Raytown, Missouri

Area Profile

29,445 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Raytown, in Jackson County.

72out of 100
Area Score
Top 14% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 22% of 3,904 published cities70
GrowthTop 47% of 2,973 published cities52
Housing affordabilityTop 26% of 4,223 published cities93
ClimateTop 43% of 4,223 published cities72
Physical resilienceTop 34% of 4,182 published cities72
Access2764th of 4,226 published cities87
Economic stability2302nd of 4,226 published cities58
The quick read

Raytown ranks in the top 22% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.6% and median household income of $68,840.

Rent takes 21% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 2.7 times that income.

A typical July reaches 88°F and a typical January falls to 22°F, on thirty-year normals.

At a glance

Population
29,445
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$68,840
Top 47% nationally
Density
2,965/sq mi
9.9 sq mi of land
Median age
40.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Jackson County
Missouri
Metro area
Kansas City, MO-KS
Nearest major airport
MCI
25 mi · Kansas City Intl
Median home value
$182,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.6% is lower than 80% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 0.5% over the past year, to 15,547 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$5,642$68,840Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,334$36,203Top 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.5%Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute24.8 minBottom 39%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher22.0%Top 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment15,547Bottom 16%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)2.1%Top 22%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.5%Top 19%June 2026
Labor force16,131Bottom 15%June 2026
Labor force participation66.7%Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$66,550Bottom 41%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$50,820Bottom 47%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-1.3%Bottom 1%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.6%Bottom 20%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/067.52.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.6% in June 2026. 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
202120222023202469k59k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $68,840 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

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.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,218 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.7 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
21.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,218
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$182,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.66Bottom 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate65.1%Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±48613,452Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$93$1,218Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,662$182,900Bottom 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.2%Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.1%Bottom 39%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
52/ 100
Top 47% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2020 to 2025.

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 fallen 2% since 2020, reaching 29,244 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
10
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.3
Bottom 17% nationally
Year over year
+900%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202430k29k
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.
Housing units permitted per year
202020212022202320242025114.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+13%).

Weather & climate

7 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 22°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 38.3 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LEES SUMMIT MUNI AP, 5.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation38.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low22°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing48°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

72 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado and hail.

TornadoModerate
HailHigh

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, inland flooding, strong wind, cold wave, winter weather, lightning, ice storm, earthquake, landslide, wildfire, drought.

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.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 25 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Kansas City IntlMCI25 mi10,801 ft
Rosecrans MemlSTJ59 mi8,061 ft
Topeka RgnlFOE65 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
72
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Other cities in Kansas City, MO-KS

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Kansas CityJackson County510,61268vs Raytown
Overland ParkJohnson County200,30676vs Raytown
Kansas CityWyandotte County155,13558vs Raytown
OlatheJohnson County145,05778vs Raytown
IndependenceJackson County121,74063vs Raytown
Lee's SummitJackson County103,65679vs Raytown
ShawneeJohnson County68,54277vs Raytown
Blue SpringsJackson County59,96579vs Raytown
LenexaJohnson County58,38478vs Raytown
LeavenworthLeavenworth County37,19566vs Raytown
LeawoodJohnson County33,80974vs Raytown
LibertyClay County30,68976vs Raytown

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.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)

Profile recalculated August 30, 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 browse every source.