Trying to find the cheapest places to live in Kansas is a whirlwind.
With so many affordable options, finding the places where your money goes the furthest can be like trying to find the Wizard of Oz.
Lucky for you, we’re here to dispel the magic behind Kansas’s most affordable places for 2026 using Saturday Night Science. Our methodology is simple. We rank all the places in Kansas based on median home prices, average incomes, and cost of living.
Living in Kansas’s cheapest places frees up cash to catch a Kansas City Royals game or Louisburg’s Dancefestopia Music Festival instead of paying more rent. Or a stroll down the yellow brick road.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Table | FAQs | Summary
The 10 most affordable places to live in Kansas
According to the most recent census data, what is Kansas’s cheapest place to live? The cheapest place in Kansas for 2026 is Parsons.
If you care about home values and affordability, look at the list below to see where your Kansas dollar will go the furthest. And if you are still looking for your favorite town, head to the bottom for a complete list of the most affordable places in Kansas.
Check out some more reading about Kansas and the cheapest places in the country:
The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Kansas For 2026
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Population: 9,425
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 79
Median Income: $52,428
Median Home Price: $78,523
Median Rent: $774
There’s good news and bad news when it comes to Parsons, our most affordable city in Kansas. The good news is that Parsons has the second cheapest homes for sale statewide at a median price of $78,523 and residents have the second easiest time paying off their mortgage. The bad news is that Parsons population has been steadily dwindling in recent years, and not without reason. Parsons ranks as one of the worst places to live in Kansas, due to a 20%+ poverty rate and a crime rate 75% over the national average.
Parsons is the second most populous city in southeastern Kansas.
More on Parsons: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
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Population: 8,598
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 79
Median Income: $50,882
Median Home Price: $96,749
Median Rent: $717
Chanute, located in the heart of Kansas, is an affordable place to live. The median home value is $96,749, while the median rent is $717, both of which are significantly lower than the state average.
Chanute offers plenty to do, with a strong sense of community and ample amenities. The city is home to Neosho County Community College and boasts several parks and recreational facilities. With a population of 8,598, Chanute provides residents with a small-town feel while still offering access to nearby larger cities.
More on Chanute: Data | Cost Of Living | Movers
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Population: 8,662
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 80
Median Income: $45,670
Median Home Price: $62,588
Median Rent: $716
Coffeyville, located in southeastern Montgomery County, is an affordable place to live in Kansas. With a median home value of $62,588 and median rent of $716, the overall cost of living in Coffeyville is about 25% lower than the national average.
Coffeyville, situated along the Verdigris River, boasts scenic parks and trails, making it perfect for outdoor enthusiasts. Its small-town charm also extends to its community events and festivals, such as the Inter-State Fair and Rodeo.
More on Coffeyville: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
I live in Coffeyville, Ks We have a refinery that pays over$70,000.- $125,000 a year salary, We have John Deere MFG plant that Pays $60,000 plus, Our City is still union and pays in the $40,000 range,
Most jobs in the area are low to med income. However our housing was washed away with a flood in 2007. We are within 35 minutes from Bartlesville, 45 minutes from Owasso, OK and Tulsa, OK or one hour from Joplin, MO.
We have our highways lined with the US Flags and a highly ranked Community College in all sports.
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Population: 7,555
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 80
Median Income: $52,159
Median Home Price: $127,119
Median Rent: $755
At one point, Fort Scott was an actual fort. Named for Mexican War hero General Winfield Scott, the community first took root in the 1840s. Nowadays, it houses more than soldiers. In fact, the town represents the number 4 most affordable places to live in Kansas.
Looking for a good value on a housing purchase? Check out Fort Scott. The median home value sits at $127,119. That equates to the 11th cheapest price in the state. If you’re not ready for that kind of commitment, you can still get a good deal on an apartment as well. The median rent in town stands at $755 per month.
Bolstered by these reasonable housing expenses, the cost of living in Fort Scott comes in at just 70% of the national average. Along with the break on your living space, you can also find inexpensive services and transportation.
Fort Scott is located in the far eastern part of the state, about an hour and a half south of Kansas City, the largest urban area in the region. The median income in town is $52,159 and the unemployment rate is 6.33%.
More on Fort Scott: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
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Population: 20,637
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 82
Median Income: $43,419
Median Home Price: $133,321
Median Rent: $854
Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, United States, located in Southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and southeastern Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 20,233.
More on Pittsburg: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
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Population: 11,884
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 82
Median Income: $49,629
Median Home Price: $97,615
Median Rent: $781
The first thing to know when you show up in Arkansas City — pronounce the “s” at the end of Arkansas, or you’ll surely be put down as a carpetbagger. Once you’ve got that down and you’re ready to buy a home, you’re in luck, because Arkansas City has the fifth least expensive homes for sale in Kansas at a median price of $97,615. Even more importantly, residents of Arkansas City pay the sixth lowest proportion of their income on homes statewide. With all these awesome statistics, why isn’t Arkansas City ranked higher? Unfortunately, it’s the least affordable place for renters on this list. Regardless of your housing situation, everyone will appreciate the gorgeous trails and excellent fishing opportunities at Cowley Lake Waterfall.
More on Arkansas City: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
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Population: 8,422
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 83
Median Income: $51,069
Median Home Price: $114,893
Median Rent: $789
In the heart of Montgomery County, Independence will offer your wallet independence as it is the seventh cheapest place in Kansas. A manageable 83 overall cost of living index is 8 points lower than the state average.
While you’re a solid trek to any major city, the savings on everyday costs will put some extra money in your pocket for a long weekend in Kansas City or Wichita.
More on Independence: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
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Population: 7,615
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 83
Median Income: $50,333
Median Home Price: $110,050
Median Rent: $733
Ranking as the eighth most affordable place in Kansas is Wellington, a city about 30 miles south of Wichita. Homes in Wellington go for around $110,050, the sixth cheapest in the state. Having a median income of $50,333 gives Wellington the seventh best home price to income ratio in Kansas. And don’t worry that living in such an affordable place must be boring; between three museums, a golf course, and a water park, there’s plenty to do in Wellington.
More on Wellington: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
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Population: 5,348
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 83
Median Income: $54,221
Median Home Price: $87,714
Median Rent: $767
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.
More on Iola: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
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Population: 24,131
Overall Cost Of Living Index: 84
Median Income: $52,704
Median Home Price: $169,150
Median Rent: $815
Between Topeka and Wichita, Emporia ranks as Kansas’s tenth least expensive city. As the county seat of Lyon County, Emporia’s cost of living index at 84 falls well below the state average. Housing is affordable with a $169,150 average home price and $815 average rent.
Home to Emporia State University and Flint Hills Technical College, Emporia has plenty to do on the weekends that’s free or low cost — college kids are broke, after all.
More on Emporia: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
lived in Emporia all of 2002-2003. Extremely safe. Huge and friendly police presence. I often walked all night in the summers and never felt even uneasy. Read a paper there sometime and you’ll see how little and minor crime is there. It’s a nice university town. What about all those poor falling apart towns in western Kansas.
Cheapest places to live in Kansas FAQs
The county in Kansas with the lowest cost of living is Woodson County. The average living wage in Woodson County is $80,268 according to MIT data. Woodson County has the lowest cost of living because it has relatively less expensive childcare and housing costs compared to Kansas as a whole. Childcare costs $8,896 a year in Woodson County for two children compared to the Kansas average of $15,029. Housing costs, defined as a blend of the average rent and average mortgage payment, are $8,616 per year in Woodson County compared to $10,455 on average in Kansas.
The cost of living in Kansas is 0.4% lower than the US average. According to MIT, the required living wage for a family of four with two working parents in Kansas is $89,353 vs the national average for a family of four with two working parents of $89,744. The median income of a Kansas household is $61,091.
The cheapest housing market in Kansas is Coffeyville. The average home value in Coffeyville is $53,100, the lowest in the state. The average home value in Kansas is $157,600, almost 3.0 times higher than Coffeyville.
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The county in Kansas with the lowest cost of living is Woodson County. The average living wage in Woodson County is $80,268 according to MIT data. Woodson County has the lowest cost of living because it has relatively less expensive childcare and housing costs compared to Kansas as a whole. Childcare costs $8,896 a year in Woodson County for two children compared to the Kansas average of $15,029. Housing costs, defined as a blend of the average rent and average mortgage payment, are $8,616 per year in Woodson County compared to $10,455 on average in Kansas.
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Methodology: How we determined the most affordable places to live in the Sunflower State for 2026
Determining affordability for places in Kansas boils down to how much it costs to live here.
You need to understand your costs relative to what people in the rest of the state are paying.
With that logic in mind, we derived several cost of living statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 for Kansas using Saturday Night Science. We indexed the cost of living statistics across the following categories:
- Housing
- Transportation
- Services
- Groceries
- Healthcare
- Utilities
These are then weighted together to produce an overall cost of living index where 100 is the United States average. Anything below 100 is relatively affordable. Anything over 100 is relatively expensive.
We applied the biggest weight to housing as it typically accounts for 25% or more of your budget. Additionally, housing costs are the highest variant cost across a state. We then compare these cost of living metrics for each place in Kansas to figure out which is the least expensive.
The “Cost of Living Index” allows you to rank all of the 64 places in Kansas that have more than 5,000 people from least expensive to most expensive. Any ties went to the larger city.
The place in Kansas with the lowest cost of living according to the data is Parsons.
We updated this article for 2026. This report reflects our eleventh time ranking the cheapest places to live in Kansas.
Kansas Affordabilility Summary
This is an accurate list of the most affordable places to live in Kansas for 2026, if you’re looking at the cost of living numbers in Kansas.
The cheapest cities in Kansas are Parsons, Chanute, Coffeyville, Fort Scott, Pittsburg, Arkansas City, Independence, Wellington, Iola, and Emporia.
Here’s a look at the most expensive cities in Kansas according to the data:
- Leawood
- Prairie Village
- Overland Park
For more Kansas reading, check out:
Cheapest Places To Live In Kansas
| Rank | City | Population | Cost Of Living Index | Median Income | Home Prices | Rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parsons | 9,425 | 79 | $52,428 | $78,523 | $774 |
| 2 | Chanute | 8,598 | 79 | $50,882 | $96,749 | $717 |
| 3 | Coffeyville | 8,662 | 80 | $45,670 | $62,588 | $716 |
| 4 | Fort Scott | 7,555 | 80 | $52,159 | $127,119 | $755 |
| 5 | Pittsburg | 20,637 | 82 | $43,419 | $133,321 | $854 |
| 6 | Arkansas City | 11,884 | 82 | $49,629 | $97,615 | $781 |
| 7 | Independence | 8,422 | 83 | $51,069 | $114,893 | $789 |
| 8 | Wellington | 7,615 | 83 | $50,333 | $110,050 | $733 |
| 9 | Iola | 5,348 | 83 | $54,221 | $87,714 | $767 |
| 10 | Emporia | 24,131 | 84 | $52,704 | $169,150 | $815 |
| 11 | Atchison | 10,785 | 84 | $54,474 | $166,545 | $737 |
| 12 | El Dorado | 12,769 | 85 | $59,180 | $169,660 | $844 |
| 13 | Concordia | 5,015 | 85 | $51,138 | $125,723 | $808 |
| 14 | Kansas City | 155,135 | 86 | $62,401 | $198,194 | $1,123 |
| 15 | Topeka | 125,786 | 86 | $56,956 | $190,096 | $979 |
| 16 | Winfield | 11,711 | 86 | $56,656 | $137,701 | $786 |
| 17 | Haysville | 11,117 | 86 | $67,740 | $207,754 | $1,064 |
| 18 | Pratt | 6,577 | 86 | $63,819 | $123,110 | $798 |
| 19 | Hutchinson | 39,709 | 87 | $58,687 | $146,980 | $881 |
| 20 | Great Bend | 14,479 | 87 | $54,139 | $124,918 | $759 |
| 21 | Mulvane | 6,171 | 87 | $74,039 | $235,790 | $1,015 |
| 22 | Dodge City | 27,613 | 88 | $68,721 | $210,131 | $1,045 |
| 23 | Newton | 18,397 | 88 | $68,885 | $171,182 | $903 |
| 24 | Ottawa | 12,678 | 88 | $71,699 | $235,345 | $1,032 |
| 25 | Augusta | 9,216 | 88 | $64,919 | $214,257 | $865 |
| 26 | Abilene | 6,449 | 89 | $57,924 | $184,104 | $1,022 |
| 27 | Colby | 5,387 | 89 | $63,494 | $180,597 | $750 |
| 28 | McPherson | 13,995 | 90 | $77,529 | $217,268 | $925 |
| 29 | Ulysses | 5,476 | 90 | $63,857 | $153,433 | $717 |
| 30 | Salina | 46,307 | 91 | $61,783 | $173,120 | $959 |
| 31 | Liberal | 19,316 | 91 | $63,706 | $145,107 | $900 |
| 32 | Wichita | 397,945 | 92 | $64,620 | $202,719 | $975 |
| 33 | Junction City | 22,331 | 92 | $61,181 | $207,588 | $1,024 |
| 34 | Park City | 7,673 | 92 | $74,301 | $220,147 | $1,077 |
| 35 | Leavenworth | 37,195 | 93 | $72,987 | $260,124 | $1,229 |
| 36 | Hays | 21,143 | 94 | $58,459 | $252,837 | $922 |
| 37 | Maize | 6,824 | 94 | $72,024 | $307,837 | $1,399 |
| 38 | Goddard | 6,030 | 94 | $94,004 | $300,789 | $1,758 |
| 39 | Tonganoxie | 5,891 | 94 | $80,109 | $373,875 | $1,224 |
| 40 | Paola | 5,770 | 94 | $74,662 | $371,665 | $1,091 |
| 41 | Garden City | 27,819 | 95 | $72,865 | $233,702 | $1,052 |
| 42 | Derby | 26,062 | 96 | $84,112 | $282,214 | $1,136 |
| 43 | Valley Center | 8,590 | 96 | $77,020 | $260,221 | $883 |
| 44 | Bonner Springs | 7,839 | 97 | $83,218 | $300,304 | $1,165 |
| 45 | Lawrence | 96,051 | 98 | $65,009 | $331,112 | $1,091 |
| 46 | Merriam | 11,085 | 98 | $73,600 | $326,708 | $1,181 |
| 47 | Mission | 9,915 | 98 | $75,534 | $330,950 | $1,194 |
| 48 | Bel Aire | 9,043 | 98 | $97,795 | $278,865 | $1,649 |
| 49 | Gardner | 24,526 | 99 | $96,818 | $352,182 | $1,306 |
| 50 | Eudora | 6,119 | 99 | $118,184 | $332,797 | $1,222 |
| 51 | Manhattan | 54,239 | 100 | $60,172 | $288,517 | $1,003 |
| 52 | Lansing | 11,246 | 100 | $102,786 | $321,293 | $1,406 |
| 53 | Louisburg | 5,094 | 101 | $68,824 | $400,546 | $1,439 |
| 54 | Roeland Park | 6,763 | 103 | $88,774 | $332,319 | $1,582 |
| 55 | De Soto | 6,414 | 103 | $104,000 | $425,983 | $1,158 |
| 56 | Spring Hill | 9,120 | 104 | $112,428 | $419,142 | $1,108 |
| 57 | Shawnee | 68,542 | 106 | $109,940 | $424,763 | $1,322 |
| 58 | Basehor | 7,491 | 106 | $116,769 | $439,342 | $1,257 |
| 59 | Olathe | 145,057 | 107 | $114,009 | $433,116 | $1,314 |
| 60 | Andover | 15,965 | 108 | $104,787 | $325,994 | $1,450 |
| 61 | Lenexa | 58,384 | 110 | $103,239 | $477,847 | $1,454 |
| 62 | Overland Park | 200,306 | 112 | $104,834 | $482,294 | $1,515 |
| 63 | Prairie Village | 22,874 | 117 | $113,530 | $488,596 | $1,794 |
| 64 | Leawood | 33,809 | 134 | $185,625 | $777,578 | $1,983 |