Herman J. and Ella B. Voigts House · Photo: Glenn Kinyon · CC BY-SA 3.0Leawood’s household incomes are higher than in 98% of U.S. towns
Leawood grades A+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. The poverty rate is 3.1%, where Kansas as a whole has 11.3%. For 26% of workers, the job is at home (Kansas 12%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Leawood at work: what stands out
Much of Leawood works one town over
51% of working residents work in a town that borders Leawood: Overland Park (27%), Kansas City (22%) and Prairie Village (2%). Next door ↓
A lot of Leawood workers cross into Missouri
25% of Leawood workers work outside Kansas, most of them in Missouri, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Home offices are common in Leawood
26% of Leawood workers work from home, against 12% across Kansas. Time on the road ↓
Many of the people who work in Leawood live in another state
Kansas City, MO (11%) and Lee's Summit, MO (3%) are among the top places Leawood’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 14% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Jobs & income in Leawood: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Leawood is among the top U.S. towns, #4 of 151 in Kansas. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Leawood’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Leawood stays A+.
27% of working residents work in Overland Park
Where Leawood clocks in
22% of workers
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
About 21 minutes each way, about the KS average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Leawood workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,973 commuters (the 26% who work from home are left out). Across Kansas: 85% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The daily commute in and out of Leawood
On a workday 12,884 residents head out to work, 1,319 work right here, and 16,781 people come in from elsewhere.
About 38,000 people are in Leawood on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.27 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Most jobs in Leawood are in services
18,100 jobs are based in Leawood.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Leawood, 2013 → 2023: 14,993 → 18,100. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Leawood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Leawood’s workers travel
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Leawood, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Leawood is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #82 of 151 in Kansas. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.4% across Kansas.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 16,143 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 20% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 74% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.1% of Leawood households have no vehicle (Kansas 5.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Leawood’s commuters take a bus or train.
Leawood next to U.S. towns of 24,000 to 46,000: 3rd of 1,255 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| 4 | Prior Lake MN | 28,140 | $134K | 3.1% | 1.5% | 10% | A+ |
| 5 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 445 | Gardner KS | 26,154 | $97K | 6.3% | 3.8% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 511 | Derby KS | 26,606 | $84K | 6.0% | 3.7% | 15% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 592 | Rockford Township KS | 24,796 | $87K | 6.5% | 4.5% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,255 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Leawood, the top three, the last and three more from Kansas.
Bordering towns draw 51% of Leawood’s workers
The biggest share goes to Overland Park (27%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Leawood workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leawood | – | A+ | B− | 21 min | $185,625 |
| Overland Park | 27% | A | B+ | 20 min | $104,834 |
| Prairie Village | 2% | A | B+ | 20 min | $113,530 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Leawood’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Leawood: questions
What is the median household income in Leawood?
$185,625 (±$12,837) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Leawood?
3.1%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Leawood?
21 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Leawood work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Overland Park (27%, 4 mi), Kansas City (22%, 16 mi), Lenexa (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Leawood walkable?
Leawood is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 10.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Leawood without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Leawood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Leawood
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.