Best PlacesCouncil Grove, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Council Grove, 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.
Council Grove ranks 17,158th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Council Grove
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.
Council Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Council Grove ranks high
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute18.6 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
Where Council Grove ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 21% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 23% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Council Grove
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Council Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,881, 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 Council Grove's effective rate of 1.56%, 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 Council Grove
Council Grove runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Council Grove.
Who works in Council Grove, and how
Work in Council Grove centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Council Grove
Council Grove has more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Council Grove and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Council Grove, month by month
Council Grove sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Council Grove
The nearest airport, Manhattan Regional, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 105 miles away.
The best schools in and around Council Grove
Schools across Council Grove average a C+, better than 45% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Council Grove Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Chase County Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Nlc Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Council Grove Junior Senior High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Chase County Junior Senior High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- White City HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Council Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Council Grove 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 Council Grove against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Council Grove
Is Council Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Council Grove ranks 17,158th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state infrastructure, and cell coverage, and lowest on property taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Council Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $147,048. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $62,881 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Council Grove safe?
Yes, Council Grove is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $260 per resident a year.
Compare Council Grove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Council Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Council Grove 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.
Council Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Council Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Council Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Council Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Council Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Council Grove 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.