Before you decide to relocate to Kansas, it’s important to research the exact cost of living around the state. And that’s what we’re going to help you do.
These are the places in Kansas that cost a pretty penny — the most expensive cities in the state.
We used Saturday Night Science to compare the 2020-2024 American Community Survey on cost of living for the 64 places in Kansas with more than 5,000 people.
After we saved up for months and could finally afford it, we landed on this list of the ten most expensive cities in Kansas for 2026.
$185,625 median income · $777,578 median home · #1 home prices in Kansas
Located in
Johnson County, Kansas
Leawood is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 31,867.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$113,530 median income · $488,597 median home · #2 home prices in Kansas
Prairie Village is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 21,447.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$104,834 median income · $482,295 median home · #3 home prices in Kansas
Located in
Johnson County, Kansas
Overland Park is the second most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in Johnson County, it is also the second most populous city in the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 173,372.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$103,239 median income · $477,848 median home · #4 home prices in Kansas
Located in
Johnson County, Kansas
Lenexa is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 48,190. It is bordered by the cities of Shawnee to the north, Overland Park to the east, De Soto to the west and Olathe to the south.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$104,787 median income · $325,994 median home · #19 home prices in Kansas
Located in
Sedgwick County, Kansas
Andover is a city in Butler County, Kansas, United States, and a suburb of Wichita. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 11,791.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$114,009 median income · $433,117 median home · #6 home prices in Kansas
Located in
Johnson County, Kansas
Olathe is a city in, and is the county seat of, Johnson County, Kansas, United States. Located in northeastern Kansas, it is the fourth most populous city in Kansas, with a population of 125,872 persons as of 2010. Olathe is also the fourth-largest city in the Kansas City metropolitan area. It is bordered by the cities of Lenexa to the north, Overland Park to the east, De Soto to the northwest, and Gardner to the southwest.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$109,940 median income · $424,763 median home · #8 home prices in Kansas
Located in
Johnson County, Kansas
Shawnee is a city located in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 62,209.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$116,769 median income · $439,342 median home · #5 home prices in Kansas
Basehor is a city in Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States and is a suburb of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,613.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$112,428 median income · $419,142 median home · #9 home prices in Kansas
Located in
Miami County, Kansas
Spring Hill is a city in Johnson and Miami counties in the U.S. state of Kansas, and part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,437.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$88,774 median income · $332,319 median home · #15 home prices in Kansas
Located in
Johnson County, Kansas
Roeland Park is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,731.
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
Kansas statewide median: $74,275
On the map
Mapping the most expensive places in Kansas
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Sunflower State For 2026
The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford a city in Kansas are how much money you make and how much you have to spend to live there.
You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.
For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing, it’s actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.
With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2020-2024 around incomes and costs. They are:
- Overall Cost Of Living Index
- Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
- Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
- Median Home Price
You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Kansas to figure out which is the most expensive.
You are left with a “Cost of Living Index” by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.
So we used that cost of living index to rank all of the 64 places in Kansas that have more than 5,000 people.
The place with the highest cost of living in Kansas according to the data is Leawood. We updated this article for 2026. This article is our eleventh time ranking the most expensive places to live in Kansas. 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
Most Expensive Cities In Kansas
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Cost Of Living | Population | Median Income | Average Home Price | Home/Income Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leawood | 134 | 33,809 | $185,625 | $777,578 | 4.2x |
| 2 | Prairie Village | 117 | 22,874 | $113,530 | $488,597 | 4.3x |
| 3 | Overland Park | 112 | 200,306 | $104,834 | $482,295 | 4.6x |
| 4 | Lenexa | 110 | 58,384 | $103,239 | $477,848 | 4.6x |
| 5 | Andover | 108 | 15,965 | $104,787 | $325,994 | 3.1x |
| 6 | Olathe | 107 | 145,057 | $114,009 | $433,117 | 3.8x |
| 7 | Shawnee | 106 | 68,542 | $109,940 | $424,763 | 3.9x |
| 8 | Basehor | 106 | 7,491 | $116,769 | $439,342 | 3.8x |
| 9 | Spring Hill | 104 | 9,120 | $112,428 | $419,142 | 3.7x |
| 10 | Roeland Park | 103 | 6,763 | $88,774 | $332,319 | 3.7x |
| 11 | De Soto | 103 | 6,414 | $104,000 | $425,984 | 4.1x |
| 12 | Louisburg | 101 | 5,094 | $68,824 | $400,547 | 5.8x |
| 13 | Manhattan | 100 | 54,239 | $60,172 | $288,518 | 4.8x |
| 14 | Lansing | 100 | 11,246 | $102,786 | $321,293 | 3.1x |
| 15 | Gardner | 99 | 24,526 | $96,818 | $352,182 | 3.6x |
| 16 | Eudora | 99 | 6,119 | $118,184 | $332,798 | 2.8x |
| 17 | Lawrence | 98 | 96,051 | $65,009 | $331,113 | 5.1x |
| 18 | Merriam | 98 | 11,085 | $73,600 | $326,709 | 4.4x |
| 19 | Mission | 98 | 9,915 | $75,534 | $330,951 | 4.4x |
| 20 | Bel Aire | 98 | 9,043 | $97,795 | $278,866 | 2.9x |
| 21 | Bonner Springs | 97 | 7,839 | $83,218 | $300,304 | 3.6x |
| 22 | Derby | 96 | 26,062 | $84,112 | $282,214 | 3.4x |
| 23 | Valley Center | 96 | 8,590 | $77,020 | $260,221 | 3.4x |
| 24 | Garden City | 95 | 27,819 | $72,865 | $233,702 | 3.2x |
| 25 | Hays | 94 | 21,143 | $58,459 | $252,838 | 4.3x |
| 26 | Maize | 94 | 6,824 | $72,024 | $307,838 | 4.3x |
| 27 | Goddard | 94 | 6,030 | $94,004 | $300,790 | 3.2x |
| 28 | Tonganoxie | 94 | 5,891 | $80,109 | $373,875 | 4.7x |
| 29 | Paola | 94 | 5,770 | $74,662 | $371,666 | 5.0x |
| 30 | Leavenworth | 93 | 37,195 | $72,987 | $260,124 | 3.6x |
| 31 | Wichita | 92 | 397,945 | $64,620 | $202,720 | 3.1x |
| 32 | Junction City | 92 | 22,331 | $61,181 | $207,588 | 3.4x |
| 33 | Park City | 92 | 7,673 | $74,301 | $220,147 | 3.0x |
| 34 | Salina | 91 | 46,307 | $61,783 | $173,120 | 2.8x |
| 35 | Liberal | 91 | 19,316 | $63,706 | $145,107 | 2.3x |
| 36 | McPherson | 90 | 13,995 | $77,529 | $217,268 | 2.8x |
| 37 | Ulysses | 90 | 5,476 | $63,857 | $153,433 | 2.4x |
| 38 | Abilene | 89 | 6,449 | $57,924 | $184,105 | 3.2x |
| 39 | Colby | 89 | 5,387 | $63,494 | $180,598 | 2.8x |
| 40 | Dodge City | 88 | 27,613 | $68,721 | $210,132 | 3.1x |
| 41 | Newton | 88 | 18,397 | $68,885 | $171,182 | 2.5x |
| 42 | Ottawa | 88 | 12,678 | $71,699 | $235,346 | 3.3x |
| 43 | Augusta | 88 | 9,216 | $64,919 | $214,258 | 3.3x |
| 44 | Hutchinson | 87 | 39,709 | $58,687 | $146,981 | 2.5x |
| 45 | Great Bend | 87 | 14,479 | $54,139 | $124,919 | 2.3x |
| 46 | Mulvane | 87 | 6,171 | $74,039 | $235,791 | 3.2x |
| 47 | Kansas City | 86 | 155,135 | $62,401 | $198,195 | 3.2x |
| 48 | Topeka | 86 | 125,786 | $56,956 | $190,096 | 3.3x |
| 49 | Winfield | 86 | 11,711 | $56,656 | $137,701 | 2.4x |
| 50 | Haysville | 86 | 11,117 | $67,740 | $207,754 | 3.1x |
| 51 | Pratt | 86 | 6,577 | $63,819 | $123,111 | 1.9x |
| 52 | El Dorado | 85 | 12,769 | $59,180 | $169,661 | 2.9x |
| 53 | Concordia | 85 | 5,015 | $51,138 | $125,724 | 2.5x |
| 54 | Emporia | 84 | 24,131 | $52,704 | $169,150 | 3.2x |
| 55 | Atchison | 84 | 10,785 | $54,474 | $166,546 | 3.1x |
| 56 | Independence | 83 | 8,422 | $51,069 | $114,893 | 2.2x |
| 57 | Wellington | 83 | 7,615 | $50,333 | $110,051 | 2.2x |
| 58 | Iola | 83 | 5,348 | $54,221 | $87,715 | 1.6x |
| 59 | Pittsburg | 82 | 20,637 | $43,419 | $133,322 | 3.1x |
| 60 | Arkansas City | 82 | 11,884 | $49,629 | $97,615 | 2.0x |
| 61 | Coffeyville | 80 | 8,662 | $45,670 | $62,588 | 1.4x |
| 62 | Fort Scott | 80 | 7,555 | $52,159 | $127,119 | 2.4x |
| 63 | Parsons | 79 | 9,425 | $52,428 | $78,523 | 1.5x |
| 64 | Chanute | 79 | 8,598 | $50,882 | $96,749 | 1.9x |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, Zillow research. 64 places with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Taking A Chunk Out Of Your Paycheck In Kansas For 2026
Well, there you have it, the places in Kansas that have the highest cost of living, with Leawood ranking as the most expensive city in the Sunflower State.
The most expensive cities in Kansas are Leawood, Prairie Village, Overland Park, Lenexa, Andover, Olathe, Shawnee, Basehor, Spring Hill, and Roeland Park. Not sold on Kansas? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Most Expensive Places In Kansas FAQs
What is the most expensive place to live in Kansas?
Leawood is the most expensive place to live in Kansas for 2026. The median home there runs $777,578, and it posts the highest cost of living of the 64 places we scored.
What are the 10 most expensive cities in Kansas?
The ten most expensive cities in Kansas are Leawood, Prairie Village, Overland Park, Lenexa, Andover, Olathe, Shawnee, Basehor, Spring Hill, and Roeland Park. We ranked all 64 places with more than 5,000 residents on home prices, incomes, and an overall cost of living index.
How expensive are homes in Leawood?
The median home value in Leawood is $777,578, versus $244,761 across Kansas as a whole. Across the ten most expensive cities, the median home runs $436,230.
What salary do you need to live in the most expensive parts of Kansas?
The median household income in the ten most expensive Kansas cities starts at $88,774, and in Leawood it is $185,625. If your paycheck is closer to the statewide median of $74,275, these places will squeeze your budget.
What is the cheapest place to live in Kansas?
Chanute is the cheapest of the 64 Kansas places we ranked on cost of living. It sits at the very bottom of the same index that put Leawood on top.
