Derby, Kansas

Area Profile

26,062 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Derby, in Sedgwick County.

69out of 100
Area Score
Top 18% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 16 sources
OpportunityTop 39% of 4,199 cities measured61
SchoolsTop 45% of 4,162 cities measured53
GrowthTop 4% of 4,224 cities measured82
Housing affordabilityTop 15% of 4,218 cities measured79
Climate3,019th of 4,225 cities measured63
Physical resilienceTop 41% of 4,226 cities measured67
AccessTop 31% of 4,226 cities measured97
Economic stabilityTop 24% of 4,226 cities measured70
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.0% and median household income $84,112, putting employment conditions in the middle range of cities measured.

In the public schools here, 31% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 16.1 students for every teacher.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 271 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 134% on the prior year.

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
26,062
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$84,112
Top 29% nationally
Density
2,346/sq mi
11.1 sq mi of land
Median age
35.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Kansas
Metro area
Nearest major airport
BEC
10 mi · Beech Factory
Median home value
$236,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.0%, lower than in 61% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.4% over the past year, to 12,774 employed residents.

38% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 79% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsSedgwick County, KS’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$56,26018th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftSedgwick County, KS’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$61,83527th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$6,1672024 ACS 5-Year$84,112Top 29%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,5582024 ACS 5-Year$40,661Top 31%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year5.8%Top 28%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.3 min2024 ACS 5-Year24.3 minTop 37%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year37.6%Top 21%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year84.3%73rd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202612,774Bottom 8%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+0.8%Top 33%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−1.4%Bottom 36%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202613,3117th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year84.1%Top 27%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageWichita, KS Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$58,830Bottom 12%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageWichita, KS Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$47,630Bottom 21%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.1%74th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.1%Bottom 47%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.0%Top 39%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year7.6%50th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/074.72.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.0% in July 2026. It has been falling, 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

202120222023202484k74k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $84,112 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 — Wichita, KS

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers11,580$27,420
Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers9,460$59,850
Retail Salespersons7,530$30,760
Registered Nurses7,460$76,540
Cashiers7,070$28,430
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive6,290$41,480

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.

31% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 35% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.1 students for every full-time teacher across 9 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
30.9%
Top 47% in Kansas
Reading proficiency
35.5%
Top 41% in Kansas
All 9 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Derby High SchoolDerby2,17217.722%28%
Derby Middle SchDerby92315.923%31%
Derby North Middle SchoolDerby83214.631%30%
Tanglewood ElemDerby60725.342%42%
Stone Creek ElementaryDerby45115.6——
Derby Hills ElemDerby41014.141%48%
Park Hill ElementaryDerby39213.562%57%
Swaney ElemDerby35111.736%51%
El Paso ElemDerby28813.737%42%

44.4% 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 11% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 89.4, 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 Wichita, KS Metro Area is up 42% over five years, and up 4.5% 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 $3,358 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.42% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,230, some 8% above the $1,136 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,230 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $49,200 a year, about 58% of the median household income here of $84,112.

The typical renter household here spends 27% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,136 a month.

A median home at $236,900 costs 2.4 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $99,234, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
89.4

Prices here run about 11% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Wichita, 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
27.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.4×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,230
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,136
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$236,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Derby’s median household income of $84,112, 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 Wichita, KS Metro Area’s figure202389.4Top 5%of 3,7002023
Home price change (1 year)the Wichita, KS Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+4.5%74th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Wichita, KS Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+42.1%47th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Wichita, KS Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+89.6%45th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year2.4Top 47%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year68.5%35th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4742024 ACS 5-Year11,02695th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$950Top 18%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,620Top 24%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,230Top 22%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$532024 ACS 5-Year$1,136Bottom 36%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,9712024 ACS 5-Year$236,90062nd percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1432024 ACS 5-Year$3,35877th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$7,4592024 ACS 5-Year$99,234Top 28%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.09%2024 ACS 5-Year1.42%74th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year27.1%Top 43%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±1052024 ACS 5-Year6786th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.6%58th percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year4.6%37th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±2012024 ACS 5-Year57991st 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 and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

82/ 100
Top 4% 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 grown 3% since 2020, reaching 26,604 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before: 148 units authorized in 2025, up 72% on the prior year.

Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 26,604 residents in 2024, up 1.1% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Sedgwick County, which contains Derby, in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $56,260, below the $61,835 of households that moved out.

At 10.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
271
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
10.4
Top 11% nationally
Year over year
+134%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
39.9%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202427k26k
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 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.1%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
58%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$56,260
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$61,835
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Butler County, KS 1,822 people · 11% of arrivals
  2. Harvey County, KS 560 people · 3.4% of arrivals
  3. Sumner County, KS 556 people · 3.4% of arrivals
  4. Reno County, KS 412 people · 2.5% of arrivals
  5. Johnson County, KS 373 people · 2.3% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Butler County, KS 1,831 people · 11% of departures
  2. Johnson County, KS 617 people · 3.8% of departures
  3. Harvey County, KS 609 people · 3.8% of departures
  4. Sumner County, KS 571 people · 3.5% of departures
  5. Reno County, KS 444 people · 2.7% 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 Sedgwick County, KS. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

20202021202220232024202519186
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+30%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 93°F and January a low of 23°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 34.3 inches, including 12.7 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 43, 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 WICHITA, 12.1 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year642024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals34.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals12.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals23°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals93°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year32024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year432024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals48°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
43
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
64
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

67 / 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 39% of it. Cold wave is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Ice stormModerate
TornadoModerate
HailElevated
Heat waveModerate
LightningModerate
Inland floodingModerate
WildfireModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, winter weather, strong wind, earthquake, drought, landslide, hurricane, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche, 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
228
per 100,000 residents · 2022 calendar year
Property crime
2,189
per 100,000 residents · 2022 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.

Derby's police department reported 228 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 2,189.

Sedgwick County records 8.1 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 17.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 27.8 per 100,000 residents in Sedgwick County.

Homicide
8.1
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
17.0
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
27.8
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
17.4
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.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Derby’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 Derby (Sedgwick County) rather than Derby 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.

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 Beech Factory at 10 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year94.5%Top 27%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle10 miTop 25%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle3Bottom 20%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year4.2%Top 32%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Beech FactoryBEC10 mi8,001 ft
Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower NtlICT12 mi10,302 ft
Enid Woodring RgnlWDG87 mi8,613 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
69
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Other cities in Wichita, KS

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
WichitaSedgwick County397,94558Wichita vs Derby
NewtonHarvey County18,39760Newton vs Derby
AndoverButler County15,96567Andover vs Derby
El DoradoButler County12,76956
HaysvilleSedgwick County11,11759

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Derby side by side with a similar place.

Derby vs CrowleyDerby vs Chubbuck

Moving to Derby from somewhere else?

You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.

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
2022 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
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
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
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.

ZIP codes in Derby

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Derby with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Derby closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
6703730,278$85,541$242,100—