Because there are quite a few people attending college in Hays, it is thought of as a college town. To the benefit of the many students in the area, Hays provides a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared towards their needs and activities.
Hays, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.
Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Hays spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 12.39 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.
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.
