Best PlacesSumner County, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Sumner 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.
Sumner County ranks 2,315th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sumner 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.
Sumner County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sumner County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 95% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 94% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 74% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 73% of counties
- TransitBetter than 72% of counties
Where Sumner County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 9% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 16% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Sumner County
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sumner County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,502, 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 Sumner County's effective rate of 1.42%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sumner County
Sumner County'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 Sumner County.
Who works in Sumner County, and how
Work in Sumner County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sumner County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sumner County.
Is Sumner County growing, and who is moving in?
Sumner County has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Wichita, KS metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Sumner County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Sumner County, month by month
Sumner County sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 72° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 75° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Sumner County
The nearest airport, Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower Ntl, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 201 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sumner County
Schools across Sumner County average a D+, better than 12% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Norwich Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Conway Springs Kyle TruebloodB · 45% proficient
- Clearwater Elementary WestB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clearwater Intermediate - Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Mulvane Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Udall Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Mulvane HighC− · 28% proficient
- Conway Springs High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Clearwater HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sumner County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sumner 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 Sumner County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Sumner County suits
Common questions about living in Sumner County
Is Sumner County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sumner County ranks 2,315th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state infrastructure, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sumner County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $152,922. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $69,502 median income, cost of living beats 68% of counties.
Is Sumner County safe?
Sumner County is safer than 50% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $356 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sumner County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 25. That works out to about 90 pleasant days a year, more than 51% of counties.
Is Sumner County good for families?
Schools beat 12% of counties, crime safety beats 50%, and childcare runs $467 a month.
Compare Sumner County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sumner County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sumner 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.
Sumner County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sumner County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sumner County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sumner County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sumner County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sumner 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.