Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A city of 150,025, settled in 1857.
Olathe is a city of 150,025, and it grades A− overall, 18th of 150 graded towns in Kansas. The median household earns $114K and it is healthier than 89% of U.S. towns. Its lowest mark is a C in cost of living. On hazard risk, just 37 of Kansas’ 373 towns do better. Olathe is home to MidAmerica Nazarene University. Only 7 of the 103 Kansas towns we compare have a higher typical home value than Olathe.
Where Olathe beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Clearwater Creek Elementary | PK–5 | 522 |
| Mahaffie Elem | PK–5 | 449 |
| Regency Place Elementary | PK–5 | 435 |
| College | Students |
|---|---|
| MidAmerica Nazarene University | 1,396 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kansas), ordered by how far Olathe is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,817 in 1870, 141,290 in 2020. The archive holds 5 maps from 1935 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Olathe. Close and well known come first.
Big draw21 mi Stadium & arenaArrowhead Stadium
22 mi Stadium & arenaKauffman Stadium
27 mi Park & preserveSubTropolis
20 mi Stadium & arenaT-Mobile Center
21 mi Stadium & arenaCPKC Stadium
27 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 Olathe, 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 Olathe.
Olathe fares better on crime within Kansas than nationally, trades workers with Overland Park and other neighbors and has hotter summers than most of the country, though not than most of Kansas.
The median property tax bill is $4,273, against $2,798 across Kansas, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Olathe home is worth about $433,000, up 4.6% in a year, 76% above the Kansas typical home. At $1,314 a month, Olathe’s median rent is against $975 a month in Kansas’ towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns.
| Olathe | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,314 a month | $975 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 75% | 72% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Olathe school district. Three of its 55 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie Trail Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 709 | A |
| Olathe North Sr HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,011 | B− |
| Prairie Creek ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 432 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KS on state tests and graduation
10% of Olathe adults report frequent physical distress, below both Kansas’ towns (13%) and U.S. towns (14%). 29% of adults feel lonely in Olathe. Olathe beats the Kansas average on 22 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1.
| Olathe | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 31% | 33% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 18% | 19% |
| What stands out | Olathe | KS |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with COPD | 4.8% | 6.7% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 8.2% | 11.3% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 74.8% | 77.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
27 miles of trail in 55 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Lake Olathe, at 380 acres.
| Olathe | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 4.6% | 2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lone Elm Park | 2.7 mi | 150 |
| 2. Ernie Miller Park & Nature Center | 2.4 mi | 123 |
| 3. Cedar Niles Park | 1.7 mi | 78 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
July afternoons average 88.5°: hotter than most of the country, but cooler than 93% of Kansas places with climate records; January nights average 20.4°.
Olathe has chilly winters and warm summers. The July high in Olathe is 89°F. About 14 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Olathe | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 89°F | 91°F | 85°F |
| January low | 20°F | 21°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 67% of U.S. communities. Since 1983, 41 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Olathe.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Olathe has about as many jobs (67,696) as working residents, but only 17,960 people both live and work here. 20.9% of workers work from home, against 11.8% across Kansas.
About one in 4 of Olathe’s working residents works in town. 21% of Olathe workers work from home. Since 2013, Olathe has added 9,479 jobs, to 67,696 in 2023.
| Olathe | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 21% | 8.7% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 26% | 15% | 8% |
| Median household income | $114,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 5.6% | 9.2% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 18.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 70% of Kansas’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 2,040 to 1,607 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
10 within 15 miles of the center of Olathe
About 6 of every 100 Olathe residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Kansas.
125,872 counted in 2010 and 141,290 in 2020; an estimated 150,025 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 6.2% since 2020, after 12.2% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
7 places in Olathe on the National Register of Historic Places.
County seat of Johnson County, Kansas
Olathe ( oh-LAY-thə) is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is the fourth-most populous city in both the Kansas City metropolitan area and the state of Kansas, with a 2020 population of 141,290.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Olathe.
It grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Lenexa (A−) comes closest.
| Town | KS rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olathe | #18 | A− | C | B− | A− | A |
| Lenexa | #23 | A− | C− | B− | A− | A |
| Lexington Township | — | — | C | — | A | A− |
| Oxford Township | — | — | D | — | A+ | A |
| Spring Hill Township | — | — | B− | — | A− | A |
| Overland Park | #34 | A− | C− | C+ | A | A+ |
| Gardner Township | #44 | B+ | C | — | B+ | A− |
| Gardner | #51 | B+ | C | B | B+ | A− |
Lexington Township, Oxford Township and Spring Hill Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Lexington Township, Oxford Township, Spring Hill Township and Gardner Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Olathe with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Olathe grades A− overall, better than 84% of U.S. towns and #18 of 150 in Kansas. It grades A for health, B− for safety and A− for schools.
That is 5.2 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 C.
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