Best PlacesKansas City, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kansas City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kansas City ranks 405th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on the schools and civic engagement. It does better on fast internet, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Kansas City
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 Kansas City
The parts of Kansas City, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
I-435 West KC-KS, Bethel Welborn & Prairie-Piper-KC-KS
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Muncie-Stony PT. & Morris
Biking is worse and streets are more car-dependent.
Victory Hills & Coronado
More residents vote, though more homes sit empty.
Rosedale, Armourdale & Shawnee Heights
Fewer households have young kids and it is noisier.
Argentine & Turner
Prices have run up less.
Kensington
Health care is harder to reach and crime runs higher.
Northwest & Quindaro Bluffs
Tree cover is thicker and homes cost less.
Riverview & Strawberry Hill
Transit reaches more jobs, though health outcomes score lower.
Northeast
Schools score lower.
Kansas City shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 10%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Kansas City's strengths and weaknesses
Kansas City ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Fast internet, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: the schools, civic engagement, and education levels all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Kansas City ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of cities
- Cheap childcare$712 a month, better than 91% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 78% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 71% of cities
Where Kansas City ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 1% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 9% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 11% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 12% of cities
- Household income$67,042 median, better than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Kansas City
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kansas City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,042, 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 Kansas City'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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kansas City
Kansas City runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kansas City.
Who works in Kansas City, and how
Work in Kansas City centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Kansas City
Kansas City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of cities and more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Kansas City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kansas City, month by month
Kansas City sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Kansas City
Kansas City International sits about 13 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 Kansas City
Schools across Kansas City average a D−, better than 1% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Union Chapel Elem.A− · 58% proficient
- Piper Creek ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Edwardsville ElemB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lakeview MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Lansing Middle 6-8C+ · 37% proficient
- Piper MiddleC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Sumner Academy Of Arts & ScienceC+ · 39% proficient
- Lansing High 9-12C · 33% proficient
- Piper HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kansas City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kansas City 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 Kansas City against the other 444 cities.
Who Kansas City suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Kansas City
Is Kansas City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kansas City ranks 405th of 445 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure, and lowest on the schools and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kansas City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,166. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $67,042 median income, cost of living beats 22% of cities.
Is Kansas City safe?
Kansas City is safer than 16% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $591 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kansas City?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 24. That works out to about 105 pleasant days a year, more than 50% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Kansas City?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are I-435 West KC-KS, Bethel Welborn & Prairie-Piper-KC-KS, Muncie-Stony PT. & Morris, and Victory Hills & Coronado. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Kansas City good for families?
Schools beat 1% of cities, crime safety beats 16%, and childcare runs $712 a month.
Is Kansas City good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 22% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 96% of cities. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Kansas City with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kansas City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kansas City 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.
Kansas City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kansas City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kansas City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kansas City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kansas City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kansas City 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.