Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Winfield grades D overall, 147th of 150 graded towns in Kansas, mostly because of incomes and safety. The median household income is $57K, and 15% of residents live below the poverty line. Its police reported 37 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 84% of U.S. towns. In its favor, it has 24 miles of trail and 35% conserved land. 39% of working residents work locally in Winfield, above both the Kansas town median (15%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Winfield has 13 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them W. P. Hackney House and Winfield Public Carnegie Library. Only 4 of the 80 Kansas towns we compare have a higher property crime rate than Winfield.
Where Winfield beats most towns.
Census counts: 472 in 1870, 11,777 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1872 and 2 maps from 1955 on.
13 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Kansas), ordered by how far Winfield is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Winfield, 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 Winfield.
Winfield keeps more of its land conserved than most of Kansas and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it has seen reported crime rise by a fifth or more.
Its 2,780 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in any other Kansas town. Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #1 of 151 in Kansas.
The biggest place to walk is Island Park, 99 acres with 1 miles of trail. 24 miles of trail in 12 parks and preserves. Parks and preserves in Winfield: 12, covering 184 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Island Park | 1 mi | 99 |
| 2. Pecan Grove and Camp | 0.5 mi | 29 |
| 3. North Grove and Camping | 0.5 mi | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Below: Two of its 6 schools, each with why it was picked. Its public schools are run by the Winfield school district. The largest public high school is Winfield High, with 638 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winfield Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 456 | C |
| Winfield HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 638 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within KS on state tests and graduation
Reported crimes rose from 331 to 401 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Winfield’s violent offense rate comes in at 3.2 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
A home in Winfield typically sold within 69 days of listing. Values rose 5.2% in the 12 months to September 2026. Its going rate for rent is $786 a month.
| Winfield | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $786 a month | $977 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 65% | 72% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
In July, afternoons reach 92°; in January, nights fall to 23°, and about 9 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Half commute less than 10 miles. Employers in Winfield shed 774 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 5,404. One in 3 of the town’s working residents works locally. The top destinations are Arkansas City (14%), Wichita (9%) and Pleasant Valley Township (4%).
| Winfield | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 5.7% | 8.8% | 11% |
| Median household income | $57,000 | $73,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 20 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Federal disaster aid has reached households in Winfield after 9 declared disasters, most recently in 2019. On expected storm and flood damage, Winfield sits above nearly three fifths of U.S. communities. Paid flood insurance claims locally since 1979: 26. FEMA puts 30% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 29% to tornadoes.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Just over a fifth of Winfield residents are 65 or older. Every broad age group is within 4 points of the Kansas average. Among adults 25 and older, 28% have a four-year degree or more, against 36% across Kansas.
| Winfield | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 17% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 24% | 22% |
| Median age | 38.9 years | 38.1 years | 40.5 years |
48% women, 52% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.2 points. Across Kansas, 49.8% of residents are women.
| Winfield | KS | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.9% | 12.5% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.6% | 11.3% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 12.3% | 10.2% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.4% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14% | 12.9% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.5% | 11.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 9.8% | 12.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.2% | 10.1% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.3% | 6.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 10% | 8% | 10.4% |
| High school | 31% | 25.4% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.8% | 21.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.4% | 9.1% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 17.7% | 22.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.2% | 13.4% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Against the 7,911 U.S. towns with household incomes like Winfield’s, it is healthier than 78%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Among adults in Winfield, 76% had a checkup this year. Two figures for adults locally: 21% have been diagnosed with depression, 27% get no exercise outside work.
| Winfield | Kansas towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 77% | 79% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 22% | 23% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 26% | 25% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 34% | 35% |
| What stands out | Winfield | KS |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 17.3% | 11.3% |
| Fewer adults seeing a dentist | 60.3% | 64.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Winfield
About 7 of every 100 Winfield residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Kansas.
34.9% of the town is conserved land, across 12 parks and preserves.
13 places in Winfield on the National Register of Historic Places.
19 notable people were born in Winfield.
City in Cowley County, Kansas
Winfield is a city in and the county seat of Cowley County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Walnut River in south central Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,777. It is home to Southwestern College.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Winfield.
| Town | KS rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winfield | #147 | D | B− | C− | C− | B− |
| Walnut Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pleasant Valley Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Vernon Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Walnut Township, Pleasant Valley Township and Vernon Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Winfield with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Winfield grades D overall, better than 9% of U.S. towns and #147 of 150 in Kansas. It grades B− for health, C− for safety and C− for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a C−.
That is 2.4 years of the area's median household income ($57,878 across the Arkansas City-Winfield, KS 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−.
19 notable people were born here, including Eugene Pallette and Darren E. Burrows.
