Emporia is also a college town, where lots of students live while attending area colleges. Because of the high percentage of people living in Emporia enrolled in college, Emporia has a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared towards the needs and activities of students.
Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Emporia spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 12.20 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.
The overall education level of Emporia is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 21.84%: 25.84% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Emporia in 2022 was $26,383, which is low income relative to Kansas, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $105,532 for a family of four. However, Emporia contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Emporia is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Emporia home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Emporia residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Emporia also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 28.56% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Emporia include German, Irish, European, English, and French.
The most common language spoken in Emporia is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
