Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Garden City grades D overall, 140th of 150 graded towns in Kansas, mostly because of safety and schools. Its police reported 134 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 85% of U.S. towns. Its schools rank behind 77% of the state's. In its favor, it is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns. 45% of working residents work locally in Garden City, above both Kansas’ towns (15%) and U.S. towns (8%). On civic life, just 13 of Kansas’ 362 towns do worse. Garden City has 10 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Windsor Hotel and Sen. William H. Thompson House.
Where Garden City beats most towns.
| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Garden City Community College | 1,507 |
Windsor Hotel
Victor OrtizEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kansas), ordered by how far Garden City is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,490 in 1890, 28,151 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1886 and 3 maps from 1960 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Garden 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 Garden City.
Garden City has home values falling while Kansas’s rise and has seen reported crime fall by a third or more.
Reported crimes fell from 857 to 606 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate for Garden City comes to 16.9 per 1,000 residents. The violent offense rate for Garden City comes to 4.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Garden City | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.8 per 1,000 residents | 2.5 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 16.9 per 1,000 residents | 10.9 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Public schools: the Garden City school district. Two of its 19 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jennie Wilson ElemLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 796 | B+ |
| Garden City High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,946 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KS on state tests and graduation
Trails run 1.9 miles in 18 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Finnup Park, at 91 acres. Garden City’s density of trails is 0.2 miles per square mile.
| Garden 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. Deane Wiley Park | 0.4 mi | 18 |
| 2. Finnup Park | — | 91 |
| 3. Forest Lake Park | — | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Garden City has chilly winters and hot summers, with very little rain. July afternoons reach 93°, January nights drop to 18° and about 16 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Among 150 Kansas towns, just 10 have a lower share of adults who had a checkup this year than Garden City. Garden City: nearly a third of adults have high blood pressure. 33% of adults in Garden City get no exercise outside work; 22% worry about having enough food.
| Garden City | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 8.9% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 77% | 79% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 26% | 25% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | Garden City | KS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.6% | 8.1% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 21.4% | 25.5% |
| More uninsured adults | 21.9% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Since 2013, Garden City has added 1,065 jobs, to 11,519 in 2023. The average commute locally is 14 minutes. The top destinations are Sherlock Township (19%), Garden City Township (8%) and Dodge City (2%). The share of workers in Garden City who do their job from home: 2.5%.
| Garden City | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 14 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 2.5% | 8.8% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 9.1% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Values fell 2% in the past year while the Kansas typical home rose 3.5%.
Homes sold in Garden City spent a median 33 days on the market. Typical home values fell 2% in the year to September 2026. Among households locally, 60% live in a home they own.
| Garden City | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 60% | 72% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,052 a month | $975 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Federal aid has come to Garden City households in 3 declared disasters; the latest was in 2023. Expected damage from storms and floods is higher here than in 53% of U.S. communities. 7 flood insurance claims have been paid locally since 1979. 30% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by tornadoes at 23%.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
1 within 15 miles of the center of Garden City
About 7 of every 100 Garden City residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Kansas.
10 places in Garden City on the National Register of Historic Places.
21 notable people were born in Garden City.
City in Finney County, Kansas
Garden City is a city in and the county seat of Finney County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 28,151. The city is home to the Garden City Community College and the Lee Richardson Zoo, the largest zoological park in western Kansas.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Garden City.
| Town | KS rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garden City | #140 | D | B− | C− | C− | C |
| Garden City Township | #148 | D | B− | — | C− | C |
Garden City Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Garden City with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Garden City grades D overall, better than 15% of U.S. towns and #140 of 150 in Kansas. It grades C for health, C− for safety and C− for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
21 notable people were born here, including Victor Ortiz and Roy Romer.
