Best PlacesDispatch, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dispatch, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dispatch ranks 32,802nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dispatch
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.
Dispatch's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dispatch ranks high
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- Short commute16.7 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 74% of towns
Where Dispatch ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 11% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dispatch
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dispatch home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,926, 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 Dispatch's effective rate of 1.36%, 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 Dispatch
Dispatch 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 Dispatch.
Who works in Dispatch, and how
Work in Dispatch centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Dispatch
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dispatch.
What the weather is like in Dispatch, month by month
Dispatch sees roughly 98 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 71° | 55° | 41° |
| July | 93° | 79° | 67° |
| October | 73° | 57° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Dispatch
The nearest airport, Hays Regional, is about 67 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 180 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dispatch
Schools across Dispatch average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lakeside ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Rock Hills Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Osborne ElemB · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Osborne Junior/senior HighB− · 42% proficient
- Pike Valley HighC− · 30% proficient
- Beloit Jr-sr HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dispatch school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dispatch 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 Dispatch against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dispatch
Is Dispatch a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dispatch ranks 32,802nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dispatch expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $102,862. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $66,926 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is Dispatch safe?
Dispatch is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $396 per resident a year.
Compare Dispatch with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dispatch. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dispatch 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.
Dispatch detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dispatch: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dispatch: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dispatch: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dispatch: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dispatch 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.