Best PlacesWoodston, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Woodston, 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.
Woodston ranks 35,889th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Woodston
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.
Woodston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Woodston ranks high
- Short commute15.9 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 114 pleasant days a year, better than 77% of towns
Where Woodston ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Woodston
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Woodston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,910, 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 Woodston'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 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 Woodston
Woodston 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 Woodston.
Who works in Woodston, and how
Work in Woodston centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Woodston
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Woodston.
What the weather is like in Woodston, month by month
Woodston sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 71° | 53° | 39° |
| July | 94° | 80° | 67° |
| October | 72° | 55° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Woodston
The nearest airport, Hays Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 213 miles away.
The best schools in and around Woodston
Schools across Woodston average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Osborne ElemB · 48% proficient
- Natoma ElemB · 45% proficient
- Plainville ElemC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Osborne Junior/senior HighB− · 42% proficient
- Plainville HighD · 22% proficient
- Natoma High (6-12)D− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Woodston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Woodston 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 Woodston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Woodston
Is Woodston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Woodston ranks 35,889th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, affordable childcare, and state infrastructure, and lowest on tree cover 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 Woodston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $117,704. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $62,910 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Woodston safe?
Woodston is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $422 per resident a year.
Compare Woodston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Woodston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Woodston 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.
Woodston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Woodston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Woodston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Woodston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Woodston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Woodston 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.