Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 27,497, settled in 1957. Public schools that outperform most of Missouri.
Trash & recyclingGladstone gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $268K for a typical one, or 3.2 years of the Kansas City metro’s $83K median household income. It grades B overall, ranked 89th of 247 in Missouri. On the plus side, its public schools beat 75% of Missouri towns on state tests and graduation. On hazard risk, just 37 of Missouri’s 419 towns do better. Atkins-Johnson Farmhouse Property is on the National Register of Historic Places. Gladstone’s violent crime rate is 3.2 per 1,000 residents, above both Missouri’s towns (2.2) and U.S. towns (1.6).
Where Gladstone beats most towns.
Where Gladstone’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Gladstone is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 14,502 in 1960, 27,063 in 2020. The archive holds 3 old photos and papers going back to 2016 and 6 maps from 1935 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gladstone. Close and well known come first.
Big draw12 mi Stadium & arenaArrowhead Stadium
6 mi Park & preserveSubTropolis
5 mi Theme parkWorlds of Fun
12 mi Stadium & arenaKauffman Stadium
6 mi Stadium & arenaCPKC Stadium
8 mi Stadium & arenaT-Mobile CenterArrowhead Stadium: Ichabod, CC BY-SA 3.0 · SubTropolis: ErgoSum88, Public domain · Worlds of Fun: Tkexb173 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kauffman Stadium: Mysteryman28, Public domain · CPKC Stadium: elisfkc2, CC BY-SA 2.0 · T-Mobile Center: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Gladstone, 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 Gladstone.
Gladstone pairs an A− for schools with modest home prices and fares better on crime within Missouri than nationally.
Its A− for schools comes with a B+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $268K.
Its public schools are run by the North Kansas City 74 school district. Three of its 7 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antioch MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 886 | B |
| STAR SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | – | – |
| Chapel Hill ElementaryTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 644 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Gladstone for work: only 5% work in town. 15% of workers work from home in Gladstone. The top destinations are Kansas City (42%), North Kansas City (5%) and Kansas City (5%).
| Gladstone | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 15% | 9% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.6% | 13% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 14% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 31.1 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 61% of Missouri’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 640 to 487 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Gladstone’s property crime rate is 14.3 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Gladstone has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 20° and about 18 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 65% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 49 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Gladstone.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
2.1 miles of trail in 13 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Happy Rock Park, at 100 acres.
| Gladstone | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.5% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Maple Woods Natural Area | 1.3 mi | 40 |
| 2. Big Shoal Heritage Area | 0.3 mi | 19 |
| 3. Happy Rock Park | — | 100 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Gladstone tracks Missouri closely on all 32 CDC measures. 33% of Gladstone adults sleep under 7 hours.
| Gladstone | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 38% | 36% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 37% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 30% | 25% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Missouri average. 32% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Missouri. The median age in Gladstone is 41.9 years.
| Gladstone | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 17% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 23% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 32% | 22% | 29% |
| Median age | 41.9 years | 38.5 years | 40.5 years |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2 points. Across Missouri, 50.7% of residents are women. Median age: women 43.2, men 40.7.
| Gladstone | MO | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.7% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.7% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.9% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.4% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.7% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.8% | 11.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.2% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.2% | 10.6% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.4% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.9% | 8.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 33.3% | 30.2% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.6% | 20.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.5% | 8.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.3% | 19.8% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.4% | 12.6% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The typical Gladstone home is worth about $268,000, up 2.6% in a year, close to the Missouri typical home.
| Gladstone | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 68% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,088 a month | $970 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
12 within 15 miles of the center of Gladstone
About 3 of every 100 Gladstone residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Missouri.
City in Clay County, Missouri, United States
Gladstone is a city in Clay County, Missouri, United States and a suburb of Kansas City. The City of Gladstone is located about 10–20 minutes from downtown Kansas City, and about 10–20 minutes from Kansas City International Airport. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 27,063. It is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Gladstone.
| Town | MO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gladstone | #89 | B | B+ | C | A− | C+ |
| Oakwood | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Oakview | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Oakwood Park | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Oakwood, Oakview and Oakwood Park aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Gladstone with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Gladstone grades B overall, better than 61% of U.S. towns and #89 of 247 in Missouri. It grades C+ for health, C for safety and A− for schools.
Not for the 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+.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}