Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Liberty is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B+ overall, ranked 66th of 247 in Missouri, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its schools outperform 78% of the state's. It also does better than most on health: residents are healthier than 75% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. A typical home there costs about $327K, 3.9 years of the Kansas City metro’s $83K median household income. On hazard risk, just 31 of Missouri’s 419 towns do better. Its National Register listings include Jewell-Lightburne Historic District and Jewell Hall. 40% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Liberty, against 22% in Missouri’s towns and 29% across U.S. towns.
Where Liberty beats most towns.
Jewell Hall| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Warren Hills Elem. | K–5 | 597 |
| Lewis and Clark Elem. | K–5 | 517 |
| Lillian Schumacher Elem. | K–5 | 443 |
Census counts: 827 in 1850, 30,167 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 2 maps from 1970 on.
15 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Liberty is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Liberty. Close and well known come first.
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaArrowhead Stadium
6 mi Park & preserveSubTropolis
6 mi Theme parkWorlds of Fun
14 mi Stadium & arenaKauffman Stadium
12 mi Stadium & arenaCPKC Stadium
13 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 Liberty, 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 Liberty.
Liberty fares better on crime within Missouri than nationally, is healthier than Pleasant Valley and its other neighbors and costs more than Pleasant Valley or any other town next door.
Its public schools are run by the Liberty 53 school district. Three of its 16 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Valley MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 809 | B |
| Liberty North High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,262 | A− |
| Epic ElementaryTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 293 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
13 miles of trail in 17 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Fountain Bluff Sports Complex, 147 acres with 1.4 miles of trail.
| Liberty | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 2.7% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Stocksdale Park | 4.4 mi | 110 |
| 2. Martha LaFite Thompson Nature Sanctuary | 2.6 mi | 105 |
| 3. Walnut Woods Conservation Area | 2.4 mi | 60 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A− for health tops all 3 graded neighbors; Pleasant Valley (C+) comes closest.
32% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Liberty. Liberty beats the Missouri average on 16 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 12% of adults report frequent physical distress in Liberty.
| Liberty | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 38% | 36% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 22% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 17% | 14% |
| What stands out | Liberty | MO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.2% | 13.7% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.3% | 15.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its typical home is the priciest on its borders; Pleasant Valley is next at $260K. The median property tax bill is $3,267, against $1,948 across Missouri, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Liberty home is worth about $327,000, up 2.4% in a year, 23% above the Missouri typical home.
| Liberty | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 73% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,160 a month | $970 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 69% of U.S. communities. Since 1981, 13 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Liberty.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Liberty has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 20° and about 13 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most working residents leave Liberty for work: only 18% work in town. Since 2013, Liberty has added 3,864 jobs, to 20,240 in 2023. 7% of Liberty residents live below the poverty line.
| Liberty | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 16% | 9% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 18% | 13% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 7% | 14% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $89,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Missouri average. Liberty has grown 3.9% since 2020, to 31,319 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 40% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 32% across Missouri.
| Liberty | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 25% | 23% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 16% | 17% | 18% |
| Median age | 37.8 years | 38.5 years | 40.5 years |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.7 points. Across Missouri, 50.7% of residents are women. Median age: women 40.1, men 35.6.
| Liberty | MO | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.1% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.3% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.5% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.9% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.3% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.7% | 11.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.3% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.4% | 10.6% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.5% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.1% | 8.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 25.1% | 30.2% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.9% | 20.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.3% | 8.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.3% | 19.8% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.3% | 12.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
At 21.6 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 56% of Missouri’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 640 to 399 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Liberty’s violent crime rate is 1.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Liberty | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.1 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 11.6 per 1,000 residents | 12.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
5 within 15 miles of the center of Liberty
About 6 of every 100 Liberty residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Missouri.
15 places in Liberty on the National Register of Historic Places.
19 notable people were born in Liberty.
City in Missouri, U.S.
Liberty is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Missouri, United States and is a suburb of Kansas City, located in the Kansas City Metro Area. As of the 2020 United States census the population was 30,167. Liberty is home to William Jewell College and the historic Liberty Jail.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Liberty.
| Town | MO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberty | #66 | B+ | C+ | C+ | A− | A− |
| Kansas City | #200 | C− | C+ | D− | C+ | C+ |
| Claycomo | — | — | A− | D | A− | C− |
| Pleasant Valley | #16 | A | A− | B | A− | C+ |
| River Bend | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Claycomo has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. River Bend isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Liberty with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Liberty grades B+ overall, better than 73% of U.S. towns and #66 of 247 in Missouri. It grades A− for health, C+ for safety and A− for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
19 notable people were born here, including Craig Stevens and Alex Saxon.
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