024 data).
  27. Kansas Insurance Department, Kansas storm season insurance claims nearly double in two years to $879 million in 2025, 2026 (calendar 2025).
  28. ValuePenguin (secondary), Best and Cheapest Homeowners Insurance in Kansas (2026), 2026 (2021 to 2025 data).
  29. USAFacts (secondary, citing FEMA), How many disasters are declared in Kansas?, undated (counts through September 3, 2026).
  30. Federal Emergency Management Agency, DR-4869-KS: Kansas Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, Flooding and Wildfires, declared May 21, 2025.
  31. Federal Register (FEMA), Kansas; Major Disaster and Related Determinations (91 FR 24591), DR-4897, May 6, 2026.
  32. Kansas Legislative Research Department, Day Care Licensing and Surveying in Kansas, September 8, 2026 (June 2025 data).
  33. Kansas Department of Commerce, Budget narrative FY2025, undated (FY2025 budget; FY2024 to FY2025 projects).
  34. Kansas Department of Revenue, Transient Guest Tax Rates and Effective Dates, October 1, 2026.
  35. Greater Wichita Partnership, Major Employers, September 2026.
  36. Wikipedia (secondary), Spirit AeroSystems, accessed October 2026.
  37. U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Wichita city, Kansas (Vintage 2025), 2026 (April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025).
  38. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, FRED (Census data), Resident Population in Wichita, KS (MSA), March 27, 2026.
  39. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, FRED (BLS data), All Employees: Total Nonfarm in Wichita, KS (MSA), annual, undated (2023 and 2024 annual averages).
  40. NAI Martens (broker), Q1 2026 Industrial and Retail Market Reports, Wichita, 2026 (Q4 2025 and Q1 2026).
  41. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, PD&R, Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis: Wichita, Kansas, 2023.
  42. Apartment List (secondary), October 2026 Rent Report: Wichita, October 2026.
  43. AirDNA (secondary), Wichita Short-Term Rental Data, 2026 (trailing 12 months to August 2026).
  44. HVS (secondary), Resurgence and Strength: Demand and Supply Growth in Wichita, undated.
  45. Wichita Liberty (secondary), Kansas hotel guest tax collections, 2022.
  46. GoSBA Loans (secondary, derived from SBA FOIA data), Best Wichita, KS SBA Lenders 2026, 2026 (2025 approvals).
  47. SBA Loans HQ (secondary), Top SBA Lenders in Wichita, 2026 (FY2021 to FY2026).
  48. Lawrence Journal-World (local news), Panasonic plant up to about 1,400 employees, officials hope to hire several hundred more in coming months, February 2, 2026.
  49. Tonganoxie Mirror (local news), Panasonic officially opens De Soto battery plant, July 16, 2025.
  50. Kansas Department of Commerce, Governor Kelly Celebrates Grand Opening of Panasonic EV Battery Manufacturing Facility in De Soto, July 14, 2025.
  51. The Beacon (local news, citing the Governor's office and KSHB), Kansas City Chiefs are moving to Kansas, December 22, 2025.
  52. Kansas Department of Commerce, Chiefs in Kansas one-pager, December 2025.
  53. FOX4KC (local news), Wyandotte County commissioners vote on STAR Bond ordinance for new Chiefs stadium, February 5, 2026.
  54. U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Wyandotte County, Kansas (Vintage 2025), 2026 (April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025).
  55. U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Johnson County, Kansas, population chart (Vintage 2025), 2026 (July 1, 2025).
  56. everycityintheusa.com (secondary, citing Census Vintage 2025), Kansas Cities List, 2026 (2020 to 2025).
  57. Cushman & Wakefield Kansas City (broker, CoStar data), Kansas City Multifamily Market Intelligence, April 14, 2026 (Q1 2026).
  58. MWCRE (secondary, citing CBRE and Colliers), Kansas City Industrial Q1 2026, 2026 (Q1 2026).
  59. Topeka Capital-Journal (citing the City of Topeka 2023 ACFR), Who are the largest employers in Topeka?, undated (December 31, 2023 data).
  60. Wikipedia (secondary, citing Census Vintage 2025), Kansas statistical areas, accessed October 2026 (July 1, 2025 estimates).
  61. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Topeka, KS Economy at a Glance, 2026 (March and August 2026).
  62. WIBW (local news), City of Topeka approves increased tax on hotel stays, May 6, 2026.
  63. Economic Development Corporation of Lawrence and Douglas County, Major Employers, December 2025.
  64. Lawrence Journal-World (local news), LMH Health, KU Health System reach agreement with Emporia hospital to expand care there, January 29, 2025.
  65. Lawrence Journal-World (local news), Lawrence couple make $5M gift to LMH Health to expand hospital heart center project, May 21, 2025.
  66. U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Douglas County, Kansas (Vintage 2025), 2026 (April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025).
  67. Wikipedia (secondary), Riley County, Kansas, accessed October 2026 (2020 to 2025).
  68. Kansas Department of Commerce, Governor Laura Kelly announces expansion of Salina pizza manufacturer, November 2022.
  69. Kansas Department of Commerce, Governor Laura Kelly celebrates grand opening of Salina construction equipment manufacturing plant, October 2022.
  70. U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Saline County, Kansas (Vintage 2025), 2026 (April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025).
  71. CitizenPortal (secondary, AI summary of a Finney County Economic Development Corporation meeting), Garden City staff report: multiple commercial and housing prospects including ICON and an Amazon distribution site, March 26, 2025.
  72. CitizenPortal (secondary, FCEDC meeting summary), Finney County Development Corporation hears housing, industrial prospects as Tyson plans to relocate about 200 workers, 2025.
  73. Wikipedia (secondary, citing Census Vintage 2025), Finney County, Kansas, accessed October 2026 (2020 to 2025).
  74. CitizenPortal (secondary, candidate forum summary), Candidates highlight housing shortage, commissioners cite RHID, MIH projects and 853 units in design phase, September 2025.
  75. Hays Post (local news), Ellis County economic forecast, October 29, 2024.
  76. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Detailed Tables, 2020-2024, 2020-2024 estimates.
  77. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Personal Income by County and Metropolitan Area (table CAINC1), 2024, 2024 estimates.
  78. U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Capital Access, 7(a) and 504 FOIA loan-level data, as of June 30, 2026.
  79. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023 County Business Patterns, 2023 data year.
  80. eCFR, 13 CFR 120.160, Loan conditions, current to October 7, 2026.
  81. U.S. Small Business Administration, SOP 50 10 8.1, Lender and Development Company Loan Programs, with Technical Policy Updates, effective October 1, 2026.
  82. U.S. Small Business Administration, Information Notice 5000-881797: FY 2027 7(a) Program Fees, 2026 (loans approved October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027).
  83. USDA Rural Development, Kansas State Office, accessed October 2026.
  84. Federal Register (SBA notice), Presidential Declaration of a Major Disaster for Public Assistance Only for the State of Kansas (90 FR 46728), DR-4891, September 29, 2025 (declared September 11, 2025).
  85. Federal Emergency Management Agency, DR-4926-KS: Kansas Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes and Flooding, declared June 30, 2026.
  86. Federal Emergency Management Agency, DR-4940-KS: Kansas Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes and Flooding, declared September 1, 2026.
  87. Kansas Legislature, K.S.A. 74-8905 (Kansas Development Finance Authority), current statute, accessed October 2026.
  88. Kansas Department of Commerce, Industrial Revenue Bonds, accessed October 2026.
  89. City of Bonner Springs (secondary), Industrial Revenue Bond Financing, accessed October 2026.
  90. City of Wichita, Major Employers, undated.
  91. Weigand Real Estate (broker), Top Wichita Retail Real Estate Trends Shaping the Market in 2026, 2026.
  92. newhotelsopening.com (secondary), New Hotels in Wichita KS 2025, 2025.
  93. LodgingDevelopment.com (secondary), Wichita Hotel Ownership Entities, August 2025 (Delano entry).
  94. The Beacon (local news), Kansas City, Wyandotte County and Chiefs stadium deal negotiations, June 3, 2026.
  95. KSN (local news), Garden City working to solve housing crunch, undated.
  96. AHCA/NCAL (secondary), Kansas Assisted Living Regulatory Summary, 2019.
  97. Kansas Office of Early Childhood, Child Care Licensing, accessed October 2026 (transfer effective July 1, 2026).
  98. Kansas Legislature, SCR 1603, as amended (limit on real property valuation increases), 2025 to 2026 session (status not found).
  99. Kansas Legislative Research Department, Summary of Legislation 2021: Aboveground and Underground Storage Tanks; Sunset; Fund Limitations (SB 27), 2021.