Best PlacesOrchard Park, Wichita, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Orchard Park, Wichita, 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.
Orchard Park, Wichita ranks 4,862nd of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods 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 Orchard Park, Wichita
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.
Orchard Park, Wichita's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orchard Park, Wichita ranks high
- Cheap childcare$712 a month, better than 94% of neighborhoods
- Short commute16.8 minutes each way, better than 94% of neighborhoods
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 75% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than 69% of neighborhoods
Where Orchard Park, Wichita ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 2% of neighborhoods
- School gradeD, better than only 13% of neighborhoods
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of neighborhoods
- Heat safetyBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Orchard Park, Wichita
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orchard Park, Wichita home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,618, 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 Orchard Park, Wichita's effective rate of 1.08%, 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 Orchard Park, Wichita
Orchard Park, Wichita runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Orchard Park, Wichita.
Who works in Orchard Park, Wichita, and how
Work in Orchard Park, Wichita centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Orchard Park, Wichita
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Orchard Park, Wichita.
What the weather is like in Orchard Park, Wichita, month by month
Orchard Park, Wichita sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 33° | 22° |
| April | 73° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 95° | 82° | 69° |
| October | 76° | 60° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Orchard Park, Wichita
The nearest airport, Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower Ntl, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 182 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orchard Park, Wichita
Schools across Orchard Park, Wichita average a D, better than 13% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Black Traditional Magnet ElemC− · 30% proficient
- Dodge Literacy MagnetD+ · 24% proficient
- O K ElemD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hadley Middle SchoolF · 8% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orchard Park, Wichita school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orchard Park, Wichita 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 Orchard Park, Wichita against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Orchard Park, Wichita
Is Orchard Park, Wichita a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orchard Park, Wichita ranks 4,862nd of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Orchard Park, Wichita expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $146,885. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $60,618 median income, cost of living beats 44% of neighborhoods.
Is Orchard Park, Wichita safe?
Orchard Park, Wichita is safer than 47% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $490 per resident a year.
Compare Orchard Park, Wichita with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orchard Park, Wichita. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orchard Park, Wichita 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.
Orchard Park, Wichita detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orchard Park, Wichita: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orchard Park, Wichita: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orchard Park, Wichita: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orchard Park, Wichita: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orchard Park, Wichita 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.