Editor’s Note: This is not investment advice, and we are not financial advisers.
Suppose real estate is the most significant investment a majority of people make in their lifetime. In that case, it’s best to understand the places in Kansas with best potential return on investment.
After working in real estate adjacent roles for over a decade, I had the hypothesis that the best place to buy for a return on investment would be up-and-coming cities. Smaller cities where crime might be high now, but people still move to.
To test my hypothesis, we are going to look at places in Kansas that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average, and crime rates are higher than average.
In everyday terms, these might be “deals”. The best deal in Kansas at the moment according to Saturday Night Science? That would be Louisburg.
1.2% population growth · 0.5% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
12.5% population growth · 0.3% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-1.0% population growth · -2.4% home price growth
Concordia is a city in and the county seat of Cloud County, Kansas, United States. It is located along the Republican River in the Smoky Hills region of the Great Plains in north-central Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,395. Concordia is home of the Cloud County Community College and the Nazareth Convent and Academy.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
13.9% population growth · 1.8% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.4% population growth · -3.4% home price growth
Located in
Allen County, Kansas
Iola is a city situated along the Neosho River in the northwestern part of Allen County, located in Southeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,704. Iola is the county seat of Allen County. It is named in honor of Iola Colborn.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
3.5% population growth · 1.1% home price growth
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-0.0% population growth · -1.1% home price growth
Located in
Thomas County, Kansas
Colby is a city in and the county seat of Thomas County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,387.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
-5.8% population growth · 3.7% home price growth
Located in
Grant County, Kansas
Ulysses is a city in and the county seat of Grant County, Kansas, United States. It is named after Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,161.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
0.2% population growth · 1.3% home price growth
Located in
Miami County, Kansas
Paola is a city in and the county seat of Miami County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,602.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
5.9% population growth · 2.6% home price growth
Located in
Sumner County, Kansas
Mulvane is a city in Sedgwick and Sumner counties in the U.S. state of Kansas and a suburb of Wichita. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,111.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Kansas’s statewide median.
Kansas statewide median: $244,761
On the map
Where Kansas’s best buys are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Kansas for 2026?
We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for over a decade. Suffice it to say we’ve put a lot of thought into finding an excellent place to buy a home.
So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we’d approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Kansas. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Kansas with undervalued homes relative to pent-up demand using Saturday Night Science.
To do that, we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2020-2024 and compared it to the previous vintage. Specifically, we used the following criteria:
- Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
- Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
- Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It’s still kinda cheap)
We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still “cheap” for Kansas, with these caveats: home prices had to be within 20% of the state average, home prices increased in the last year, and the city had above 5,000 people.
So of the 664 cities and towns in Kansas, only 64 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.
We then ranked each place from 1 to 64 for the above criteria, with 1 being the best. We averaged the rankings to create a “best place to buy” index, with the place having the lowest index being the best.
Turns out that Louisburg is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Sunflower State. The median Kansas home is 50 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Best Places To Buy A Home In Kansas
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Median Home Price | Population Change | Home Price Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louisburg | 5,094 | $400,547 | 1.2% | 0.5% |
| 2 | Goddard | 6,030 | $300,790 | 12.5% | 0.3% |
| 3 | Concordia | 5,015 | $125,724 | -1.0% | -2.4% |
| 4 | Maize | 6,824 | $307,838 | 13.9% | 1.8% |
| 5 | Iola | 5,348 | $87,715 | -0.4% | -3.4% |
| 6 | Tonganoxie | 5,891 | $373,875 | 3.5% | 1.1% |
| 7 | Colby | 5,387 | $180,598 | -0.0% | -1.1% |
| 8 | Ulysses | 5,476 | $153,433 | -5.8% | 3.7% |
| 9 | Paola | 5,770 | $371,666 | 0.2% | 1.3% |
| 10 | Mulvane | 6,171 | $235,791 | 5.9% | 2.6% |
| 11 | Basehor | 7,491 | $439,342 | 3.6% | 1.7% |
| 12 | Abilene | 6,449 | $184,105 | 0.0% | -0.4% |
| 13 | De Soto | 6,414 | $425,984 | 1.3% | 2.4% |
| 14 | Eudora | 6,119 | $332,798 | 1.4% | 2.5% |
| 15 | Pratt | 6,577 | $123,111 | 0.3% | 1.4% |
| 16 | Roeland Park | 6,763 | $332,319 | -0.5% | 3.7% |
| 17 | Spring Hill | 9,120 | $419,142 | 4.9% | -0.6% |
| 18 | Park City | 7,673 | $220,147 | -0.7% | 1.8% |
| 19 | Fort Scott | 7,555 | $127,119 | 0.1% | 2.6% |
| 20 | Wellington | 7,615 | $110,051 | -0.4% | -2.4% |
| 21 | Valley Center | 8,590 | $260,221 | -3.9% | 2.3% |
| 22 | Bonner Springs | 7,839 | $300,304 | 1.3% | 1.0% |
| 23 | Bel Aire | 9,043 | $278,866 | 4.5% | 1.4% |
| 24 | Independence | 8,422 | $114,893 | -0.6% | 4.3% |
| 25 | Chanute | 8,598 | $96,749 | -0.4% | 4.0% |
| 26 | Coffeyville | 8,662 | $62,588 | -1.0% | 10.0% |
| 27 | Augusta | 9,216 | $214,258 | -0.4% | 0.0% |
| 28 | Mission | 9,915 | $330,951 | -0.1% | 3.7% |
| 29 | Parsons | 9,425 | $78,523 | -0.6% | 1.1% |
| 30 | Atchison | 10,785 | $166,546 | -0.1% | 1.8% |
| 31 | Merriam | 11,085 | $326,709 | 0.4% | 3.7% |
| 32 | Haysville | 11,117 | $207,754 | 0.0% | 1.9% |
| 33 | Arkansas City | 11,884 | $97,615 | -0.2% | 3.6% |
| 34 | Lansing | 11,246 | $321,293 | 0.2% | 2.5% |
| 35 | Winfield | 11,711 | $137,701 | -0.2% | 2.8% |
| 36 | Ottawa | 12,678 | $235,346 | 0.4% | 3.4% |
| 37 | El Dorado | 12,769 | $169,661 | -0.9% | 0.9% |
| 38 | McPherson | 13,995 | $217,268 | 0.3% | 1.2% |
| 39 | Andover | 15,965 | $325,994 | 2.9% | -1.1% |
| 40 | Great Bend | 14,479 | $124,919 | -0.8% | 3.6% |
| 41 | Newton | 18,397 | $171,182 | -0.2% | 3.1% |
| 42 | Liberal | 19,316 | $145,107 | 1.1% | -0.6% |
| 43 | Pittsburg | 20,637 | $133,322 | 0.2% | 1.5% |
| 44 | Hays | 21,143 | $252,838 | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| 45 | Gardner | 24,526 | $352,182 | 2.1% | 3.0% |
| 46 | Prairie Village | 22,874 | $488,597 | -0.3% | 5.2% |
| 47 | Junction City | 22,331 | $207,588 | -0.4% | 2.0% |
| 48 | Derby | 26,062 | $282,214 | 1.0% | 1.4% |
| 49 | Emporia | 24,131 | $169,150 | 0.1% | -4.4% |
| 50 | Garden City | 27,819 | $233,702 | 0.1% | -0.2% |
| 51 | Dodge City | 27,613 | $210,132 | -0.1% | -0.3% |
| 52 | Leawood | 33,809 | $777,578 | -0.1% | 3.5% |
| 53 | Leavenworth | 37,195 | $260,124 | 0.1% | 2.7% |
| 54 | Hutchinson | 39,709 | $146,981 | -0.3% | 2.3% |
| 55 | Salina | 46,307 | $173,120 | -0.3% | -0.5% |
| 56 | Lenexa | 58,384 | $477,848 | 0.7% | 4.0% |
| 57 | Manhattan | 54,239 | $288,518 | 0.5% | 1.5% |
| 58 | Shawnee | 68,542 | $424,763 | 0.5% | 4.1% |
| 59 | Lawrence | 96,051 | $331,113 | 0.6% | 2.3% |
| 60 | Topeka | 125,786 | $190,096 | -0.3% | -4.1% |
| 61 | Olathe | 145,057 | $433,117 | 0.9% | 4.6% |
| 62 | Kansas City | 155,135 | $198,195 | 0.2% | 1.5% |
| 63 | Overland Park | 200,306 | $482,295 | 1.6% | 4.9% |
| 64 | Wichita | 397,945 | $202,720 | 0.4% | 2.4% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024 via Saturday Night Science. 64 Kansas cities cleared the filters.
Summary
Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Kansas for 2026
There’s our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Kansas. And, to be clear, we aren’t necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.
In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 664 places in the state.
The best cities to buy a house in Kansas are Louisburg, Goddard, Concordia, Maize, Iola, Tonganoxie, Colby, Ulysses, Paola, and Mulvane.
So if we could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy. Not sold on Kansas? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Best Places To Buy A House In Kansas FAQs
What is the best city in Kansas to buy a house?
Louisburg is the best place to buy a house in Kansas for 2026. Its population is growing, home values are rising, and the median home still costs $400,547. Goddard and Concordia are next on the list.
What are the best cities to buy a home in Kansas?
The best cities to buy a house in Kansas are Louisburg, Goddard, Concordia, Maize, Iola, Tonganoxie, Colby, Ulysses, Paola, and Mulvane. Only 64 of the 664 places in Kansas cleared our filters on growth and home prices.
How much does a house cost in Louisburg?
The median home value in Louisburg is $400,547, versus $244,761 across Kansas. Across the full top ten, the median home runs $268,290.
How do you pick the best places to buy a home in Kansas?
We look for Kansas places where the population is growing, home prices are climbing, and homes are still cheap relative to the state average, using Census American Community Survey data. Cities that hit all three get the highest Buy Index scores.
Is this a guarantee home values will go up?
No. This is not investment advice — just where the data points to potential value. The Buy Index says these markets look healthier than most of Kansas, not that any single house is a good deal.
