Jayton is the seat of Kent County, and is on Hwy 70 and Farm roads 1228 and 1083, twenty-three miles west of Aspermont and fourteen miles northeast of Clairemont.
In the late 1930s oil was discovered in the county. In 1954, after a lengthy court battle, Jayton replaced Clairemont as county seat. Loss of the railroad by the early 1960s and a limited local economy kept the population at a modest level; it varied from a high of 750 in the mid-1920s to about 638 during the 1980s. In 1980 Jayton had a post office, a bank, and ten businesses. With its chief economy based on farming and oil-related services, the town was the only incorporated town in the county. Jayton had a population of 608 in 1990.