Best PlacesKiowa, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kiowa, 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.
Kiowa ranks 34,957th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kiowa
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.
Kiowa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kiowa ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute14.6 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
Where Kiowa ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kiowa
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kiowa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,159, 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 Kiowa's effective rate of 1.49%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kiowa
Kiowa 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 Kiowa.
Who works in Kiowa, and how
Work in Kiowa centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kiowa
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Kiowa.
What the weather is like in Kiowa, month by month
Kiowa sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 34° | 23° |
| April | 74° | 58° | 45° |
| July | 96° | 82° | 70° |
| October | 75° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Kiowa
The nearest airport, Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower Ntl, is about 72 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 258 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kiowa
Schools across Kiowa average a D+, better than 15% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Barber Pre-k-6B− · 42% proficient
- Medicine Lodge Grade SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Medicine Lodge Jr/sr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- South Barber 7-12D− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kiowa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kiowa 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 Kiowa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kiowa
Is Kiowa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kiowa ranks 34,957th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, short commutes, and affordable childcare, and lowest on civic engagement and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kiowa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $85,400. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $60,159 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Kiowa safe?
Kiowa is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $536 per resident a year.
Compare Kiowa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kiowa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kiowa 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.
Kiowa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kiowa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kiowa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kiowa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kiowa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kiowa 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.