Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Dodge City gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $208K for a typical one, or 2.9 years of the Dodge City area’s $71K median household income. It grades C− overall, 124th among Kansas's 150 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Its public schools trail 86% of Kansas towns on state tests and graduation. 51% of working residents work locally in Dodge City, above both Kansas’ towns (15%) and U.S. towns (8%). Dodge City has 10 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Dodge City Public Library and Sacred Heart Cathedral. On civic life, just 20 of Kansas’ 362 towns do worse.
Where Dodge City beats most towns.
Mueller-Schmidt House| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Dodge City Community College | 1,415 |
Census counts: 996 in 1880, 27,788 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1840 and 3 maps from 1892 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kansas), ordered by how far Dodge City is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Dodge City, 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 Dodge City.
Dodge City fares better on crime within Kansas than nationally and has home values falling while Kansas’s rise, but it has lost a quarter or more of its jobs in ten years.
Its public schools are run by the Dodge City school district. Two of its 11 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dodge City Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 808 | D |
| Dodge City High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,178 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KS on state tests and graduation
24% of Dodge City adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance. Among 150 Kansas towns, just 2 have a lower share of adults who had a checkup this year than Dodge City. 26% of Dodge City adults worry about having enough food.
| Dodge City | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 8.9% | 8.1% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 12% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 71% | 77% | 79% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 26% | 25% |
| What stands out | Dodge City | KS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.2% | 8.1% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 21.9% | 25.5% |
| More uninsured adults | 24.1% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2.7 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Saint Mary of the Plains Park, at 73 acres.
| Dodge City | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.9% | 2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Thurow Park | 0.9 mi | 20 |
| 2. Saint Mary of the Plains Park | 0.1 mi | 73 |
| 3. Wright Park | — | 41 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Dodge City has chilly winters and hot summers, with very little rain. Dodge City’s July high is 93°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 65% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 19 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Dodge City.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Jobs based here fell from 15,108 in 2013 to 10,713. The average commute for its 11,877 working residents takes 11.6 minutes, against 19.7 across Kansas.
The average trip to work in Dodge City is 12 minutes. Since 2013, Dodge City has lost 4,395 jobs, to 10,713 in 2023. The top destinations are Dodge Township (20%), Garden City (4%) and Wichita (2%).
| Dodge City | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 12 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $69,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Values fell 3.3% in the past year while the Kansas typical home rose 3.5%.
57% of households own their home in Dodge City. The typical Dodge City home is worth about $208,000, 15% below the Kansas typical home.
| Dodge City | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 57% | 72% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,045 a month | $975 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
At 21.7 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 59% of Kansas’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 464 to 297 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
1 within 15 miles of the center of Dodge City
About 6 of every 100 Dodge City residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Kansas.
10 places in Dodge City on the National Register of Historic Places.
26 notable people were born in Dodge City.
City and county seat in Kansas, United States
Dodge City is a city in and the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. It was named after nearby Fort Dodge, which was named in honor of Grenville Dodge. The city is known in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town of the Old West.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Dodge City.
| Town | KS rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dodge City | #124 | C− | B+ | C+ | D | C |
| Dodge Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Richland Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grandview Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Dodge Township, Richland Township and Grandview Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Dodge City with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Dodge City grades C− overall, better than 21% of U.S. towns and #124 of 150 in Kansas. It grades C for health, C+ for safety and D for schools. Schools 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 B+.
26 notable people were born here, including Dennis Hopper and David A. R. White.
