Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 521,220 people, Kansas City can't be summed up by one letter: its C− averages neighborhoods that are worlds apart. Within Missouri, that puts it 200th of 247. It is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 86% of U.S. towns. What weighs on its grade: its police reported 7,094 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 99% of U.S. towns. 48% of working residents work locally in Kansas City, above both the Missouri town median (13%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Its National Register listings include Mutual Musicians' Foundation Building and Liberty Memorial. Only 40 of Missouri’s 419 towns score higher on hazard risk.
Where Kansas City beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Mutual Musicians' Foundation Building| College | Students |
|---|---|
| University of Missouri-Kansas City | 14,526 |
| Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City | 10,237 |
| Rockhurst University | 2,884 |
Mutual Musicians' Foundation Building is one of 2 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier. Its 348 National Register listings are more than in 99% of Missouri towns with a listing.
Census counts: 4,418 in 1860, 508,090 in 2020. The archive holds 8 old photos and papers going back to 1856 and 6 maps from 1935 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Kansas City is from typical.
Its grades run from A for walkability (better than 87% of comparable towns) to D− for safety (better than 1%), so the C− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Kansas City. Close and well known come first.
Big drawin town Stadium & arenaArrowhead Stadium
in town Park & preserveSubTropolis
in town Stadium & arenaKauffman Stadium
in town Theme parkWorlds of Fun
in town Stadium & arenaCPKC Stadium
in town Stadium & arenaT-Mobile CenterArrowhead Stadium: Ichabod, CC BY-SA 3.0 · SubTropolis: ErgoSum88, Public domain · Kauffman Stadium: Mysteryman28, Public domain · Worlds of Fun: Tkexb173 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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 Kansas City, 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 Kansas City.
Kansas City looks healthier within Missouri than nationally, but it reports violent crime at 3 times the Missouri rate and has a long record of flood insurance claims.
Violent crime runs at 13.7 per 1,000 residents, 3 times the Missouri rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D−. Each of the 6 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Raytown (D) to Liberty (C+).
The violent crime rate in Kansas City is 13.7 per 1,000 residents. Only 9 of the 170 Missouri towns we compare have a higher property crime rate than Kansas City. Kansas City reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 99% report less.
| Kansas City | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 13.7 per 1,000 residents | 2.2 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 39.5 per 1,000 residents | 12.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Three of its 202 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Mark MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 965 | A− |
| Staley HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,091 | A |
| Park Hill HighTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,947 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
198 miles of trail in 196 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Longview Lake Park, 2,780 acres with 4.4 miles of trail. Kansas City’s trail density is 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Kansas City | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.9% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Swope Park | 28.1 mi | 1,776 |
| 2. Mark L. McHenry Park | 17.6 mi | 852 |
| 3. Hodge Park | 7.9 mi | 628 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Kansas City has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 89°, January nights drop to 20° and about 11 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Within Missouri it is healthier than 57% of the 247 graded towns: much of Missouri scores lower on these measures.
Kansas City beats the Missouri average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 7. 19% of Kansas City adults worry about having enough food.
| Kansas City | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 15% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 19% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 32% | 33% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 38% | 35% |
| What stands out | Kansas City | MO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.5% | 8.6% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5.7% | 6.8% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 12.7% | 9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
1,187 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 152 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 66% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 1,187 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Kansas City.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
17% of workers work from home in Kansas City. Since 2013, Kansas City has added 37,458 jobs, to 308,767 in 2023. 15% of residents live below the poverty line in Kansas City.
| Kansas City | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 17% | 9% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 14% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $69,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Adults 18 to 34 are 26% of residents (22% statewide). Kansas City has grown 2.6% since 2020, to 521,220 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 38% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Missouri.
| Kansas City | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 38% | 22% | 29% |
| Median age | 35.8 years | 38.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 14% | 17% | 18% |
51.7% women, 48.3% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Missouri, 50.7% of residents are women. Median age: women 36.2, men 35.3.
| Kansas City | MO | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.4% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.1% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.2% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 17.2% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.9% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.3% | 11.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.6% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9% | 10.6% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.3% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 8.1% | 8.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 24.9% | 30.2% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.3% | 20.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.3% | 8.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.8% | 19.8% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.6% | 12.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The typical Kansas City home is worth about $250,000, up 1.9% in a year, 6% below the Missouri typical home.
| Kansas City | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 55% | 64% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 50% | 43% | 48% |
| Median rent | $1,238 a month | $970 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
18 within 15 miles of the center of Kansas City
About 6 of every 100 Kansas City residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Missouri.
11 colleges in town.
348 places in Kansas City on the National Register of Historic Places.
36 notable people were born in Kansas City.
City in Missouri, United States
Kansas City, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by both population and area. It is located on the Missouri River at its confluence with the Kansas River, within Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties. It is the 37th-most populous city in the United States and sixth-most populous city in the Midwest, with a population of 508,090 at the 2020 census. The Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the Missouri–Kansas state line, is the 31st-most populous metropolitan area in the nation, at 2.25 million residents. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a port on the Missouri and Kansas rivers. On June 1, 1850, the town of Kansas was incorporated; soon…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Kansas City.
Raytown next door grades lower for schools (D to Kansas City’s C+) and higher for cost of living (B+ to C+).
| Town | MO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City | #200 | C− | C+ | D− | C+ | C+ |
| Independence | #202 | C− | B+ | D | C+ | C− |
| Liberty | #66 | B+ | C+ | C+ | A− | A− |
| Claycomo | — | — | A− | D | A− | C− |
| Raytown | #222 | D | B+ | D | D | C− |
| Unity Village | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Belton | #156 | C | B | C | C+ | C+ |
| Lee's Summit | #81 | B | C− | C | A | A− |
Claycomo has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Unity Village isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Kansas City with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Kansas City grades C− overall, better than 17% of U.S. towns and #200 of 247 in Missouri. It grades C+ for health, D− for safety and C+ for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 3 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+.
36 notable people were born here, including Ed Asner and Jean Harlow.
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