What are the best small cities in Kansas?

TOPEKA (KSNT) – A personal finance company has identified several small cities in Kansas as having better perks than others in a recent study.

WalletHub, a personal finance company, released a study on Sept. 30 pointing out which small cities they found to be the “best” across the nation. The organization compared over 1,300 cities against each other that had populations between 25,000 and 100,000 and based its findings on 45 indicators of livability.

“Moving from a bustling metropolis to a small city could drastically cut down your cost of living,” said Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst. “On top of that, the best small cities offer strong job markets, high-quality education, good health care, safe living conditions and plenty of local flair to help you achieve a high quality of life. While small cities may lack some advantages of big cities, like robust public transportation systems, they make up for these shortcomings in other areas.”

Each city is classified by percentile with those in the 99th percentile being ranked the highest. WalletHub gave each city a total score to help determine its percentile placement based off of the following factors.

• Affordability – 20 points total.
• Economic health – 20 points total.
• Education and health – 20 points total.
• Quality of life – 20 points total.
• Safety – 20 points total.

Nine cities in Kansas appeared in the list with the City of Leawood claiming the highest spot. You can check out the Kansas cities that made the list below along with their total scores and individual ranks each received in their respective categories among all 1,318 cities that appear in the study.

• Leawood – 99th percentile.
  • Total score – 67.76.
  • Affordability – 11.
  • Economic health – 457.
  • Education and health – 116.
  • Quality of life – 786.
  • Safety – 100.
• Lenexa – 93rd percentile.
  • Total score – 65.44.
  • Affordability – 271.
  • Economic health – 250.
  • Education and health – 137.
  • Quality of life – 770.
  • Safety – 115.
• Lawrence – 85th percentile.
  • Total score – 63.9.
  • Affordability – 742.
  • Economic health – 814.
  • Education and health – 545.
  • Quality of life – 105.
  • Safety – 81.
• Salina – 54th percentile.
  • Total score – 58.42.
  • Affordability – 328.
  • Economic health – 524.
  • Education and health – 906.
  • Quality of life – 392.
  • Safety – 865.
• Manhattan – 51st percentile.
  • Total score – 57.87.
  • Affordability – 830.
  • Economic health – 850.
  • Education and health – 813.
  • Quality of life – 197.
  • Safety – 226.
• Leavenworth – 43rd percentile.
  • Total score – 56.93.
  • Affordability – 465.
  • Economic health – 786.
  • Education and health – 834.
  • Quality of life – 731.
  • Safety – 746.
• Dodge City – 41st percentile.
  • Total score – 56.77.
  • Affordability – 267.
  • Economic health – 392.
  • Education and health – 1173.
  • Quality of life – 587.
  • Safety – 879.
• Hutchinson – 40th percentile.
  • Total score – 56.6.
  • Affordability -344.
  • Economic health – 595.
  • Education and health – 962.
  • Quality of life – 661.
  • Safety – 943.
• Garden City – 26th percentile.
  • Total score – 53.98.
  • Affordability – 456.
  • Economic health – 281.
  • Education and health – 1260.
  • Quality of life – 746.
  • Safety – 1053.

WalletHub used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Areavibes, TransUnion, TripAdvisor, County Health Rankings, Yelp, National Highway Traffic Administration and more sources for this study. You can read through the full study by clicking here.

For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.

Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf