Best PlacesKansas City, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Kansas City metro, 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.
Photo by User:Charvex, via commons
Kansas City ranks 156th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and crime. It does better on fast internet, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Kansas City metro
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 towns and districts of the Kansas City metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Olathe & Overland Park
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and more adults hold degrees.
Shawnee & Lenexa
Scores close to Olathe & Overland Park, except that tree cover is thicker here.
Lees Summit
Crime runs lower and more residents vote.
Gladstone & Smithville
Schools score higher.
Kansas City & Leavenworth
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Independence, Blue Springs & Grain Valley
Health outcomes score lower.
Belton, Grandview & Leawood
Streets are more car-dependent.
Liberty, Kearney & Excelsior Springs
Homes cost less, though advertised internet is slower.
Downtown Kansas City
Transit reaches more jobs, though more homes sit empty.
Kansas City shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Kansas City's strengths and weaknesses
Kansas City lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Fast internet, what local pay buys, and high incomes carry most of that.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Crime and taxes also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Kansas City ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of metro areas
- Household income$96,231 median, better than 83% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 79% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 75% of metro areas
Where Kansas City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 23% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 27% of metro areas
- School gradeC, better than only 31% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 33% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Kansas City
A household needs to earn about $83,000 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 $96,231, 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 1.10%, 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 Kansas City
Kansas City'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 Kansas City.
Who works in Kansas City, and how
Work in Kansas City centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kansas City
Kansas City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 78% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Kansas City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Kansas City growing, and who is moving in?
Kansas City has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Wichita, KS.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Kansas City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Kansas City, month by month
Kansas City sees roughly 98 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 16 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 C, better than 31% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Epic ElementaryA+ · 85% proficient
- Corinth ElemA+ · 81% proficient
- Prairie Creek ElementaryA+ · 81% proficient
Top middle schools
- Delta Woods MiddleA · 64% proficient
- Academie Lafayette Armour ImsA · 59% proficient
- Kearney MiddleA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Park Hill South HighA− · 67% proficient
- Park Hill HighA− · 64% proficient
- Kearney HighB+ · 57% 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 386 metro areas.
Who Kansas City suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 17% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 58% of metro areas and health care access beats 69%.
Common questions about living in Kansas City
Is Kansas City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kansas City ranks 156th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on fast internet, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on noise and crime. 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 $305,495. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $96,231 median income, cost of living beats 93% of metro areas.
Is Kansas City safe?
Kansas City is safer than 23% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $478 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 98 pleasant days a year, more than 58% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Kansas City?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Olathe & Overland Park, Shawnee & Lenexa, and Lees Summit. 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 31% of metro areas, crime safety beats 23%, and childcare runs $827 a month.
Is Kansas City good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 96% of metro areas. About 17% of workers already work from home.
Compare Kansas City with other metro areas
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.
- 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.