Leawood, Andover, Prairie Village: These cities aren’t just some of the best places to live in Kansas. They are also home to some of the richest people in the Sunflower State.
Leawood in particular houses the richest residents in the state thanks, in part, to a median household income of $156,538 and a ridiculously low poverty rate of 1.369111233066636%.
If you’re thinking of moving to one of these towns, you’ll probably need to start saving. The richest places in Kansas share common characteristics such as having a genius level populous, sky high home prices, and a Pleasantville level of married couples.
How did we come up with these mega wealthy cities? We analyzed Census data from the 2016-2020 American Community Survey for the 62 places in Kansas with more than 5,000 people.
Here are the 10 richest places in Kansas for 2022:
For more on how we calculated the top ten, read on or skip to the end for the full list of the richest cities in Kansas.
Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out some more reading about Kansas:
The 10 Richest Cities In Kansas For 2022
1. Leawood
/10
Population: 34,702
Rank Last Year: 3 (Up 2)
Median Income: $156,538
Unemployment Rate: 2.2%
Poverty Rate: 1.4%
More on Leawood: Real Estate | Photos
2. Andover
/10
Population: 13,609
Rank Last Year: 4 (Up 2)
Median Income: $98,320
Unemployment Rate: 1.5%
Poverty Rate: 6.1%
More on Andover: Real Estate | Photos
3. Prairie Village
/10
Population: 22,255
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 2)
Median Income: $88,196
Unemployment Rate: 2.6%
Poverty Rate: 3.9%
More on Prairie Village: Real Estate | Photos
4. Lenexa
/10
Population: 54,804
Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 1)
Median Income: $90,487
Unemployment Rate: 2.6%
Poverty Rate: 5.0%
More on Lenexa: Real Estate | Photos
5. Olathe
/10
Population: 139,216
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 1)
Median Income: $96,548
Unemployment Rate: 3.1%
Poverty Rate: 5.5%
More on Olathe: Real Estate | Photos
6. Overland Park
/10
Population: 193,412
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 1)
Median Income: $87,629
Unemployment Rate: 3.2%
Poverty Rate: 4.3%
More on Overland Park: Real Estate | Photos
7. Shawnee
/10
Population: 65,844
Rank Last Year: 9 (Up 2)
Median Income: $88,941
Unemployment Rate: 3.5%
Poverty Rate: 5.5%
More on Shawnee: Real Estate | Photos
8. Bel Aire
/10
Population: 8,082
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 6)
Median Income: $84,605
Unemployment Rate: 1.5%
Poverty Rate: 7.2%
More on Bel Aire: Real Estate
9. Spring Hill
/10
Population: 6,992
Rank Last Year: 20 (Up 11)
Median Income: $85,244
Unemployment Rate: 2.5%
Poverty Rate: 7.5%
More on Spring Hill: Real Estate
10. Gardner
/10
Population: 21,936
Rank Last Year: 17 (Up 7)
Median Income: $78,193
Unemployment Rate: 3.3%
Poverty Rate: 6.0%
More on Gardner: Real Estate | Photos
Methodology: How We Determined The Richest Places In Kansas For 2022
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the richest places is to simply identify personal incomes. After all, rich people have really high salaries.
However, we don’t believe that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “richest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2016-2020 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
- Unemployment Rate
Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place really is. The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for more people to become rich. If more people are employed, the richer the future looks.
After we collected the data for all 62 places with more than 5,000 people in Kansas, we ranked each place from 1 to 62 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the richest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Rich Score” with the place having the lowest overall Rich Score, Leawood, crowned the “Richest City In Kansas For 2022”. You can download the data here.
You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for all 62 places.
Summary: The Wealthiest Places In Kansas For 2022
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest places in Kansas, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Kansas.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very top of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.
If you’re curious enough, here are the poorest cities in Kansas, according to data:
Poorest: Pittsburg
2nd Poorest: Coffeyville
3rd Poorest: El Dorado
For more Kansas reading, check out:
Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Kansas
| Rank | City | RichScore |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leawood | 4.0 |
| 2 | Andover | 6.67 |
| 3 | Prairie Village | 7.0 |
| 4 | Lenexa | 8.0 |
| 5 | Olathe | 8.67 |
| 6 | Overland Park | 9.0 |
| 7 | Shawnee | 11.33 |
| 8 | Bel Aire | 12.33 |
| 9 | Spring Hill | 13.33 |
| 10 | Gardner | 13.67 |
| 11 | Park City | 13.67 |
| 12 | Colby | 14.67 |
| 13 | Paola | 17.0 |
| 14 | Roeland Park | 17.0 |
| 15 | Mcpherson | 19.67 |
| 16 | Derby | 20.0 |
| 17 | Lansing | 21.67 |
| 18 | Tonganoxie | 22.67 |
| 19 | Newton | 23.0 |
| 20 | Eudora | 23.0 |
| 21 | Bonner Springs | 24.0 |
| 22 | Abilene | 25.0 |
| 23 | Valley Center | 26.67 |
| 24 | Mulvane | 28.0 |
| 25 | Mission | 28.33 |
| 26 | Garden City | 29.0 |
| 27 | Basehor | 30.0 |
| 28 | Maize | 30.67 |
| 29 | De Soto | 31.0 |
| 30 | Merriam | 32.33 |
| 31 | Pratt | 32.33 |
| 32 | Junction City | 33.33 |
| 33 | Salina | 33.33 |
| 34 | Leavenworth | 33.67 |
| 35 | Liberal | 34.67 |
| 36 | Dodge City | 35.0 |
| 37 | Haysville | 35.33 |
| 38 | Augusta | 36.0 |
| 39 | Wellington | 37.67 |
| 40 | Hays | 38.0 |
| 41 | Lawrence | 38.33 |
| 42 | Great Bend | 39.0 |
| 43 | Hutchinson | 39.33 |
| 44 | Ottawa | 40.0 |
| 45 | Topeka | 40.67 |
| 46 | Wichita | 42.67 |
| 47 | Concordia | 42.67 |
| 48 | Parsons | 43.67 |
| 49 | Manhattan | 44.67 |
| 50 | Independence | 45.33 |
| 51 | Ulysses | 47.0 |
| 52 | Fort Scott | 47.0 |
| 53 | Atchison | 47.67 |
| 54 | Winfield | 48.33 |
| 55 | Arkansas City | 49.0 |
| 56 | Emporia | 49.67 |
| 57 | Chanute | 50.0 |
| 58 | Iola | 53.33 |
| 59 | Kansas City | 53.67 |
| 60 | El Dorado | 54.33 |
| 61 | Coffeyville | 58.0 |
| 62 | Pittsburg | 58.0 |
