Atchison, Kansas

Area Profile

10,785 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Atchison, in Atchison County.

57out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 45% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity3,268th of 4,199 cities measured43
Schools2,745th of 4,162 cities measured38
GrowthTop 28% of 4,224 cities measured60
Housing affordabilityTop 28% of 4,218 cities measured74
Climate2,798th of 4,225 cities measured65
Physical resilienceTop 43% of 4,226 cities measured65
Access2,287th of 4,226 cities measured91
Economic stability3,268th of 4,226 cities measured41
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable cities measured: unemployment is 5.0% and the Opportunity signal places Atchison in the bottom 22%. The unemployment rate is published for Atchison County, KS, which contains Atchison, rather than for Atchison alone.

In the public schools here, 23% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.3 students for every teacher.

Rent takes 29% of renter income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 1.7 times what its owners earn.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
10,785
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$54,474
Bottom 30% nationally
Density
1,345/sq mi
8 sq mi of land
Median age
29.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Kansas
Micro area
Nearest major airport
STJ
19 mi · Rosecrans Meml
Median home value
$129,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Atchison County, KS, which contains Atchison, is 5.0% — higher than in all but 25% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Atchison County, KS, which contains Atchison, fell 1.0% over the past year, to 7,907 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsAtchison County, KS’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$51,0639th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftAtchison County, KS’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$50,6217th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$9,0772024 ACS 5-Year$54,474Bottom 30%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,3352024 ACS 5-Year$26,812Bottom 26%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year13.5%Bottom 40%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±2.1 min2024 ACS 5-Year19.6 minTop 16%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year26.8%Top 36%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year67.2%22nd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentAtchison County, KS’s figureJuly 20267,907Bottom 1%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Atchison County, KS’s figureJuly 2026+1.0%Top 30%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Atchison County, KS’s figureJuly 2026−1.0%Bottom 47%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceAtchison County, KS’s figureJuly 20268,3261st percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year80.3%Top 43%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.4%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Atchison County, KS’s figureJuly 2026−0.2%Top 44%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateAtchison County, KS’s figureJuly 20265.0%Bottom 25%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year8.6%54th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202455k49k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $54,474 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Atchison County, KS, which contains this city.

23% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 31% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.3 students for every full-time teacher across 4 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
22.8%
Bottom 21% in Kansas
Reading proficiency
30.8%
Bottom 35% in Kansas
All 4 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Atchison Elementary SchoolAtchison Public Schools69315.425%35%
Atchison High SchoolAtchison Public Schools41912.317%27%
Atchison Middle SchoolAtchison Public Schools28711.528%30%
Central SchoolAtchison Public Schools5110.210%10%

62.9% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Kansas’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Kansas is up 42% over five years, and up 3.4% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $2,029 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.56% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,030, some 40% above the $737 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,030 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $41,200 a year, about 76% of the median household income here of $54,474.

The typical renter household here spends 29% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $737 a month.

A median home at $129,700 costs 1.7 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $75,050, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
29.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
1.7×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,030
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$737
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$129,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Atchison’s median household income of $54,474, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Kansas’s figure2026 Q2+3.4%54th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Kansas’s figure2026 Q2+42.4%48th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Kansas’s figure2026 Q2+72.7%19th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.52024 ACS 5-Year1.7Top 23%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year60.5%21st percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±1732024 ACS 5-Year4,17587th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$900Top 15%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,350Top 10%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,030Top 9%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$1402024 ACS 5-Year$737Top 20%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$20,6222024 ACS 5-Year$129,70031st percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$2972024 ACS 5-Year$2,02957th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$15,6392024 ACS 5-Year$75,050Bottom 45%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.34%2024 ACS 5-Year1.56%81st percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year29.4%Bottom 44%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±552024 ACS 5-Year6285th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.5%66th percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year15.1%79th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±2002024 ACS 5-Year69392nd percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

60/ 100
Top 28% of 4,224 published city profiles
The most recent move in permitting was upward, in a series running from 2020 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 10,813 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 24 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Atchison County, which contains Atchison, in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $51,063, close to the $50,621 of households that moved out.

At 2.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
24
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.2
Bottom 45% nationally
Year over year
+85%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202411k11k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been rising for the last 2 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.2%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
53%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$51,063
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$50,621
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Leavenworth County, KS 73 people · 11% of arrivals
  2. Buchanan County, MO 52 people · 7.7% of arrivals
  3. Brown County, KS 31 people · 4.6% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Leavenworth County, KS 77 people · 12% of departures
  2. Buchanan County, MO 50 people · 7.7% of departures
  3. Johnson County, KS 45 people · 6.9% of departures
  4. Shawnee County, KS 35 people · 5.4% of departures
  5. Douglas County, KS 33 people · 5.1% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. This is the figure for Atchison County, KS. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

202020212022202320242025224.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+450%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 17°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 34.8 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ST JOSEPH ROSECRANS AP, 18.5 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals34.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals17°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals50°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

65 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and heat wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 41% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

WildfireModerate
DroughtModerate
HailElevated
Heat waveModerate
TornadoElevated
Strong windModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, ice storm, winter weather, cold wave, earthquake, inland flooding, hurricane, avalanche, tsunami, volcanic activity, coastal flooding.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Violent crime
194
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,056
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Atchison's police department reported 194 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,056.

Atchison County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 16.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 13.4 per 100,000 residents in Atchison County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
13.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
19.5
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Atchison’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around Atchison (Atchison County) rather than Atchison itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Rosecrans Meml at 19 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year88.4%Bottom 44%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle19 miBottom 47%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 20%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year9.3%Bottom 41%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Rosecrans MemlSTJ19 mi8,061 ft
Kansas City IntlMCI29 mi10,801 ft
Topeka RgnlFOE51 mi12,803 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
57
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.

ZIP codes in Atchison

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Atchison with census figures of its own, largest first.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
6600213,276$61,364$149,10057