Best PlacesWauneta, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wauneta, 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.
Wauneta ranks 44,500th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wauneta
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.
Wauneta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wauneta ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute20.4 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 71% of towns
Where Wauneta ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wauneta
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wauneta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,598, 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 Wauneta's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 Wauneta
Wauneta's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Wauneta.
Who works in Wauneta, and how
Work in Wauneta centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Wauneta
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wauneta.
What the weather is like in Wauneta, month by month
Wauneta sees roughly 103 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 Wauneta
The nearest airport, Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower Ntl, is about 62 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 180 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wauneta
Schools across Wauneta average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dexter ElemB+ · 55% proficient
- Cedar Vale ElemB · 45% proficient
- Bowring Public SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Winfield Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Arkansas City Middle SchD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Winfield HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Central Jr-sr HighD− · 17% proficient
- Arkansas City HighD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wauneta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wauneta 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 Wauneta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wauneta
Is Wauneta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wauneta ranks 44,500th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wauneta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $91,373. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $53,598 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Wauneta safe?
Wauneta is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $474 per resident a year.
Compare Wauneta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wauneta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wauneta 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.
Wauneta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wauneta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wauneta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wauneta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wauneta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wauneta 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.