Best PlacesButler County, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Butler County, 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.
Butler County ranks 1,137th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Butler County
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.
The best areas in Butler County
The parts of Butler County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Rose Hill
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and fewer homes sit empty.
Andover
More households have young kids and more adults hold degrees.
Augusta & Towanda
Homes cost less, though prices have run up more.
El Dorado
It is noisier and crime runs higher.
Butler County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 6% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Butler County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Butler County ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 94% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of counties
- Household income$89,014 median, better than 86% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 85% of counties
Where Butler County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 8% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 17% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 18% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 21% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Butler County
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Butler County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,014, 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 Butler County's effective rate of 1.52%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Butler County
Butler County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Butler County.
Who works in Butler County, and how
Work in Butler County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Butler County
Butler County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Butler County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Butler County growing, and who is moving in?
Butler County has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Wichita, KS metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Butler County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Butler County, month by month
Butler County sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 93° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 73° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Butler County
The nearest airport, Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower Ntl, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 164 miles away.
The best schools in and around Butler County
Schools across Butler County average a C, better than 32% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Robert M. Martin ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Circle Benton ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Prairie Creek ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Andover Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Remington Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Andover Central Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Andover HighB− · 45% proficient
- Andover Central High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Eureka Jr/sr HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Butler County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Butler County 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 Butler County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Butler County suits
Families
Schools land around the 32nd percentile and crime safety beats 67%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 61% of counties and health care access beats 67%.
Common questions about living in Butler County
Is Butler County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Butler County ranks 1,137th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state infrastructure, cell coverage, and what local pay buys, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Butler County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $226,401. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $89,014 median income, cost of living beats 90% of counties.
Is Butler County safe?
Yes, Butler County is safer than 67% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $320 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Butler County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 24. That works out to about 101 pleasant days a year, more than 61% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Butler County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Rose Hill, Andover, and Augusta & Towanda. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Butler County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Butler County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Butler County 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.
Butler County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Butler County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Butler County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Butler County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Butler County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Butler County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.