Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Liberal gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $147K for a typical one, or 2.3 years of the Liberal area’s $64K median household income. It grades C− overall, 135th among Kansas's 150 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Its schools rank behind 95% of the state's and CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 80% of the country. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. 65% of working residents work locally in Liberal, where Kansas’ towns sit at 15% and U.S. towns at 8%. Liberal is home to Seward County Community College. Among 151 Kansas towns, just 1 have a higher July high than Liberal.
Where Liberal beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Seward County Community College | 1,555 |
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Sunflower Elementary School | PK–5 | 570 |
| Cottonwood Elementary School | K–5 | 500 |
| Prairie View Elementary School | K–5 | 426 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kansas), ordered by how far Liberal is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 426 in 1900, 19,825 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1890 and 2 maps from 1971 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Liberal, 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 Liberal.
Liberal fares better on crime within Kansas than nationally and has homes that are cheap against local pay.
Its public schools are run by the Liberal school district. Two of its 9 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunflower Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 570 | D |
| Liberal Sr HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,421 | D− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KS on state tests and graduation
7.8 miles of trail in 10 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Blue Bonnet Park, at 30 acres. The trail density in Liberal is 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Liberal | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.3% | 2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Light Park | 0.8 mi | 18 |
| 2. Mahuron Park | 0.5 mi | 9 |
| 3. Country Club Acres Park | 0.3 mi | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
39% of Liberal adults get no exercise outside work. Among 150 Kansas towns, just 2 have a higher share of adults who sleep under 7 hours than Liberal. 16% of Liberal adults smoke cigarettes.
| Liberal | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 26% | 25% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 8.9% | 8.1% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 12% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 77% | 79% |
| What stands out | Liberal | KS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.1% | 8.1% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 20.7% | 25.5% |
| More uninsured adults | 26.1% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 2.3 years of the Liberal area’s $64K median household income, the typical home (about $147K) costs less against local pay than in 80% of Kansas towns; that ratio is one input to its B+ for cost of living. At about $147K, home values are up 9% in five years, against a rise of 30% across Kansas.
59% of households own their home in Liberal. The typical Liberal home is worth about $147,000, up 1.6% in a year, 40% below the Kansas typical home. Liberal’s median rent is $900 a month.
| Liberal | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 59% | 72% | 73% |
| Median rent | $900 a month | $977 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 77% of U.S. communities. Since 1982, 21 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Liberal.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Liberal has chilly winters and hot summers, with very little rain. July afternoons reach 94°, January nights drop to 21° and about 14 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Since 2013, Liberal has lost 1,422 jobs, to 9,218 in 2023. The top destinations are Guymon (6%), Garden City (3%) and Wichita (2%).
| Liberal | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 14 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 3.4% | 8.8% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 9.1% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 21.7 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 62% of Kansas’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
1 within 15 miles of the center of Liberal
About 6 of every 100 Liberal residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Kansas.
13 notable people were born in Liberal.
City in Seward County, Kansas
Liberal is a city in and the county seat of Seward County, Kansas, United States. As of 2024, the population of the city was 18,743. It is located in southwestern Kansas, along U.S. Route 54 highway, near the Kansas-Oklahoma state line. Liberal is the home of Seward County Community College.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Liberal grades C− overall, better than 16% of U.S. towns and #135 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+.
13 notable people were born here, including Martin Lewis and Melvin Sanders.