Best PlacesOverbrook, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Overbrook, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Overbrook ranks 16,512th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Overbrook
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.
Overbrook's strengths and weaknesses
Where Overbrook ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Cheap childcare$497 a month, better than 93% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
Where Overbrook ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 23% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of towns
- Short commute30.2 minutes each way, better than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Overbrook
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Overbrook home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,909, 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 Overbrook's effective rate of 1.29%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Overbrook
Overbrook 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 Overbrook.
Who works in Overbrook, and how
Work in Overbrook centers on transportation & warehousing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Overbrook
Overbrook has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Overbrook and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Overbrook, month by month
Overbrook sees roughly 98 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Overbrook
Kansas City International sits about 58 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 Overbrook
Schools across Overbrook average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Baldwin Elementary Intermediate CenterB− · 44% proficient
- Overbrook Attendance CenterB− · 43% proficient
- Lyndon ElemC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lawrence Southwest Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Carbondale Attendance CenterC− · 29% proficient
- Shawnee Heights MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Lawrence Free State HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Baldwin High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Santa Fe Trail HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Overbrook school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Overbrook 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 Overbrook against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Overbrook
Is Overbrook a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Overbrook ranks 16,512th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, state infrastructure, and affordable childcare, and lowest on property taxes and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Overbrook expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $174,661. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $77,909 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Overbrook safe?
Overbrook is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.
Compare Overbrook with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Overbrook. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Overbrook 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.
Overbrook detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Overbrook: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Overbrook: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Overbrook: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Overbrook: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Overbrook 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.