Skip to content
riveryas
EN

River

Kansas River

238 km from source to mouth · United States.

United StatesUnited StatesFlows into Missouri River

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthTopeka
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

238km

Average flow

210m³/s

Basin

155,695km²

Drop

103m

from 325 m to 222 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

238 km of river and 52 stops on the way: 11 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

325 m222 m
Smoky Hill Riverat 325 m0 km
Manhattan54,100 people33 km
Wamego4,841 people60 km
Silver Lake0.6 km²103 km
Topeka126,587 people120 km
Delaware Rivertributary148 km
Lawrence93,917 people165 km
Wakarusa Rivertributary185 km
Quivira Lake0.5 km²215 km
Missouri Riverat 222 m238 km
050100150200238 km
  1. 0 kmSmoky Hill Riverat 325 m
  2. 1 kmJunction City24,621 people
  3. 5 kmSmoky Hill Rivertributary
  4. 5 kmRepublican Rivertributary
  5. 33 kmManhattan54,100 people
  6. 36 kmBig Blue Rivertributary
  7. 49 kmSt. George1,054 people
  8. 60 kmWamego4,841 people
  9. 60 kmK-99 Wamego Bridge
  10. 90 kmMaple Hill Bridge
  11. 97 kmWillard Bridge
  12. 103 kmSilver Lake0.6 km²
  13. 115 kmWestgate Bridge
  14. 120 kmTopeka Boulevard Bridge
  15. 120 kmTopeka126,587 people
  16. 120 kmKansas Avenue Bowstring Bridge
  17. 120 kmNorth Kansas Avenue Bridge
  18. 122 kmSardou Bridge
  19. 126 kmOakland Expressway Bridge
  20. 148 kmDelaware Rivertributary
  21. 148 kmLecompton Road Bridge
  22. 163 kmKansas Turnpike Bridges
  23. 165 kmU.S. 40 and 59 Bridges
  24. 165 kmLawrence93,917 people
  25. 178 kmEudora6,378 people
  26. 178 kmEudora Kaw River Bridge
  27. 185 kmWakarusa Rivertributary
  28. 193 kmHighway 2 Bridge
  29. 193 kmDe Soto6,074 people
  30. 207 kmBonner Springs7,606 people
  31. 208 kmK-7 Bridge
  32. 211 kmEdwardsville4,390 people
  33. 214 kmInterstate 435 Bridge
  34. 215 kmQuivira Lake0.5 km²
  35. 222 kmTurner Bridge
  36. 225 kmInterstate 635 Bridge
  37. 227 kmKansas Avenue Bridge
  38. 228 kmArgentine Bridge
  39. 229 km18th Street Expressway Bridge
  40. 229 km12th Street Bridge
  41. 231 km7th Street Trafficway Bridge
  42. 232 kmHighline Bridge
  43. 233 km23rd Street viaduct
  44. 233 kmRock Island Bridge
  45. 233 kmUnion Pacific Intermodal Bridge
  46. 233 kmMissouri Pacific Bridge
  47. 233 kmI-670 Viaduct
  48. 234 kmCentral Avenue Bridge
  49. 234 kmKansas City Southern Bridge
  50. 235 kmJames Street Bridge
  51. 235 kmKansas City152,933 people
  52. 235 kmLewis and Clark Viaduct
  53. 235 kmUnion Pacific Bridge
  54. 238 kmMissouri Riverat 222 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in northeastern Kansas, United States

At the mouth it carries 207 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 12 seconds. It drops from 325 m to 222 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 155,695 km², about the size of SR. 1.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from June to September. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 108% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • Kansas CityLargest city on its banks · 475,378 people
  • Kansas City International Airport (MCI)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 25 km from the cityCar hire at MCI airport (Kansas City)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water20 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe2 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From April to May and from August to OctoberThe best months to visit

Kansas River, month by month

Highest water: from June to September

Best months to visit: from April to May and from August to October.

140
-2°25 mmJan
130
1°26 mmFeb
190
6°61 mmMar
320
13°80 mmApr
590
18°118 mmMay
750
23°136 mmJun
730
26°100 mmJul
670
25°94 mmAug
660
20°109 mmSep
570
14°77 mmOct
510
6°49 mmNov
410
0°34 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 130 m³/s in the lowest month to 750 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire at MCI airport (Kansas City)Discover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Kansas River: the basin in numbers

155,039 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 108% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 1.3millionpeople live in the basin
  • 9/km²people per km²
  • 738maverage altitude of the basin
  • 616mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 11.0°Caverage air temperature
  • 0.3%covered by lakes
  • 10km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 2% Forest
  • 61% Cropland
  • 25% Pasture
  • 1% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Kansas River: what you find on the way

  • 39DamsRimrock Dam, Moon Lake Dam, Ksnoname 1910 Dam and 36 more
  • 13WeirsLawrence Low-Head Dam, Bowersock Dam, WaterOne Low Head Dam and 10 more
  • 2Rapids
  • 19Boat rampsOgden, Blue River Access Ramp, Boggs Landing and 16 more
  • 1Boat rentalsDouble T's Canoe Rental

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Kansas River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 2lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 19mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (2)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Silver Lakekm 1210.6km²
  2. Quivira Lakekm 2530.5km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (19)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Artillery Hill3.8 km away
  2. Battery Hill5.9 km away
  3. Caisson Hill4.3 km away
  4. Campbell Hill8.6 km away
  5. Carpenter Hill6.7 km away
  6. Custer Hill6.2 km away
  7. Four Way Divide5.1 km away
  8. Franks Hill4.9 km away

11 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Kansas River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Kansas River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth54 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Kansas River in pictures

Kansas River flooded 2019
Junedude433 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kansas River at Lawrence KS
Dicklyon · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kansas River Intake
Freezer787! · CC BY-SA 4.0
Linear Trail on the Kansas River in Manhattan, Kansas
John P Salvatore · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Missouri RiverUnited StatesUnited States3,726 km2,500 m³/s

Tributaries (9)

Smoky Hill RiverUnited StatesUnited States925 km69 m³/sjoins at km 6

Also: Republican River, Big Blue River, Delaware River, Wakarusa River, Mission Creek (Kansas), Clarks Creek, Soldier Creek, Turkey Creek

In the same basin

Mississippi RiverUnited StatesUnited States3,766 km12,700 m³/sOhio RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,579 km8,000 m³/sArkansas RiverUnited StatesUnited States2,364 km240 m³/sTennessee RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,049 km2,000 m³/sRed RiverUnited StatesUnited States2,189 km1,900 m³/sYellowstone RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,114 km390 m³/sPlatte RiverUnited StatesUnited States500 km200 m³/sCanadian RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,458 km200 m³/sIllinois RiverUnited StatesUnited States432 km660 m³/sAllegheny RiverUnited StatesUnited States523 km560 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Smoky Hill RiverUnited StatesUnited States925 km69 m³/s189 km awayPlatte RiverUnited StatesUnited States500 km200 m³/s239 km awayOsage RiverUnited StatesUnited States444 km310 m³/s239 km awayDes Moines RiverUnited StatesUnited States845 km250 m³/s306 km awayIllinois RiverUnited StatesUnited States432 km660 m³/s359 km awayCimarron RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,123 km1,100 m³/s359 km awayCanadian RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,458 km200 m³/s411 km awayNeosho RiverUnited StatesUnited States745 km280 m³/s375 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1367638) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit