These Are The 10 Best Suburbs In Kansas For 2018


We used science and data to determine the best suburbs in Kansas for you to live.

HomeSnacks is reader-supported. When you click through real estate links on our site, we earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.

Swipe left for slideshow. Article continues below.

Are you sick of being a city slicker?

Do you long for life in suburban Kansas? Where you can drive your overly-large vehicle to the store for groceries, and schlep the kids around to practices and appointments without worrying about a parking space?

We do too.

Public transportation is…icky at times. When you have to call an Uber to get to urgent care on a Friday night, that gets old after a while.

So, the question is, if you wanted to move out to the suburbs of Topeka, where would you go? And how would you decide on the ranking factors to help you pick which Kansas suburb was best?

No worries. We got it all figured out here.

These are the 10 best suburbs in the Sunflower State:

  1. Bel Aire
  2. Colwich
  3. Derby
  4. North Newton
  5. Andover
  6. Mulvane
  7. Rose Hill (Photos)
  8. Clearwater (Photos)
  9. Kechi
  10. Valley Center

Bel Aire is the place to be when it comes to being a soccer mom in suburban Kansas.

So if you’re thinking of packing up your mini van and making a move to a quiet place to live in Kansas, we’ve got you covered.

Keep on reading for a detailed methodology. Or, check out the best places to live in Kansas and the best places to raise a family in Kansas.

How do you determine which suburb is the best in Kansas anyways?

To give you the best suburbs in Kansas, we have to look at a handful of metrics. Of course, we want to measure the type of people who live in each city, and make some assumptions about what’s a ‘best city’ and what isn’t.

So we researched the internet for a database that contains all that information.

How we crunched the suburb numbers for the Sunflower State

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using U.S. Census data produced for the state of Kansas, we looked at every town between 1,000 and 200,000 residents, and within 30 miles of a city that’s over 200,000 people (In other words, suburbs).

We paid particular attention to:

  • Median Home Values
  • Median Income
  • Population Density (Higher is Better)
  • Unemployment Rates
  • Commute Time
  • Education Levels
  • Health Insurance Coverage
  • Poverty Rates

We ranked each suburb in Kansas across a number of criteria from one to 26, with one being the best.

We then took the average rank across all criteria, with the town posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title ‘Best Suburb To Live In Kansas’.

The result is some of the safest, quiet, and awesome places to live in Kansas

Read on to see why Bel Aire is the ‘burb with the most, while Newton is probably not the best place to live in Kansas.

1. Bel Aire


Population: 7,214
Median Income: $80,324
Median Home Price: $141,900
Bel Aire is located 7 miles east of Wichita.

2. Colwich


Population: 1,305
Median Income: $76,406
Median Home Price: $123,800
Colwich is located 12 miles west of Wichita.

3. Derby


Population: 23,847
Median Income: $68,965
Median Home Price: $156,900
Derby is located 10 miles south of Wichita.

4. North Newton

North Newton, Ks

Source: Public domain

Population: 1,901
Median Income: $57,500
Median Home Price: $148,900
North Newton is located 26 miles north of Wichita.

5. Andover

Andover, Ks

Population: 12,477
Median Income: $85,230
Median Home Price: $176,200
Andover is located 11 miles east of Wichita.

6. Mulvane

Mulvane, Ks

Population: 5,461
Median Income: $68,560
Median Home Price: $125,900
Mulvane is located 15 miles south of Wichita.

7. Rose Hill

Rose Hill, Ks

Population: 3,915
Median Income: $67,308
Median Home Price: $136,200
Rose Hill is located 14 miles east of Wichita.

8. Clearwater

Clearwater, Ks

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 2,423
Median Income: $61,667
Median Home Price: $130,800
Clearwater is located 15 miles south of Wichita.

9. Kechi


Population: 2,352
Median Income: $90,781
Median Home Price: $167,500
Kechi is located 8 miles north of Wichita.

10. Valley Center


Population: 6,420
Median Income: $58,384
Median Home Price: $137,400
Valley Center is located 9 miles north of Wichita.

There You Have It – The Best Suburbs In Kansas

Here’s a look at the worst suburbs in Kansas according to the data:

  1. Newton
  2. Wellington
  3. Douglass

For more Kansas reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Best Suburbs In Kansas

City Rank Population Median Income Median Home Price
Bel Aire 1 7,214 $80,324 $141,900
Colwich 2 1,305 $76,406 $123,800
Derby 3 23,847 $68,965 $156,900
North Newton 4 1,901 $57,500 $148,900
Andover 5 12,477 $85,230 $176,200
Mulvane 6 5,461 $68,560 $125,900
Rose Hill 7 3,915 $67,308 $136,200
Clearwater 8 2,423 $61,667 $130,800
Kechi 9 2,352 $90,781 $167,500
Valley Center 10 6,420 $58,384 $137,400
Goddard 11 4,224 $60,500 $138,900
Halstead 12 2,247 $54,688 $116,100
Oxford 13 1,065 $50,750 $90,000
Haven 14 1,165 $49,844 $82,600
Haysville 15 11,393 $51,660 $101,700
Conway Springs 16 1,408 $52,000 $80,100
Maize 17 4,414 $71,369 $148,900
Belle Plaine 18 1,588 $50,192 $74,000
Cheney 19 2,005 $67,813 $115,600
Towanda 20 1,382 $48,715 $80,600
Sedgwick 21 1,600 $51,328 $109,800
El Dorado 22 13,102 $42,661 $88,900
Augusta 23 9,262 $47,121 $109,600
Douglass 24 1,960 $57,083 $85,500
Wellington 25 7,950 $41,703 $73,100
Newton 26 19,103 $46,266 $101,200

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.