Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town was settled in 1871 and has 3,025 residents today.
Belle Plaine Township’s strongest subject is cost of living — a typical home costs about $162K, 2.3 years of the Wichita metro’s $71K median household income. With a B overall, Belle Plaine Township sits 70th of 150 in Kansas. Set against the rest, it does better than 59% of U.S. towns. The trade-off is walkability. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 96% of U.S. towns. On the outdoors, just 1 of Kansas’ 373 towns do worse. Bartlett Arboretum is on the National Register of Historic Places. Only 5 of the 151 Kansas towns we compare have a higher median age than Belle Plaine Township.
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · USGS PAD-US · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Belle Plaine Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kansas), ordered by how far Belle Plaine Township is from typical.
Its grades run from A for cost of living (better than 89% of comparable towns) to D− for walkability (better than 4%), so the B overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 348 in 1880, 1,467 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1860 and 3 maps from 1890 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Belle Plaine Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Belle Plaine Township.
Belle Plaine Township has 342 jobs for its 1,350 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here fell from 626 in 2013 to 342.
The typical journey to work for Belle Plaine Township comes to 31 minutes, where Kansas’ towns sit at 20 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes. Just 3% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Belle Plaine Township dropped by 284, to 342. Its typical household income comes in at $91,000.
| Belle Plaine Township | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.7% | 15% | 8% |
| Median household income | $91,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Two of its 3 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. The public schools here belong to the Belle Plaine school district. The 3 public schools in Belle Plaine Township teach 554 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belle Plaine ElemLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 211 | C− |
| Belle Plaine HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 181 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KS on state tests and graduation
The peak summer temperature for Belle Plaine Township comes to 93°F, above both Kansas’ towns (91°F) and U.S. towns (85°F).
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected losses in Belle Plaine Township break down as 45% from inland flooding and 23% from tornadoes. The risk rating from FEMA for Belle Plaine Township comes to 63 of 100. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Belle Plaine Township after 7 declared disasters, most recently in 2025.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
For adults in Belle Plaine Township, the share who sleep under 7 hours is 38%. The town beats the Kansas average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2.
| Belle Plaine Township | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 31% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 35% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 37% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| What stands out | Belle Plaine Township | KS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7.7% | 9.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.5% | 13% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.3% | 8.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Belle Plaine Township. Close and well known come first.
21 mi Zoo & aquariumSedgwick County Zoo
14 mi MuseumKansas Aviation Museum23 mi Zoo & aquariumTanganyika Wildlife Park
19 mi MuseumExploration Place
19 mi MuseumWichita Art Museum
in town GardenBartlett ArboretumSedgwick County Zoo: Patrick Pelletier, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kansas Aviation Museum: David G. Keith, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Exploration Place: 04stx, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wichita Art Museum: FUBAR007, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bartlett Arboretum: Jeffrey Beall, CC BY 3.0
None within 15 miles of Belle Plaine Township; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Belle Plaine Township residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Kansas.
City in Sumner County, Kansas
Belle Plaine is a city in Sumner County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,467.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Belle Plaine Township.
| Town | KS rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belle Plaine Township | #70 | B | A | — | B− | B |
| Harmon Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Gore Township | — | — | C | — | B | B |
| Palestine Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| London Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mulvane | #49 | B+ | B+ | B+ | B+ | B+ |
Gore Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Belle Plaine Township and Gore Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Harmon Township, Palestine Township and London Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Belle Plaine Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Belle Plaine Township grades B overall, better than 59% of U.S. towns and #70 of 150 in Kansas. It grades B for health and B− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D−.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.
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