--- title: "States That Border Kansas: All 4 Neighbors, Mapped" url: https://33travels.com/states-that-border-kansas/ author: "Tomas Herrera" published: 2026-11-05 updated: 2026-11-05 place: "Kansas" --- # States That Border Kansas: All 4 Neighbors, Mapped Four states border Kansas: Nebraska to the north, Missouri to the east, Oklahoma to the south, and Colorado to the west. Not seven, not five, and not Texas or Arkansas, no matter what a few sloppy quiz sites claim. Kansas is close to a rectangle, which makes its borders unusually easy to explain. Two are straight lines of latitude, one is a meridian, and one is a river that turns into a straight line halfway down. ## Table of Contents - [TLDR: the four neighbors](#tldr-the-four-neighbors) - [The border at a glance](#the-border-at-a-glance) - [Nebraska (north)](#nebraska-north) - [Missouri (east)](#missouri-east) - [Oklahoma (south)](#oklahoma-south) - [Colorado (west)](#colorado-west) - [Which Kansas border is the longest?](#which-kansas-border-is-the-longest) - [Does Kansas border Texas or Arkansas?](#does-kansas-border-texas-or-arkansas) - [FAQ](#faq) ## TLDR: the four neighbors - **Nebraska** is north, along the 40th parallel. - **Missouri** is east, along the Missouri River and then a straight line south. - **Oklahoma** is south, along the 37th parallel. - **Colorado** is west, along a surveyed meridian at 102°03′ W. - **Longest border:** Oklahoma, at roughly 410 miles. - **Shortest border:** Colorado, at roughly 207 miles. ![Overhead view of a map with a compass and flashlight showing navigation tools.](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/kansas-map.jpeg) ## The border at a glance | Direction | State | Approx. length | What defines the line | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | North | Nebraska | 357 miles | The 40th parallel north | | East | Missouri | 230 miles | The Missouri River, then a straight line south from Kansas City | | South | Oklahoma | 410 miles | The 37th parallel north | | West | Colorado | 207 miles | The 25th meridian west of Washington (102°03′ W) | A note on those numbers. Published border lengths for Kansas disagree with each other, and Nebraska is the worst offender, with figures anywhere from about 210 to 358 miles. The figures above are rounded and worked out from the boundary coordinates: degrees of longitude along the 40th and 37th parallels for Nebraska and Oklahoma, three degrees of latitude for Colorado. Missouri is the soft one, because a river meanders and any measurement depends on how closely you trace it. Treat it as “about 230” and you’ll be fine. ## Nebraska (north) The Kansas–Nebraska line runs dead straight along the 40th parallel, from the Colorado corner to the Missouri River. That is about 357 miles of nothing but wheat, corn and grain elevators. Crossings are mostly two-lane US highways. US-77 connects Marysville, Kansas, to Beatrice, Nebraska, and US-81 links Belleville, Kansas, to Hebron, Nebraska, which sits a few miles over the line. Neither is a tourist road. They’re how farm trucks move. The name itself is the history. The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 created both territories and left the slavery question to local voters, which set off the violence the National Park Service describes as [Bleeding Kansas](https://www.nps.gov/articles/bleeding-kansas.htm). Nebraska mostly watched. Kansas bled. ## Missouri (east) The eastern border is the only one that isn’t ruler-straight. It follows the Missouri River south from the 40th parallel past Atchison and Leavenworth, then leaves the water at the mouth of the Kansas River and runs due south through the middle of the Kansas City metro. ![Wide-angle shot of Kansas City's skyline with clear blue skies and vibrant green foreground.](https://33travels.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/kansas-city-skyline.jpeg) That straight stretch is State Line Road, and it splits one metro area into two states. Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, are separate cities, and you can cross between them without noticing. Everything from sales tax to alcohol rules changes at the line, which is why you’ll see people in the Kansas City area driving a few blocks to buy something cheaper. This is also the border behind the worst chapter in the state’s history. In the 1850s, pro-slavery Missourians known as border ruffians crossed into Kansas Territory to vote in its elections and to intimidate free-state settlers. The Missouri line wasn’t just a map feature then. It was the front. Highways cross constantly here. I-70 and I-35 both run from Kansas into Missouri through the metro, and Kansas City is by far the busiest crossing on any Kansas border. Further north, Elwood, Kansas, faces St. Joseph, Missouri, across the river. ## Oklahoma (south) The southern border sits on the 37th parallel and is the longest, at roughly 410 miles. It runs from the Missouri corner in the southeast all the way to the Colorado line in the southwest. Most travelers meet it on I-35. The Kansas Turnpike starts at the Oklahoma line and runs north through Wichita toward Kansas City, so mile marker zero is the state border. Wichita to Oklahoma City is about 160 miles, an easy two-and-a-half-hour drive. The far western end is stranger. For the last stretch, the neighbor is the Oklahoma Panhandle, not the main body of the state. Liberal, Kansas, sits only a few miles north of the line, and US-54 carries traffic across it toward Guymon, Oklahoma. ## Colorado (west) The western border is the shortest, about 207 miles, because it only spans the three degrees of latitude between 37°N and 40°N. It follows a meridian at 102°03′ W, set by an early federal survey that measured longitude from Washington, D.C. rather than Greenwich. This is the border where the time changes. Most of Kansas runs on Central Time, but four counties along the Colorado line (Greeley, Hamilton, Sherman and Wallace) use Mountain Time. Goodland, in Sherman County, is the largest town on the Mountain side. The [U.S. Department of Transportation](https://www.transportation.gov/regulations/time-zones) administers time zone boundaries, which is why a few Kansas counties can differ from the rest of the state. I-70 is the main crossing. Kanorado, Kansas, a town whose name is its location, sits right at the line, one of many [towns that straddle state lines](https://33travels.com/bordering-towns-between-us-states/), and Denver is roughly 250 miles from Goodland. The change is visible well before the sign: the land climbs, the grass shortens, and the horizon gets bigger. ## Which Kansas border is the longest? Oklahoma, at roughly 410 miles. Nebraska is second at about 357, Missouri third at about 230 (and the hardest to pin down), and Colorado last at about 207. The reason is the shape of the state. Kansas is wider than it is tall, so the two east–west borders (north and south) outrun the two north–south ones. Nebraska comes up shorter than Oklahoma only because the northeast corner is trimmed by the Missouri River. ## Does Kansas border Texas or Arkansas? No to both. This is the most common wrong answer, and the geography explains why people guess it. - **Texas** sits south of the Oklahoma Panhandle. The Panhandle is only about 35 miles from north to south, so Texas is close, but not touching. - **Arkansas** lies south of Missouri and east of Oklahoma. Its northwest corner is also roughly 35 miles from Kansas’s southeast corner. - **Iowa** touches Missouri and Nebraska but not Kansas. - **New Mexico** touches Colorado and Oklahoma’s Panhandle but not Kansas. The Kansas corners are close to other states without sharing a border with them. Drive far enough in any direction and you cross one of the four states above before you reach anything else. For comparison, [Tennessee and Missouri each border eight states](https://33travels.com/states-that-border-the-most-states/), twice Kansas’s count. ## FAQ **How many states border Kansas?** Four: Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma and Colorado. **What is the capital of each bordering state?** Lincoln (Nebraska), Jefferson City (Missouri), Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) and Denver (Colorado). From Topeka, Lincoln is roughly 165 miles by road. From Kansas City, Jefferson City is about 150 miles. Oklahoma City is about 160 miles from Wichita, and Denver is about 250 miles from Goodland. **Is Kansas in the Central or Mountain time zone?** Mostly Central. Four western counties (Greeley, Hamilton, Sherman and Wallace) are on Mountain Time. **Do the borders run along rivers?** Only partly. The Missouri River forms the northern part of the eastern border. The rest of the state’s boundaries are surveyed lines. **Is Kansas next to Texas?** No. The Oklahoma Panhandle sits between them.