Topeka, the state capital · Photo: Srudisell · CC BY-SA 4.0How Kansas stacks up
Kansas struggles most with more crime than most states (violent crime 44% above the national figure) and low home ownership. Put together, the eight subjects come to a C+, 31st in the country. Leawood and Prairie Village rank near the top of the country for health; Wichita and Kansas City sit near the bottom.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
44th of 51D14/100 Crime runs high here. Wichita and Kansas City weigh on the town measure; 53% of residents live in bottom-quarter places. Violent crime runs at 476 per 100,000 residents, 44% above the national figure (6th highest among the states). Every neighbor scores higher, Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma among them.
Add property crime, weighted as our town grades weigh it, and it ranks 5th highest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 33 Kansas towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 88% of residents of Kansas’s 10,000+ towns.
Where most people live, crime runs higher
At the safe end sit Lansing (#756), Bel Aire (#781) and Spring Hill (#812) in the national ranking of towns of 10,000+. The quarter reporting the most crime per resident takes in Topeka, Salina and Hutchinson.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Kansas | 3% | 53% |
Where county or state police patrol
Town figures come from each police department’s own reports to the FBI, and a town needs enough of the last three years reported to count. That covers 88% of the people in Kansas’s towns of 10,000+. Hays, Andover and Haysville have too few years reported to count. Ten places report no crime of their own, among them Manhattan, Derby and Rockford Township; county or state police patrol them, and their crimes aren’t counted by town. Among its neighbors, Oklahoma counts the most (100%) and Nebraska the least (55%).
Schools
31st of 51C+40/100 Test scores slightly under the national middle. Measured on the one test every state gives, 30% of its students reach Proficient (19th lowest). Only 2% of residents live in a town in the national top quarter, led by Fairmount Township.
In the class of 2023, 88.0% graduated on time, 17th highest; graduation counts as much as test results in the grade.
Spending: $14,966 per pupil, 19th lowest. Shown for context, not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 46 Kansas towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
18th of 51B+66/100 A little cheaper than average. Kansas homeowners pay a typical $2,798 a year in property tax (24th highest). Almost no one here lives in a bottom-quarter town; El Dorado and Dodge City are typical. Home prices tell another story, 2.9 times income (3rd lowest).
A typical home costs 2.9 years of median household income, 3rd lowest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 46 Kansas towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
16th of 51B+70/100 Healthy overall, with a sharp divide. About one adult in six here says their health is fair or poor (19th lowest). Leawood and Prairie Village rank among the best towns in the country for health; Wichita and Kansas City sit in the bottom quarter.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 46 Kansas towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
36th of 51C30/100 Ownership a notch below average. Mission Township leads its towns at #99 nationally; 7% of residents live in top-quarter towns. About 7 in 10 homes are lived in by their owners (24th lowest).
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 46 Kansas towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
29th of 51C+44/100 Somewhat more exposed than average. Inland flooding and tornadoes account for 79% of the expected damage. FEMA expects $124 of damage a year for every $100,000 of buildings, 20% below the national figure (20th lowest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Merriam ranks highest, at #860.
The federal government declared 19 major disasters here between 2015 and 2025 (8th most).
What drives it: inland flooding 64%, tornado 15%, hail 8% of expected building damage.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 46 Kansas towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
8th of 51A86/100 Consistently short commutes. Workers spend 19.7 minutes getting to work, the 7th shortest commute among the states. Its larger towns score well almost across the board, from McPherson to Dodge City. Its standout is Hays, #10 in the country for commute times.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 46 Kansas towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
34th of 51C34/100 Slower than the country. Kansas grew 3.0% between 2010 and 2020, against 7.4% for the country. 20% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 20% in a bottom-quarter one; Spring Hill ranks highest.
New homes permitted in 2025: 3.7 per 1,000 residents (20th fewest).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 46 Kansas towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Kansas compares to its neighbors
Each of its neighbors (Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma and Colorado) does better on safety.
| Kansas | Nebraska | Missouri | Oklahoma | Colorado | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | C+ 4031st of 51 | C+ 4429th of 51 | B 6021st of 51 | D 1444th of 51 | B− 5424th of 51 |
| Safety | D 1446th official · 3% in top towns | B 6212th official · 6% in top towns | C+ 4441st official · 9% in top towns | C− 2039th official · 3% in top towns | C 2644th official · 6% in top towns |
| Schools | C+ 4033rd official · 2% in top towns | B− 5422nd official · 7% in top towns | B 6238th official · 13% in top towns | D− 350th official · 0% in top towns | B− 525th official · 7% in top towns |
| Cost of living | B+ 6628th official · 54% in top towns | C+ 3635th official · 14% in top towns | A 8616th official · 54% in top towns | A− 829th official · 29% in top towns | C 3023rd official · 1% in top towns |
| Health | B+ 7019th official · 29% in top towns | B− 507th official · 2% in top towns | C− 1838th official · 7% in top towns | D 1440th official · 4% in top towns | A+ 964th official · 59% in top towns |
| Housing | C 3028th official · 7% in top towns | D 1034th official · 0% in top towns | B+ 7021st official · 13% in top towns | D 1238th official · 1% in top towns | C+ 4237th official · 10% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | C+ 4420th official · 4% in top towns | D 1233rd official · 0% in top towns | C+ 3832nd official · 1% in top towns | C− 2237th official · <1% in top towns | B− 5228th official · 11% in top towns |
| Commute | A 867th official · 81% in top towns | A+ 965th official · 98% in top towns | B 6217th official · 32% in top towns | A− 7612th official · 41% in top towns | C+ 4026th official · 13% in top towns |
| Growth | C 3438th official · 20% in top towns | B+ 7021st official · 49% in top towns | C 2840th official · 15% in top towns | B 6427th official · 52% in top towns | A+ 966th official · 70% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work