Wyandotte County, KS

County Profile

167,654 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Wyandotte County, KS.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 33% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
Opportunity1,271st of 1,463 counties measured34
Schools1,269th of 1,377 counties measured15
GrowthTop 38% of 1,453 counties measured57
Housing affordabilityTop 42% of 1,462 counties measured75
Climate831st of 1,463 counties measured66
Physical resilienceTop 25% of 1,463 counties measured76
AccessTop 14% of 1,463 counties measured95
Economic stability988th of 1,463 counties measured46
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable counties measured: unemployment is 5.0% and the Opportunity signal places Wyandotte County in the bottom 13%.

In the public schools here, 21% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.0 students for every teacher.

584 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, essentially level with the prior year — steady rather than turning.

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
167,654
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$63,631
Bottom 46% nationally
Density
1,106/sq mi
151.6 sq mi of land
Median age
34.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Wyandotte County
Kansas
Nearest major airport
MCI
13 mi · Kansas City Intl
Median home value
$172,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.0% — higher than in all but 21% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment fell 2.4% over the past year, to 81,332 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$46,89213th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$51,29927th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$1,7792024 ACS 5-Year$63,631Bottom 46%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$7572024 ACS 5-Year$29,843Bottom 24%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$41,371Bottom 2%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year15.5%Bottom 34%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.5 min2024 ACS 5-Year23.8 minTop 37%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year21.2%Bottom 45%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year74.2%29th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202681,332Top 28%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+0.4%Top 45%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−2.4%Bottom 16%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202685,64973rd percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year78.2%Top 37%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.4%2024 ACS 5-Year1.1%87th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.3%Top 42%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20265.0%Bottom 21%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year9.4%57th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/075.53.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.0% in July 2026. It has been rising for the last 3 months, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202464k52k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $63,631 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.

Largest occupations — Kansas City, MO-KS

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
General and Operations Managers31,080$90,490
Registered Nurses29,650$83,040
Retail Salespersons26,110$34,320
Cashiers24,160$30,700
Stockers and Order Fillers23,580$36,850
Customer Service Representatives22,240$44,350

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

21% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 23% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.0 students for every full-time teacher across 58 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
61
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.0
across 58 of them
Math proficiency
20.7%
Bottom 7% in Kansas
Reading proficiency
23.3%
Bottom 7% in Kansas
The 12 largest of 61 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Wyandotte HighKansas City1,90319.24%7%
Silver City ElemKansas City1,49545.317%27%
J C Harmon HighKansas City1,28518.12%5%
Washington HighKansas City1,18018.22%6%
Turner HighTurner-Kansas City1,14714.79%12%
Sumner Academy of Arts & ScienceKansas City1,04517.149%48%
Piper HighPiper-Kansas City91315.027%42%
F L Schlagle HighKansas City84116.21%5%
Carl B. Bruce Middle SchoolKansas City82115.55%8%
Bonner Springs HighBonner Springs77812.816%27%
Gloria Willis Middle SchoolKansas City73718.9——
Central MiddleKansas City68716.811%8%

75.3% 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.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 7% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 93.2, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area is up 42% over five years, and up 3.2% 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 $2,509 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.46% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,358, some 21% above the $1,122 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,358 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $54,300 a year, about 85% of the median household income here of $63,631.

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 $1,122 a month.

A median home at $172,300 costs 2.2 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $78,488, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
93.2

Prices here run about 7% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
28.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.2×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,358
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,122
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$172,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Wyandotte County’s median household income of $63,631, 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
Cost of living indexthe Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area’s figure202393.2Top 44%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+3.2%40th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+42.4%35th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+107.0%72nd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year2.2Top 33%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year62.0%10th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±1402024 ACS 5-Year68,80387th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,197Bottom 27%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,769Bottom 32%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,358Bottom 32%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$232024 ACS 5-Year$1,122Bottom 21%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$4,4462024 ACS 5-Year$172,30045th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$652024 ACS 5-Year$2,50977th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$1,7342024 ACS 5-Year$78,488Top 46%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.05%2024 ACS 5-Year1.46%88th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year28.8%Bottom 40%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±1422024 ACS 5-Year26843rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.4%8th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year10.1%57th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±5702024 ACS 5-Year7,24187th percentileof 3,2222024 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 and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

57/ 100
Top 38% of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 2 years of 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 169,418 in 2024.

60% of the 584 units permitted over the past twelve months are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

Federal tax returns show Wyandotte County lost about 0.8% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $46,892, below the $51,299 of households that moved out.

At 3.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
584
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.5
Top 42% nationally
Year over year
−1%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
60.1%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024169k166k
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
−0.8%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
55%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$46,892
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$51,299
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Johnson County, KS 2,646 people · 32% of arrivals
  2. Jackson County, MO 1,800 people · 22% of arrivals
  3. Leavenworth County, KS 411 people · 4.9% of arrivals
  4. Clay County, MO 360 people · 4.3% of arrivals
  5. Platte County, MO 194 people · 2.3% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Johnson County, KS 2,515 people · 27% of departures
  2. Jackson County, MO 2,128 people · 23% of departures
  3. Leavenworth County, KS 785 people · 8.4% of departures
  4. Clay County, MO 511 people · 5.5% of departures
  5. Platte County, MO 318 people · 3.4% 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. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

202020212022202320242025646153
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+203%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 22°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 38.1 inches, including 11.0 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 46, in the Good band, and about 3 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station KANSAS CITY DOWNTOWN AP, 8.9 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year712024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals38.1"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals11.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals22°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year32024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year462024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals50°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
46
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
71
90th percentile index
Days above 100
3
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

76 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and cold wave, with inland flooding alone responsible for 32% of it. Inland flooding and cold wave are independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large those hazards are.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 75% of measured US counties.

Strong windModerate
Winter weatherModerate
Heat waveModerate
TornadoElevated
HailElevated

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Wyandotte County records 17.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 28.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 26.0 per 100,000 residents in Wyandotte County.

Homicide
17.5
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
28.4
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
26.0
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
16.3
per 100,000 residents

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.

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 Wyandotte County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read 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.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
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. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. 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 Kansas City Intl at 13 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year88.8%Top 35%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle13 miTop 14%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 35%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year7.5%Top 27%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Kansas City IntlMCI13 mi10,801 ft
Rosecrans MemlSTJ46 mi8,061 ft
Topeka RgnlFOE50 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
55
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
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
Housing, IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
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.

Cities in Wyandotte County, KS

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.