Jury Pool Profile

Morton County, Kansas

Republican +73.4 (2024)

County seat: Elkhart
Judicial district: 26th Judicial District Court
Population (July 2025 estimate): 2,470; Census PEP. The five-year ACS survey average is 2,611.

At a glance

Morton County is a 2,470-person venue. The county population is 75% White (Census race-alone categories). 24% identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race. Median household income is $68,340, $7,062 below the KS state median of $75,402; 17.1% of residents 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher. 19.9% of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, most commonly Spanish and German or other West Germanic. The largest employment sector is Education & health services, at 26.8% of covered employment, average pay $47,071/year. Trailing-12-month unemployment is 3.74%, below the 3.83% state average. The county carried the Republican presidential candidate in 2016, 2020, and 2024, taking 84% to 86% of the vote across the three.

Population: 2,611
Median household income: $66,447
Unemployment: 3.7%

Who sits on a jury?

Predominantly White

≥70% White (race-alone) and <20% Black. This county: 75% / 1%.

Morton County has a population of 2,611, with a median age of 46.1. By Census race-alone categories, White residents make up 75.5%; Black residents 1.2%. Independently, 24.1% of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The median household earns $68,340; 17.1% of residents 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher; 12.2% live below the federal poverty line.

Race & ethnicity

White (non-Hispanic) 1,835 70.3%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 628 24.1%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 31 1.2%
Asian (non-Hispanic) 44 1.7%
Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 72 2.8%
American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 1 0.0%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
Some other race (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Age distribution

Median age 46.1

Under 18 636 24.4%
18–24 152 5.8%
25–44 448 17.2%
45–64 862 33.0%
65 and over 513 19.6%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Income & poverty

Median household income: $68,340; 90% interval $60,554–$76,126; −$7,062 vs KS · 46th of 105
Below poverty line: 12.2%; 90% interval 9.2%–15.2%; +1.3 pp vs KS · 39th of 105

U.S. Census SAIPE 2024

Economic context

Energy-sector presence

BLS QCEW 'Natural resources & mining' (oil & gas) is ≥5% of total covered employment. This county: 7.9%.

Education & health services is the largest employment sector at 26.8% of covered employment, followed by Trade, transportation & utilities at 18.0%. Trailing-12-month unemployment is 3.74%, below the Kansas state average.

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 3.7%; −0.09 pp vs. state
County GDP: $219.4M; 0.1% of state
Avg. annual pay: $45,822
Establishments: 96

U.S. BLS 2026M07 · U.S. BEA 2024 · BLS QCEW 2025

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Education & health services 200 26.8%
Trade, transportation & utilities 134 18.0%
Public administration 130 17.4%
Natural resources & mining 59 7.9%
Leisure & hospitality 38 5.1%
Information 35 4.7%
Professional & business services 33 4.4%
Other services 1 0.1%

The sectors listed cover 84.5% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

BLS QCEW 2025

Housing

Home ownership: 85.4%; +18.2 pp vs KS · 3rd of 105
Median gross rent: $632; −$428 vs KS · 95th of 105
Owner-occupied: 830
Renter-occupied: 142

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Local economy in 3 reads

Moderately concentrated

Top three sectors employ 62% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.
Wide wage spread

Highest-paid sector (Natural resources & mining, $68,988/yr) pays 5.9× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $11,670/yr). Stark intra-economy class divisions on the panel; calibrate damages and lost-wages framing to that range.
Small-business scale

Average establishment employs only 7.8 workers, a small-business-dominated local economy. Expect more self-employed and small-business-owner panelists than in institutional-employer venues.

BLS QCEW 2025

Political composition

Consistently strongly Republican

Republican candidate carried this county in 2016, 2020, and 2024 (avg winning share: 85%). 'Strongly' threshold: ≥60% avg.

Morton County was carried by the Republican candidate in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 cycles, with 85.8% in 2024, 86.3% in 2020, 83.6% in 2016.

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 1,060 votes cast

Republican
Democratic

Republican 909 85.8%
Democratic 131 12.4%
Other / third-party 20 1.9%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Family-majority, linguistically diverse

Family households are 63% of all households (thresholds: ≥70% = 'family-dominant'; 50–70% = 'family-majority'; <50% = 'singles/nonfamily-majority'). 19.9% of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home (threshold for 'linguistically diverse' is ≥10%).

19.9% of residents 5 years and older speak a language other than English at home. The most common are Spanish, German or other West Germanic, Tagalog. Veterans account for 4.7% of the adult civilian population (93 individuals).

Languages spoken at home

80.1% speak only English at home

Spanish 379 15.3%
German or other West Germanic 53 2.1%
Tagalog 38 1.5%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Household composition

Households: 972
Family households: 617; 63.5% of households
Married couples w/ children: 141; 22.9% of families
Single-mother families: 3; 0.5% of families
Veterans: 93; 4.7% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Religious composition

44.6% overall adherence rate

Evangelical Protestant 701 26.0%
Mainline Protestant 253 9.4%
Catholic 250 9.3%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 89.4%; ±3.7 pp
Uninsured: 10.6%; ±3.7 pp; 26th of 105
With a disability: 21.3%; ±4.3 pp; 8th of 105
Bachelor's or higher: 17.1%; ±5.9 pp; −18.5 pp vs KS · 103rd of 105
Uninsured, under 65 (2024): 13.6%; 90% interval 12.1%–15.1% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Court infrastructure

Trial court: 26th Judicial District Court
Judges: 3 (District Court judges per district (general civil + criminal jurisdiction); District Magistrate Judges (limited jurisdiction: limited civil, traffic, misdemeanors) separate. Vintage 2026 kscourts.gov; counts cross-checked against K.S.A. § 20-301a.)
Court seats: Elkhart, Hugoton, Johnson City, Liberal, Sublette, Ulysses

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Court reference

Traffic safety context

Morton totals, 2024 — the per-100k rate is based on 1 recorded death, too few to be statistically reliable

Traffic fatalities: 1; 50.63 per 100k adults (18+)
Fatal crashes: 1

NHTSA FARS 2024

Presidential vote share by year
Year	Republican	Democratic
2016	83.6%	12.5%
2020	86.3%	12.6%
2024	85.8%	12.4%