Best PlacesAtchison, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Atchison, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Atchison ranks 26,435th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Atchison
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Atchison's strengths and weaknesses
Where Atchison ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Cheap childcare$469 a month, better than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
Where Atchison ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Atchison
A household needs to earn about $48,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Atchison home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,683, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Atchison's effective rate of 1.48%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Atchison
Atchison runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Atchison.
Who works in Atchison, and how
Work in Atchison centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Atchison
Atchison has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Atchison and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Atchison, month by month
Atchison sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 68° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Atchison
Kansas City International sits about 29 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.7 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Atchison
Schools across Atchison average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pleasant Ridge ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Doniphan West Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Atchison County Community Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pleasant Ridge MiddleC · 33% proficient
- Atchison Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Riverside Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Jefferson Co North HighC · 34% proficient
- Troy High And Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Doniphan West Jr/sr High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Atchison school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Atchison measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Atchison against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Atchison
Is Atchison a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Atchison ranks 26,435th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, walkability, and affordable childcare, and lowest on the schools and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Atchison expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,045. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $60,683 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Atchison safe?
Yes, Atchison is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $294 per resident a year.
Compare Atchison with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Atchison. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Atchison represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Atchison detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Atchison: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Atchison: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Atchison: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Atchison: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Atchison detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.