Do you live in one of the murder capitals of Kansas?
We all watch the news with horror when we hear about a homicide that happens not that far away from us. While a murder just blocks or even a couple of towns away from your house would make anyone uneasy, in the long run, most likely, where you live is relatively safe.
To find the cities in Kansas with the most murders and the highest murder rates per capita, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the FBI crime data on murders for the 15 cities in the Sunflower State with over 6,000 residents.
What city has the highest murder rate in Kansas? The city with the highest murder rate in Kansas is Topeka with 16 murders per 100,000 people.
What is the city in Kansas with highest number of murders? The city in Kansas with the highest number of murders is Wichita with 33 murders.
Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town in Kansas ranked. There were ‘only’ 15 cities in Kansas where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 43 places had no murder.
16 per 100k · #1 highest murder rate in Kansas
Located in
Shawnee County, Kansas
Topeka is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 127,473. The Topeka Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Shawnee, Jackson, Jefferson, Osage, and Wabaunsee counties, had a population of 233,870 in the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
15 per 100k · #2 highest murder rate 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
12 per 100k · #3 highest murder rate in Kansas
Located in
Wyandotte County, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas, the county seat of Wyandotte County, and the third-largest city of the Kansas City metropolitan area. Kansas City, Kansas is abbreviated as “KCK” to differentiate it from Kansas City, Missouri. It is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the “Unified Government”. Wyandotte County also includes the independent cities of Bonner Springs and Edwardsville. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 145,786 residents. It is situated at Kaw Point, which is the junction of the Missouri and Kansas rivers.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
12 per 100k · #4 highest murder rate in Kansas
Located in
Montgomery County, Kansas
Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state’s southeastern region. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,295. It is the most populous city of Montgomery County and with its southeast Kansas location is located in the Tulsa, Oklahoma media market. The town of South Coffeyville, Oklahoma is located approximately 1 mile south of the city, existing as a separate political entity immediately south of the state line.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
11 per 100k · #5 highest murder rate in Kansas
Located in
Labette County, Kansas
Parsons is a city in Labette County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,500. It is the most populous city of Labette County, and is the second-most populous city in the southeastern region of Kansas.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
9 per 100k · #6 highest murder rate in Kansas
Located in
Johnson County, Kansas
Merriam 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 11,003. It is bordered by the cities of Overland Park to the east and south, Shawnee to the west, and Kansas City, Kansas to the north ; the city of Lenexa is less than a mile to the southwest. Merriam is included in the Shawnee Mission postal designation.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
8 per 100k · #7 highest murder rate in Kansas
Located in
Sedgwick County, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area whose estimated population in 2015 was 644,610. As of 2016, the city of Wichita had an estimated population of 389,902.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
8 per 100k · #8 highest murder rate in Kansas
Located in
Butler County, Kansas
El Dorado EL-d-RAY-doh) is city and county seat of Butler County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Walnut River in the central part of Butler County and located in south-central Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 13,021.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
7 per 100k · #9 highest murder rate in Kansas
Located in
Barton County, Kansas
Great Bend is a city in and the county seat of Barton County, Kansas, United States. It is named for its location at the point where the course of the Arkansas River bends east then southeast. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 15,995.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
7 per 100k · #10 highest murder rate 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
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Kansas’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Kansas’s murders happen
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we calculated the murder capitals of Kansas
While there are surveys and public polls on what cities in a state are the most dangerous, we wanted to rely on something other than speculation and opinion. Instead, we used Saturday Night Science to compare the hard numbers from the FBI’s last year of reporting. Specifically, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which summarizes the number of murders in each city annually.
We only looked at every single city in Kansas for which FBI data was available for the most recent FBI Crime In The United States. That left us with 15 cities to rank.
We took the number of murders per capita as the ranking factor. The place with the most murders per capita based on the most recent data is Topeka. It is our eleventh time ranking the places with the most murders per capita in Kansas. We updated the list for 2026.
The full plate
Murder Rates By City In Kansas
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | Murders | Murders/100K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Topeka | 125,156 | 20 | 16 |
| 2 | Roeland Park | 6,661 | 1 | 15 |
| 3 | Kansas City | 153,363 | 19 | 12 |
| 4 | Coffeyville | 8,494 | 1 | 12 |
| 5 | Parsons | 9,286 | 1 | 11 |
| 6 | Merriam | 10,794 | 1 | 9 |
| 7 | Wichita | 395,486 | 33 | 8 |
| 8 | El Dorado | 12,941 | 1 | 8 |
| 9 | Great Bend | 14,265 | 1 | 7 |
| 10 | Lenexa | 58,871 | 4 | 7 |
| 11 | Lawrence | 96,636 | 5 | 5 |
| 12 | Pittsburg | 20,465 | 1 | 5 |
| 13 | Garden City | 27,156 | 1 | 4 |
| 14 | Hutchinson | 39,548 | 1 | 3 |
| 15 | Olathe | 149,473 | 3 | 2 |
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report. 15 Kansas cities that reported a murder.
Summary
Summary: The Places With The Most Murders In Kansas For 2026
If you’re looking at the places in Kansas with the most murders, and where residents have the highest chances of being killed themselves, this is an accurate list. Again, these statistics are an indication of where crimes occur, not a statement about the effectiveness of the law enforcement in the areas they serve.
The cities with the highest murder per capita in Kansas are Topeka, Roeland Park, Kansas City, Coffeyville, Parsons, Merriam, Wichita, El Dorado, Great Bend, and Lenexa.
