Hays is also a college town, where lots of students live while attending area colleges. Because of the high percentage of people living in Hays enrolled in college, Hays has a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared towards the needs and activities of students.
Hays, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.
Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 12.39 minutes getting to work every day.
Hays is a small city, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.
The education level of Hays ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Hays, 43.01% have at least a bachelor's degree. The typical US community has just 21.84% of its adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree.
The per capita income in Hays in 2022 was $32,508, which is middle income relative to Kansas and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $130,032 for a family of four. However, Hays contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Hays home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Hays residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Hays include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Russian.
The most common language spoken in Hays is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and German/Yiddish.
