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Place dossier plate
SheetKS-KANSAS-CITY-KS · Kansas City, KS 154,776 pop · income 34th pct · 64 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Kansas City
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Kansas City on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Macon-Bibb Co… · lowest
50,747
Macon-Bibb Co… · lowest
50,747 median HH income
27.9% of the leader · rank #1
Rocky Boy's A… · near
59,175
Rocky Boy's A… · near
59,175 median HH income
32.5% of the leader · rank #2
Vernal · near
59,178
Vernal · near
59,178 median HH income
32.5% of the leader · rank #3
Kansas City · this city
59,183
Kansas City · this city
59,183 median HH income
32.5% of the leader · rank #4
Oak Grove · near
59,191
Oak Grove · near
59,191 median HH income
32.5% of the leader · rank #5
South Whitley · near
59,191
South Whitley · near
59,191 median HH income
32.5% of the leader · rank #6
Sunnyvale · highest
181,862
Sunnyvale · highest
181,862 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Kansas City on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 154,776.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Kansas City - the verdict
Nationally, Kansas City sits in the 34th percentile for household income and the 5th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
34th
percentile, household income
26th
percentile, home value
6th
percentile, median rent
5th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Kansas City, KS
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 154,776 residents in Kansas City, a mid-sized U.S. city within Kansas. Median household income here is $59,183 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.1%. Home values in Kansas City run a median of $147,100, and the median resident age is 34.0 years. Educational attainment runs 20.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 61.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 318 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 74% from five years earlier. Kansas City's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 4653.7 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Kansas run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Kansas scores 90.1 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $947 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Kansas's average monthly utility costs around $217 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 29.9 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Kansas City's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to within-city variation to reported crime to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Kansas City, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Kansas City?
Within Kansas, the closest population matches are Olathe (143,720 residents, $112,232 income); Topeka (126,103 residents, $55,902 income); Overland Park (197,199 residents, $103,838 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Springfield, MA (154,751 residents); Sunnyvale, CA (153,455 residents); Killeen, TX (156,144 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What does the journey to work look like in Kansas City?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Kansas City?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
What can 64 Census tracts reveal inside Kansas City?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 64 Census tracts to this city.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Kansas City?
The NCES join finds 58 public schools within the city match. 20.2% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
58
Bachelor's degree+
20.2%
Poverty estimate
14.1%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Kansas City?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4653.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 104% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
3606.5
Violent rate
1047.2
Total reported rate
4653.7
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Is Kansas City growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,499 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 318 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+1.0%
2025 estimate
157,805
2020 estimate
156,306
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 14.1% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.1 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kansas average
F
City profile score · Kansas City, KS
35/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A
90.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$59,183
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
1,047 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Kansas City profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 35/100 (F) · 20.2%
Household income: 33/100 (F) · $59,183
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.1%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,047 /100k
Where Kansas City sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Kansas City's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Kansas City highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Kansas City, KS (this city): home $147,100, crime 4,654/100k
Springfield, MA : home $222,700, crime 3,727/100k
Sunnyvale, CA : home $1,816,600, crime 2,154/100k
Killeen, TX : home $196,000, crime 1,910/100k
Lakewood, CO : home $548,200, crime 5,881/100k
Olathe, KS : home $340,600, crime 1,137/100k
Topeka, KS : home $130,600, crime 4,499/100k
Overland Park, KS : home $384,400, crime 1,946/100k
Lawrence, KS : home $269,500, crime 2,618/100k
Shawnee, KS : home $332,900, crime 2,049/100k
Lenexa, KS : home $368,800, crime 1,531/100k
How does Kansas City compare to other US cities?
Here's how Kansas City stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income34% higher than other cities
Home value26% pricier than other cities
Median rent6% pricier than other cities
Safety5% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Kansas, Kansas City ranks #106 of 109 Kansas cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Kansas City against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Kansas only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Kansas-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Kansas City near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Kansas City ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Kansas City only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#273 of 527
48th percentile in Kansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 552
0th percentile in Kansas
Median Home Value
#123 of 527
77th percentile in Kansas
Poverty Rate
#111 of 552
80th percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#278 of 552
49th percentile in Kansas
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Kansas only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
34th percentile nationally for median household income · 5th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Kansas City's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Kansas City's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Kansas City's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$147,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 74% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Kansas City's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,928 of 15,516
More affordable than 75% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#34 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 2.5×, Kansas City sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,928 of 15,516 and #34 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$59,183Kansas City, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Kansas City, KS median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Kansas City, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
154,776
Median Income
$59,183
Median Home Value
$147,100
Median Age
34.0
Poverty Rate
14.1%
Labor force participation
61.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4653.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1047.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3606.5
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
58
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Kansas City's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
156,306 residents
2021
154,842 residents
2022
153,678 residents
2023
154,817 residents
2024
157,195 residents
2025
157,805 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
318
housing units authorized
Single-Family
106
detached homes
Multifamily
212
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
183
169
14
$32.9M
2020
201
183
18
$36.4M
2021
167
142
25
$33.5M
2022
394
127
267
$63.9M
2023
300
88
212
$70.8M
2024
318
106
212
$74.6M
Permit volume increased 74% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.5%
Carpool
12.6%
Public Transit
1.1%
Walk
1.3%
Work from Home
8.5%
Other
1.0%
Based on 70,816 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Kansas statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $217
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Kansas at $217 (electricity about $110 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Kansas statewide averages, not a meter reading for Kansas City. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Kansas's BEA cost-of-living index is 90.1 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Kansas City is $947/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Kansas statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 29.9 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Kansas statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Kansas City sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Kansas City compares to similar-size Kansas cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.