Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Sedalia gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $187K, 3.1 years of the Sedalia area’s $60K median household income. It grades C overall, 165th among Missouri's 247 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 86% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates, and the median household income is $51K, and 19% of residents live below the poverty line. 40% of working residents work locally in Sedalia, above both the Missouri town median (13%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). On hazard risk, just 34 of Missouri’s 419 towns do better. Its National Register listings include Sedalia Public Library and Harris House.
Where Sedalia beats most towns.
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Depot| College | Students |
|---|---|
| State Fair Community College | 2,332 |
Census counts: 4,560 in 1870, 21,725 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1861 and 3 maps from 1944 on.
16 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Sedalia is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Sedalia, 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 Sedalia.
Sedalia is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has commutes shorter than most of Missouri.
Against the 6,123 U.S. towns with household incomes like Sedalia’s, it is less healthy than 66%, so its D isn’t only a matter of income.
35% of adults get no exercise outside work in Sedalia. Sedalia beats the Missouri average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 14. 17% of adults report frequent physical distress in Sedalia.
| Sedalia | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 30% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 22% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 17% | 14% |
| What stands out | Sedalia | MO |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 12.6% | 8.7% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 19% | 13.7% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 20.7% | 15.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Sedalia 200 school district. Three of its 12 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith Cotton Junior High SCHLLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,133 | B |
| Smith-Cotton High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,551 | A− |
| Parkview Elem.Top results in townGrades K–4 | Grades K–4 | 447 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
The violent crime rate in Sedalia is 3.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Sedalia | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.4 per 1,000 residents | 2.2 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 18 per 1,000 residents | 12.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
57% of Sedalia households own their home. The typical Sedalia home is worth about $187,000, up 1.4% in a year, 30% below the Missouri typical home. Sedalia’s median rent is $877 a month.
| Sedalia | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 57% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $877 a month | $972 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 46% | 43% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
5.6 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Clover Dell Park, at 178 acres.
| Sedalia | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.1% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Centennial Park | 1.3 mi | 39 |
| 2. Clover Dell Park | 0.8 mi | 178 |
| 3. Liberty Park | 0.8 mi | 37 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 68% of U.S. communities. Since 1981, 20 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Sedalia.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Sedalia has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 21° and about 13 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 9,784 working residents takes 15.7 minutes, against 23.5 across Missouri.
Since 2013, Sedalia has added 877 jobs, to 14,004 in 2023. The top destinations are Kansas City (4%), Columbia (4%) and Warrensburg (3%). Half commute less than 6 miles.
| Sedalia | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 16 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 5% | 9% | 11% |
| Median household income | $51,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
1 within 15 miles of the center of Sedalia
About 4 of every 100 Sedalia residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Missouri.
16 places in Sedalia on the National Register of Historic Places.
26 notable people were born in Sedalia.
City in Missouri, United States
Sedalia is a city located approximately 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of the Missouri River and, as the county seat of Pettis County, Missouri, United States, it is the principal city of the Sedalia Micropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 21,725. Sedalia is also the location of the Missouri State Fair and the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival. U.S. Routes 50 and 65 intersect in the city.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Sedalia grades C overall, better than 27% of U.S. towns and #165 of 247 in Missouri. It grades D for health, C− for safety and B+ for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
26 notable people were born here, including Jack Oakie and Dorothy Dwan.
