north central kansas is a tourism and geographical region of the state of kansas. it has 15 counties. over 150,000 people live there. the salina micropolitan area is part of north central kansas. the region goes from the nebraska border in the north to russell, ellsworth, saline, and dickinson counties in the south. its western border includes smith, osborne, and russell counties, and its eastern border dickinson, clay, washington, and marshall counties.