In addition, Hays is a college town. There are a lot of students in Hays attending college, and as a result Hays provides a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared to 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.
One of the benefits of Hays is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 12.39 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.
Being a small city, Hays does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
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.
