Bala Kansas Map

About Bala, Kansas

Bala is a locality in Riley County, Kansas, United States. It is a small community with a population of 29. The population density is 26.1 people per km². Bala is located at 39.3097°N, 96.9497°W. It observes the Central Time (America/Chicago) timezone. ZIP code: 66531.

Bala occupies a stretch of high prairie where the relentless Kansas wind dictates the posture of every cedar and fence line. It lies 20.4 miles north-northwest of Junction City, KS (from Junction City, KS: bearing 342°T), and is situated 15.9 miles north-northwest of Fort Riley. Timber Creek cuts a narrow, winding path through the soil here, its banks lined with the gnarled, pale trunks of cottonwoods that shiver as the gusts pass through their canopy. To the west, the faint, jagged suggestion of the Arnold Divide haunts the horizon, a distant barrier that keeps the sky vast and intimidatingly clear. During the golden hour, the light flattens against the tallgrass, turning the landscape into a sea of copper and burnt umber that stretches toward the shimmering expanse of Milford Lake, visible just a few miles to the east.

Bala traces its roots to the early settlers who saw promise in the stubborn, fertile soil, though the echoes of the Dust Bowl still linger in the cautious way the locals speak of rainfall and crop yields. Agriculture remains the quiet pulse of the region, with the economy tethered to the slow rotation of wheat and the steady maintenance of livestock. Life here moves with the deliberate pace of the seasons, occasionally interrupted by a weekend excursion to the nearby Milford Recreation Area, where the water offers a brief, cool respite from the heat of the plains. There is a profound, unadorned honesty in the way the local limestone buildings hold the heat of the day, standing as sturdy, silent witnesses to a history defined not by grand events, but by the persistent, daily labor of those who chose to call this prairie home.

About This Bala Map Page

This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Bala, Kansas. Coordinates: 39.309719, -96.949735. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.

Detailed location data for Bala includes the ZIP code (66531), telephone area code (913), county seat of Riley County (Manhattan), and school district assignment (Riley County Unified School District 378).

Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.