Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lyons gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $109K, 1.7 years of the county’s $64K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 101st among Kansas's 150 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $63K, and 9% of residents live below the poverty line. Lyons’ property crime rate is 36.8 per 1,000 residents, above both Kansas’ towns (10.9) and U.S. towns (9.9). Lyons has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Rice County Courthouse and Rice County Jail and Sheriff’s Residence. Among 103 Kansas towns, just 8 have a lower typical home value than Lyons.
Where Lyons beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kansas), ordered by how far Lyons is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 509 in 1880, 3,611 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1911 and 3 maps from 1894 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lyons, 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 Lyons.
Lyons is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it has seen reported crime rise by about half.
At 1.7 years of the county’s $64K median household income, the typical home (about $109K) costs less against local pay than in 94% of Kansas towns; that ratio is one input to its A+ for cost of living.
Typical home values rose 7.6% in the year to September 2026. The median rent in Lyons is $760 a month. The typical Lyons home is worth about $109,000, up 7.6% in a year, 56% below the Kansas typical home.
| Lyons | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $760 a month | $977 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 72% | 72% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Lyons school district. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lyons Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 173 | C− |
| Lyons High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 221 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KS on state tests and graduation
Reported crimes rose from 47 to 143 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Lyons’ violent crime rate is 4.3 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Lyons has chilly winters and hot summers. July afternoons reach 93°, January nights drop to 20° and about 12 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
About one in 3 of Lyons’s working residents works in town. Jobs based in Lyons fell to 1,141 in 2023, 134 fewer than in 2013. The top destinations are Sterling (12%), Atlanta Township (6%) and Wichita (6%).
| Lyons | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 34% | 15% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $63,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 60% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Lyons since 2007.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 9,530 U.S. towns with household incomes like Lyons’s, it is healthier than 62%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Lyons beats the Kansas average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 30% of Lyons adults get no exercise outside work.
| Lyons | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 26% | 25% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 37% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 35% | 36% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 8.9% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Lyons | KS |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 12.3% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Lyons | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.7% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lyons Park | 0.1 mi | 12 |
| 2. West Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Lyons
About 4 of every 100 Lyons residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Kansas.
7 notable people were born in Lyons.
City in Rice County, Kansas
Lyons is a city in and the county seat of Rice County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,611.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Lyons.
| Town | KS rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyons | #101 | C+ | A+ | C | C+ | C+ |
| Atlanta Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Harrison Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Atlanta Township and Harrison Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Lyons with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Lyons grades C+ overall, better than 35% of U.S. towns and #101 of 150 in Kansas. It grades C+ for health, C for safety and C+ for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a C−.
7 notable people were born here, including Marcia Rodd and Jerry Vasconcells.
