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Place dossier plate
SheetKS-OLATHE-KS · Olathe, KS 143,720 pop · income 84th pct
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 Olathe
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Olathe on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Gainesville · lowest
45,611
Gainesville · lowest
45,611 median HH income
40.3% of the leader · rank #1
Olathe · this city
112,232
Olathe · this city
112,232 median HH income
99.2% of the leader · rank #2
Redington Bea… · near
112,250
Redington Bea… · near
112,250 median HH income
99.2% of the leader · rank #3
Lake Holiday · near
112,250
Lake Holiday · near
112,250 median HH income
99.2% of the leader · rank #4
Gilbert · near
112,250
Gilbert · near
112,250 median HH income
99.2% of the leader · rank #5
Terryville · near
112,262
Terryville · near
112,262 median HH income
99.3% of the leader · rank #6
Torrance · highest
113,105
Torrance · highest
113,105 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 Olathe 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: 143,720.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Olathe - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Olathe places in the 84th percentile for household income and the 58th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
84th
percentile, household income
71st
percentile, home value
6th
percentile, median rent
58th
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: Olathe, KS
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 143,720 residents in Olathe, a mid-sized U.S. city within Kansas. Olathe households earn a median of $112,232 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.0%. Olathe's housing stock carries a median value of $340,600, and the median resident age is 36.6 years. 49.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 70.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 513 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Slowing), down 19% from five years earlier. Olathe reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1137.3 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 55.1°F with 40.7 inches of precipitation per year and 13.8 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in Kansas run below the national norm: the state registers 90.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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). Workers in Olathe report an average commute of 16.8 minutes, with 71.5% driving alone and 18.8% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 29.9 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Olathe'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 work and mobility to population change to reported crime to climate and hazard context to housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Olathe, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Olathe?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 71.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 16.8 minutes.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +8,476 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +6.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 513 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Olathe?
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 1137.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 50% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Olathe?
Within Kansas, the closest population matches are Kansas City (154,776 residents, $59,183 income); Topeka (126,103 residents, $55,902 income); Lawrence (95,459 residents, $62,838 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are McAllen, TX (143,789 residents); Gainesville, FL (143,611 residents); Torrance, CA (143,499 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.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Olathe?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 55.1°F, with 40.7 inches of precipitation and 13.8 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Kansas is 29.9 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
55.1°F
Annual precipitation
40.7 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
29.9
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Olathe?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.0%, 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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$112,232
Home value
$340,600
Value / income
3.0×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
The NCES join finds 53 public schools within the city match. 49.4% 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
53
Bachelor's degree+
49.4%
Poverty estimate
4.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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 A-
49.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$112,232
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B
4.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime D
196 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Olathe profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 83/100 (A-) · 49.4%
Household income: 82/100 (A-) · $112,232
Poverty rate: 72/100 (B) · 4.0%
Violent crime: 48/100 (D) · 196 /100k
Where Olathe sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Olathe'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 - Olathe highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Olathe, KS (this city): home $340,600, crime 1,137/100k
McAllen, TX : home $173,800, crime 1,986/100k
Gainesville, FL : home $235,000, crime 3,442/100k
Torrance, CA : home $1,036,600, crime 3,087/100k
Thornton, CO : home $482,200, crime 3,109/100k
Visalia, CA : home $340,600, crime 2,566/100k
Waco, TX : home $199,600, crime 2,552/100k
Kansas City, KS : home $147,100, crime 4,654/100k
Topeka, KS : home $130,600, crime 4,499/100k
Lawrence, KS : home $269,500, crime 2,618/100k
Overland Park, KS : home $384,400, crime 1,946/100k
Shawnee, KS : home $332,900, crime 2,049/100k
Lenexa, KS : home $368,800, crime 1,531/100k
How does Olathe compare to other US cities?
Olathe measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income84% higher than other cities
Home value71% pricier than other cities
Median rent6% pricier than other cities
Safety58% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Kansas alone, Olathe ranks #42 of 109 Kansas cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Olathe 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 Olathe near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Olathe ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Olathe only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#16 of 527
97th percentile in Kansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 552
0th percentile in Kansas
Median Home Value
#15 of 527
97th percentile in Kansas
Poverty Rate
#375 of 552
31st percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#23 of 552
96th 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
84th percentile nationally for median household income · 58th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Olathe's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Olathe'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 Olathe's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$340,60029th percentilemore affordable than 29% 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
Olathe's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#6,883 of 15,516
More affordable than 56% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#122 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 3.0×, Olathe sits in the moderate band:
national rank #6,883 of 15,516 and #122 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$112,232Olathe, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Olathe, 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 Olathe, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)49.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)70.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
143,720
Median Income
$112,232
Median Home Value
$340,600
Median Age
36.6
Poverty Rate
4.0%
Labor force participation
70.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
49.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1137.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
196.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
941.3
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
55.1°F
Annual Precipitation
40.7"
Annual Snowfall
13.8"
Schools
Total Schools
53
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Olathe's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
141,549 residents
2021
142,981 residents
2022
144,820 residents
2023
147,083 residents
2024
148,664 residents
2025
150,025 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
513
housing units authorized
Single-Family
321
detached homes
Multifamily
192
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
631
370
261
$205.5M
2020
1,011
564
447
$305.6M
2021
1,206
640
566
$394.1M
2022
1,173
370
803
$352.4M
2023
749
302
447
$234.8M
2024
513
321
192
$235.5M
Permit volume decreased 19% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
16.8 minutes
Drive Alone
71.5%
Carpool
7.4%
Public Transit
0.2%
Walk
0.8%
Work from Home
18.8%
Other
1.3%
Based on 76,951 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 Olathe. 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 Olathe 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 Olathe sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Olathe 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.