Best PlacesShawnee, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shawnee, 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.
Shawnee ranks 340th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Shawnee
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.
Shawnee's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shawnee ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 90% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 89% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of cities
Where Shawnee ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 26% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 31% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 35% of cities
- School gradeC+, better than only 42% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 43% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Shawnee
A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shawnee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $125,916, 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 Shawnee's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shawnee
Shawnee'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 Shawnee.
Who works in Shawnee, and how
Work in Shawnee centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Shawnee
Shawnee has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Shawnee and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Shawnee, month by month
Shawnee sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Shawnee
Kansas City International sits about 20 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 Shawnee
Schools across Shawnee average a C+, better than 42% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Cedar Creek ElemA · 70% proficient
- Horizon ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Prairie Ridge Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Monticello Trails Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Mill Creek Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Mission Trail Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- De Soto High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Olathe Northwest High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Mill Valley High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shawnee school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shawnee 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 Shawnee against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Shawnee suits
Families
Schools land around the 42nd percentile and crime safety beats 61%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 91% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 22% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 61% of cities and health care access beats 83%.
Common questions about living in Shawnee
Is Shawnee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shawnee ranks 340th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, what local pay buys, and state infrastructure, and lowest on distance from a big city and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shawnee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $363,316. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $125,916 median income, cost of living beats 91% of cities.
Is Shawnee safe?
Yes, Shawnee is safer than 61% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $307 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Shawnee?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 23. That works out to about 100 pleasant days a year, more than 61% of cities.
Is Shawnee good for families?
Schools beat 42% of cities, crime safety beats 61%, and childcare runs $996 a month.
Compare Shawnee with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shawnee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shawnee 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.
Shawnee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shawnee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shawnee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shawnee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shawnee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shawnee 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.