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County in Kansas, United States

Sedgwick County is located in the U. S. state of Kansas. Its county seat is Wichita, the most populous city in the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 523,824, making it the second most populous county in Kansas. The county was named for John Sedgwick, the highest ranking Union general killed during the American Civil War.

For many millennia, the Great Plains of North America was inhabited by nomadic Native Americans. From the 16th century to 18th century, the Kingdom of France claimed ownership of large parts of North America. In 1762, after the French and Indian War, France secretly ceded New France to Spain, per the Treaty of Fontainebleau. In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France. In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Purchase for 2.83 cents per acre. In 1848, after the Mexican–American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Spain brought into the United States all or part of land for ten future states, including southwest Kansas. In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, and in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U. S. state.

Sedgwick County was founded in 1867, and named after John Sedgwick, who was a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In 1887, the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway built a branch line north–south from Herington to Caldwell. This branch line connected Herington, Lost Springs, Lincolnville, Antelope, Marion, Aulne, Peabody, Elbing, Whitewater, Furley, Kechi, Wichita, Peck, Corbin, Wellington, Caldwell. By 1893, this branch line was incrementally built to Fort Worth, Texas. This line is called the "OKT". The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway was foreclosed in 1891 and was taken over by Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway, which shut down in 1980 and reorganized as Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad, merged in 1988 with Missouri Pacific Railroad, and finally merged in 1997 with Union Pacific Railroad. Most locals still refer to this railroad as the "Rock Island".

Sedgwick County was the setting for the murders committed by the BTK strangler from 1974 until 1991. Dennis Rader, an employee of the Sedgwick County city of Park City was arrested in early 2005 after he began sending incriminating letters taunting the police in 2004. He had not been heard from since 1979. Ken Landwehr of the Wichita Police Department led the task force which captured Rader, setting a new standard of serial crime detection in the process, which is still studied by police departments across the world. Rader is serving 10 life sentences at the El Dorado Correctional Facility in El Dorado.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1009 square miles (2,613 km2), of which 998 square miles (2,585 km2) is land and 12 square miles (31 km2) (1.2%) is water.

Sedgwick County is fairly conservative for an urban county. It has only gone Democratic in a presidential election once since 1944. Democratic strength is concentrated in Wichita, while the suburban areas are strongly Republican. However, the county often backs Democrats for governorship most recently Laura Kelly in 2022. This makes it a bellwether in local Kansas elections, with the statewide winner almost always winning the county. The last Democratic Senate candidate to win the county was Bill Roy in 1974, while Kansas as a whole has not been represented by a Democrat in the Senate since 1938.

Sedgwick County was a prohibition, or "dry", county until the Kansas Constitution was amended in 1986 and voters approved the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with a 30 percent food sales requirement. The food sales requirement was removed with voter approval in 1988. Despite its conservative reputation, Sedgwick County voted "No" on the 2022 Kansas Value Them Both Amendment, an anti abortion ballot measure, by 58% to 42% despite backing Donald Trump with 54% of the vote to Joe Biden's 43% in the 2020 presidential election.

‡ means a community has portions in an adjacent county. † means a community is designated a Census Designated Place (CDP) by the United States Census Bureau.

Sedgwick County is divided into twenty seven townships. The cities of Bel Aire and Wichita are considered governmentally independent and are excluded from the census figures for the townships. In the following table, the population center is the largest city (or cities) included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size. The county used to have one more township, Wichita Township, but it no longer exists. Sources: 2000 U. S. Gazetteer from the U. S. Census Bureau. Township FIPS Populationcenter Population Populationdensity/km2 (/sq mi) Land areakm2 (sq mi) Water areakm2 (sq mi) Water % Geographic coordinates Afton 00425 1,290 14 (37) 91 (35) 2 (1) 1.73% Attica 03125 Goddard 4,959 62 (161) 80 (31) 0 (0) 0.23% Delano 17375 196 25 (64) 8 (3) 1 (0) 13.81% Eagle 19250 Bentley 1,069 12 (30) 92 (36) 1 (1) 1.44% Erie 21550 106 1 (3) 94 (36) 0 (0) 0.03% Garden Plain 25400 Garden Plain 1,780 19 (50) 92 (36) 0 (0) 0.15% Grand River 27300 607 7 (17) 91 (35) 2 (1) 2.20% Grant 28125 Valley Center (part) 3,710 40 (104) 93 (36) 0 (0) 0.47% Greeley 28400 Mount Hope 1,094 12 (31) 93 (36) 1 (1) 1.43% Gypsum 29300 5,822 64 (164) 92 (35) 0 (0) 0.51% Illinois 33775 1,620 18 (45) 93 (36) 0 (0) 0.12% Kechi 36250 Park City 8,041 143 (370) 56 (22) 0 (0) 0.23% Lincoln 41150 473 5 (13) 91 (35) 0 (0) 0.12% Minneha 47125 Eastborough 5,084 117 (304) 43 (17) 1 (0) 1.49% Morton 48550 Cheney 2,380 26 (67) 91 (35) 1 (0) 1.14% Ninnescah 50725 Clearwater 2,913 31 (81) 93 (36) 0 (0) 0.47% Ohio 52450 1,146 12 (32) 94 (36) 0 (0) 0.14% Park 54425 Maize 4,128 51 (131) 82 (32) 2 (1) 2.04% Payne 55075 1,119 14 (36) 80 (31) 0 (0) 0.21% Riverside 60125 Haysville (part)Derby (part)Oaklawn Sunview CDP 15,694 333 (862) 47 (18) 1 (0) 1.98% Rockford 60675 Derby (part) 20,019 198 (514) 101 (39) 1 (0) 0.99% Salem 62675 Haysville (part) 8,411 102 (263) 83 (32) 1 (0) 0.95% Sherman 65100 Andale 1,362 14 (37) 96 (37) 0 (0) 0.22% Union 72375 Colwich 2,156 23 (60) 93 (36) 0 (0) 0.23% Valley Center 73275 Valley Center (part) 3,642 39 (100) 94 (36) 0 (0) 0.16% Viola 74050 Viola 547 6 (15) 93 (36) 1 (0) 0.98% Waco 74300 3,381 45 (117) 75 (29) 0 (0) 0.12%