The 10 Best Places To Buy A House In Kansas For 2023


The best places to buy a house in Kansas are Concordia and Maize for 2023 based on Saturday Night Science.

By: Chris Kolmar | About HomeSnacks
Last Updated: October 27, 2023
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 Concordia.

Here’s a look at the top ten places to buy a home in Kansas for 2023 based on this logic.

The 10 Best Places To Buy A Home In Kansas For 2023

  1. Concordia
  2. Maize
  3. Iola
  4. Tonganoxie
  5. Colby
  6. Ulysses
  7. Paola
  8. Mulvane
  9. Basehor
  10. Abilene

The methodology that wen’t into this can be a bit complicated, so we’ll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below.

For more Kansas reading:

Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In Kansas For 2023

1. Concordia

Concordia, KS

Source: Wikipedia User Paul McDonald (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,096
Median Home Price: $82,100
Population Change: 1.8%
Home Price Change: 7.5%
More on Concordia: Crime Report | Cost Of Living | Real Estate | Data

2. Maize

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 5,469
Median Home Price: $184,100
Population Change: 8.4%
Home Price Change: 7.9%
More on Maize: Crime Report | Cost Of Living | Real Estate | Data

3. Iola

Iola, KS

Source: Wikipedia User Gordon Huggins | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,378
Median Home Price: $76,600
Population Change: 1.1%
Home Price Change: 0.9%
More on Iola: Crime Report | Cost Of Living | Real Estate | Data

4. Tonganoxie

Tonganoxie, KS

Source: Flickr User Wesley Fryer | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 5,383
Median Home Price: $168,800
Population Change: 0.5%
Home Price Change: 1.1%
More on Tonganoxie: Crime Report | Cost Of Living | Real Estate | Data

5. Colby

Colby, KS

Source: Wikipedia User Richard Bauer | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 5,434
Median Home Price: $133,300
Population Change: 0.1%
Home Price Change: 4.5%
More on Colby: Crime Report | Cost Of Living | Real Estate | Data

6. Ulysses

Ulysses, KS

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,812
Median Home Price: $126,600
Population Change: 5.3%
Home Price Change: 5.1%
More on Ulysses: Crime Report | Cost Of Living | Real Estate | Data

7. Paola

Paola, KS

Source: Wikipedia User Ichabod | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 5,733
Median Home Price: $165,300
Population Change: 1.8%
Home Price Change: 7.8%
More on Paola: Crime Report | Cost Of Living | Real Estate | Data

8. Mulvane

Mulvane, KS

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 5,676
Median Home Price: $136,400
Population Change: -5.8%
Home Price Change: 2.9%
More on Mulvane:  | Cost Of Living | Real Estate | Data

9. Basehor

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 6,717
Median Home Price: $261,500
Population Change: 7.9%
Home Price Change: 9.9%
More on Basehor: Crime Report | Cost Of Living | Real Estate | Data

10. Abilene

Abilene, KS

Source: Wikipedia User Ichabod | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,507
Median Home Price: $114,100
Population Change: 4.0%
Home Price Change: 0.8%
More on Abilene: Crime Report | Cost Of Living | Real Estate | Data

Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Kansas for 2023?

We were in real estate for almost five years and have worked on this site for another 8. 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 2017-2021 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 the following caveats:

So of the 0 cities and towns in Kansas, only 62 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.

We then ranked each place from 1 to 62 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 Concordia is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Sunflower State.

Best Counties To Live In Kansas

Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Kansas for 2023

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 0 places in the state.

So if we’d could rent or buy in these cities, we’d definitely buy.

For more Kansas reading, check out:

Best Places To Buy A Home In Kansas

Rank City Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
1 Concordia $82,100 1.8% 7.5%
2 Maize $184,100 8.4% 7.9%
3 Iola $76,600 1.1% 0.9%
4 Tonganoxie $168,800 0.5% 1.1%
5 Colby $133,300 0.1% 4.5%
6 Ulysses $126,600 5.3% 5.1%
7 Paola $165,300 1.8% 7.8%
8 Mulvane $136,400 -5.8% 2.9%
9 Basehor $261,500 7.9% 9.9%
10 Abilene $114,100 4.0% 0.8%
11 De Soto $279,900 -3.4% 16.1%
12 Eudora $188,500 -1.4% 6.0%
13 Pratt $94,100 0.3% -1.3%
14 Roeland Park $211,900 1.8% 8.8%
15 Spring Hill $243,000 12.7% 7.4%
16 Park City $132,500 2.1% -1.0%
17 Fort Scott $69,600 -1.8% 7.9%
18 Wellington $79,500 0.4% -3.9%
19 Valley Center $166,300 6.7% 6.3%
20 Bonner Springs $178,200 0.2% -0.4%
21 Bel Aire $168,400 0.8% 4.7%
22 Independence $73,600 -0.1% 1.1%
23 Chanute $80,300 -3.4% 13.3%
24 Coffeyville $52,300 -3.3% -1.5%
25 Augusta $139,300 -0.7% 8.2%
26 Mission $225,200 2.8% 10.6%
27 Parsons $59,500 0.0% -7.9%
28 Atchison $100,000 2.0% 0.4%
29 Merriam $196,100 -0.7% 4.6%
30 Haysville $125,800 -3.3% 14.2%
31 Arkansas City $71,600 2.2% 7.0%
32 Lansing $193,100 -5.3% 8.7%
33 Winfield $101,800 -1.4% 9.6%
34 Ottawa $132,300 2.3% 15.3%
35 El Dorado $97,800 -0.9% 12.5%
36 Mcpherson $163,900 6.5% 13.0%
37 Andover $234,900 11.4% 10.7%
38 Great Bend $99,100 -2.4% -2.7%
39 Newton $107,500 -1.4% -1.5%
40 Liberal $107,800 1.7% -3.5%
41 Pittsburg $85,600 2.8% -1.4%
42 Hays $185,700 0.1% 2.0%
43 Gardner $213,800 5.1% 6.3%
44 Prairie Village $333,300 2.5% 5.2%
45 Junction City $140,400 1.8% 1.5%
46 Derby $180,600 3.8% 3.9%
47 Emporia $106,500 -1.7% 8.5%
48 Garden City $158,500 6.1% 1.0%
49 Dodge City $101,800 2.6% -4.1%
50 Leawood $498,900 -2.7% 5.6%
51 Leavenworth $142,300 3.0% 4.0%
52 Hutchinson $103,500 -1.1% 2.2%
53 Salina $138,500 0.4% 3.7%
54 Lenexa $299,400 3.6% 7.7%
55 Manhattan $222,300 -0.5% 4.3%
56 Shawnee $266,800 1.8% 8.0%
57 Lawrence $216,700 -2.7% 5.8%
58 Topeka $106,500 0.8% 0.8%
59 Olathe $273,600 0.8% 8.2%
60 Kansas City $112,500 1.8% 11.1%
61 Overland Park $314,500 0.9% 6.3%
62 Wichita $145,300 1.0% 5.2%
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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