Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,181, settled in 1949.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Fairway grades A overall, 11th of 150 graded towns in Kansas. The median household earns $153K. It is healthier than 98% of U.S. towns and its schools rank ahead of 84% of Kansas towns. What holds it back is price: homes are expensive, about $632K for a typical one and 7.6 times the Kansas City metro’s $83K median household income. 85% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Fairway, where Kansas’ towns sit at 29% and U.S. towns at 29%. Among 149 Kansas towns, just 1 have a higher median rent than Fairway. Shawnee Mission is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Fairway beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Fairway | KS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 4.7% | 13% |
Where Fairway’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 Fairway is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for jobs and income (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 6%), so the A overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Shawnee Mission is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,816 in 1950, 4,170 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 1845 and 6 maps from 1934 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Fairway. Close and well known come first.
Big draw8 mi Stadium & arenaArrowhead Stadium
8 mi Stadium & arenaKauffman Stadium
13 mi Park & preserveSubTropolis
6 mi Stadium & arenaT-Mobile Center
7 mi Stadium & arenaCPKC Stadium
3 mi MuseumThe Nelson-Atkins Museum of ArtArrowhead Stadium: Ichabod, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kauffman Stadium: Mysteryman28, Public domain · SubTropolis: ErgoSum88, Public domain · T-Mobile Center: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 · CPKC Stadium: elisfkc2, CC BY-SA 2.0 · The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: User:Charvex, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Fairway, 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 Fairway.
Fairway is the healthiest town in Kansas, has a longer frost-free season than almost anywhere else in Kansas and sends many workers across the state line.
At 7.6 years of the Kansas City metro’s $83K median household income, the typical home (about $632K) costs more against local pay than in 99% of Kansas towns; that ratio is one input to its D for cost of living. The median property tax bill is $7,192, against $2,798 across Kansas, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Typical home values rose 9.4% in the year to September 2026. 86% of Fairway households own their home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
It is the healthiest of the 150 Kansas towns we grade on the CDC estimates behind the Health Grade. Its widest gap with Kansas is food insecurity: 4.7% of its 3,193 adults worry about having enough food, against 13% statewide.
25% of adults feel lonely in Fairway. Of the 150 Kansas towns we compare, none has a lower share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Fairway. 12% of adults report frequent mental distress in Fairway.
| Fairway | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 31% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 17% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 8.3% | 13% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.4% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Fairway | KS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 4.7% | 13% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.5% | 9.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.2% | 8.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
39% of working residents cross a state line to work.
Among 151 Kansas towns, just 2 have a higher median household income than Fairway. The average trip to work in Fairway is 17 minutes. Jobs based in Fairway grew to 1,104 in 2023, 209 more than in 2013.
| Fairway | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $153,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 17 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.3% | 15% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 3.1% | 9.2% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The Kansas City Downtown Ap weather station, 7 miles away, records that the frost-free season runs about 211 days, the highest of 1,996 Kansas places with climate records. The Kansas City Downtown Ap weather station, 7 miles away, records that about 47 days a year reach 90°: more than most of the country, but fewer than 76% of Kansas places with climate records.
Fairway has chilly winters and warm summers. Only 9 of the 151 Kansas towns we compare have a lower July high than Fairway.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Fairway's reported crime rate is well below Kansas's. Fairway’s property crime rate is 3.9 per 1,000 residents. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
| Fairway | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 3.9 per 1,000 residents | 13.8 | 11.5 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 1.4 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.7 |
FBI crime data, 2024 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 53% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 93 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Fairway.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
| Fairway | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 2.2% | 2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Shawnee Mission State Park | — | 13 |
| 2. Neale Peterson Park | 0.2 mi | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
21 within 15 miles of the center of Fairway
About 7 of every 100 Fairway residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Kansas.
City in Kansas, United States
Fairway is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is included in the Kansas City metropolitan area census designation and the Shawnee Mission postal services designation. As of the 2020 United States census, the city population was 4,170.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Fairway.
At #11 in KS, it grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Prairie Village (A) comes closest.
| Town | KS rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairway | #11 | A | D | — | A− | A+ |
| Mission Hills | #17 | A− | C− | B− | A− | A+ |
| Roeland Park | #46 | B+ | C− | C− | A− | A |
| Westwood | — | — | D | D | A− | A+ |
| Prairie Village | #13 | A | D | B+ | A− | A+ |
| Mission | #66 | B | C | D | A− | A |
Westwood has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Fairway reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Fairway with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Fairway grades A overall, better than 88% of U.S. towns and #11 of 150 in Kansas. It grades A+ for health and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
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