Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Merriam's crime rate is higher than 96% of U.S. towns, with 42 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. Overall it grades B+, 56th among Kansas's 150 graded towns. Its schools outperform 84% of the state's and residents are healthier than 81% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Merriam’s property crime rate is 44.2 per 1,000 residents, against 10.9 in Kansas’ towns and 9.9 across U.S. towns. Only 1 of Kansas’ 373 towns score higher on hazard risk. Merriam is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 85% of U.S. towns.
Where Merriam beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where Merriam’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 Merriam is from typical.
Its grades run from A for hazard risk (better than 85% of comparable towns) to D− for safety (better than 4%), so the B+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 5,084 in 1960, 11,098 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 6 maps from 1934 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Merriam. Close and well known come first.
Big draw12 mi Stadium & arenaArrowhead Stadium
12 mi Stadium & arenaKauffman Stadium
15 mi Park & preserveSubTropolis
8 mi Stadium & arenaT-Mobile Center
10 mi Stadium & arenaCPKC Stadium
16 mi Theme parkWorlds of FunArrowhead 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 · Worlds of Fun: Tkexb173 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Merriam, 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 Merriam.
Merriam carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Kansas (mostly inland flooding), draws workers from Overland Park and beyond and has hotter summers than most of the country, though not than most of Kansas.
Property crime runs at 44.2 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Kansas rate, most of it theft. Reported crimes fell from 702 to 558 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The violent crime rate in Merriam is 3.6 per 1,000 residents. Merriam reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 96% report less.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by Shawnee Mission Pub School. One of its 2 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merriam Park ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 415 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KS on state tests and graduation
11,972 jobs are based in Merriam, 2 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Merriam for work: only 5% work in town. 20% of Merriam workers work from home. Since 2013, Merriam has added 1,226 jobs, to 11,972 in 2023.
| Merriam | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 20% | 8.7% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.5% | 15% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 6% | 9.2% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
2.4 miles of trail in 9 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Antioch Park, 45 acres with 1.1 miles of trail.
| Merriam | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.8% | 2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Antioch Park | 1.1 mi | 45 |
| 2. AdventHealth Shawnee Mission Medical Center Par Course | 0.7 mi | 4 |
| 3. Quail Creek Park | 0.3 mi | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
11% of adults report frequent physical distress in Merriam. Merriam beats the Kansas average on 12 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 29% of adults feel lonely in Merriam.
| Merriam | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 31% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 22% | 23% |
| What stands out | Merriam | KS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.2% | 13% |
| Fewer adults in fair or poor health | 15% | 18% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 99% of Kansas towns, with expected losses of about $464 per resident a year; that rating is what its A for hazard risk is built on.
Merriam’s FEMA risk score is 16 of 100. Since 1981, 80 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Merriam.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Merriam home is worth about $329,000, up 5.6% in a year, 33% above the Kansas typical home.
| Merriam | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 61% | 72% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,181 a month | $975 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
July afternoons average 88.2°: hotter than most of the country, but cooler than 95% of Kansas places with climate records; January nights average 20.7°.
Merriam has chilly winters and warm summers. About 14 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Merriam | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 88°F | 91°F | 85°F |
| January low | 21°F | 21°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Children under 18 are 18% of residents (24% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 27% of residents (23% statewide). Merriam has grown 3.9% since 2020, to 11,509 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 46% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 36% across Kansas.
| Merriam | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 46% | 29% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 18% | 24% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 19% | 17% | 18% |
| Median age | 39.3 years | 38.1 years | 40.5 years |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.5 points. Across Kansas, 49.8% of residents are women.
| Merriam | KS | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.6% | 12.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.2% | 11.3% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.8% | 10.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 18.6% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11% | 12.9% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.2% | 11.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.9% | 12.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.8% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.9% | 6.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.7% | 8% | 10.4% |
| High school | 21.2% | 25.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 19.4% | 21.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.1% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 31.3% | 22.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.2% | 13.4% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
21 within 15 miles of the center of Merriam
About 7 of every 100 Merriam residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Kansas.
4.8% of the town is conserved land, across 9 parks and preserves.
2 places in Merriam on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Kansas, United States
Merriam is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,098. Merriam is included in the Shawnee Mission postal designation. It is also the headquarters of Seaboard Corporation.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Merriam.
| Town | KS rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merriam | #56 | B+ | B− | D− | A− | A− |
| Overland Park | #34 | A− | C− | C+ | A | A+ |
| Shawnee | #26 | A− | C | C+ | A | A |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Merriam grades B+ overall, better than 65% of U.S. towns and #56 of 150 in Kansas. It grades A− for health, D− for safety and A− for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 3.9 years of the area's median household income ($83,460 across the Kansas City, MO-KS metro 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−.
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