Best PlacesPawnee County, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Pawnee County, 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.
Pawnee County ranks 2,144th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pawnee County
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.
Pawnee County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pawnee County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 95% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 94% of counties
- Short commute19.7 minutes each way, better than 80% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 79% of counties
- QuietBetter than 73% of counties
Where Pawnee County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Pawnee County
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pawnee County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,464, 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 Pawnee County's effective rate of 1.72%, 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 Pawnee County
Pawnee County 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 Pawnee County.
Who works in Pawnee County, and how
Work in Pawnee County centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Pawnee County
Pawnee County has more parkland per resident than 97% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Pawnee County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Pawnee County growing, and who is moving in?
Pawnee County has lost about 12% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Kansas City, MO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Pawnee County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Pawnee County, month by month
Pawnee County sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 31° | 21° |
| April | 70° | 54° | 41° |
| July | 93° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Pawnee County
The nearest airport, Hays Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 251 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pawnee County
Schools across Pawnee County average a C, better than 39% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Fort Larned Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Macksville ElemC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Larned Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Larned Sr HighC− · 27% proficient
- Macksville HighD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pawnee County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pawnee County 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 Pawnee County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Pawnee County
Is Pawnee County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pawnee County ranks 2,144th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state infrastructure, and short commutes, and lowest on property taxes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pawnee County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $111,716. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $62,464 median income, cost of living beats 66% of counties.
Is Pawnee County safe?
Pawnee County is safer than 17% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $513 per resident a year.
Compare Pawnee County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pawnee County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pawnee County 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.
Pawnee County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pawnee County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pawnee County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pawnee County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pawnee County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pawnee County 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.