QoL Rank
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Kansas

Kansas has a quality of life score of 59/100 (B, good) and ranks #15 of 51 states. Its strongest category is cost of living (85) and its weakest is safety (38). Its top-rated larger counties are Johnson County, Pottawatomie County, Nemaha County.

  • Safety: 38
  • Cost of living: 85
  • Education: 56
  • Quality of life: 58

Key figures: violent crime 459.0 per 100,000 people a year (US 345.2); median rent $1,060 a month; median home value $217,200; median household income $70,316; life expectancy 76.4 years.

Counties in Kansas, best first

  1. Cheyenne County 82
  2. Greeley County 80
  3. Stanton County 79
  4. Rawlins County 79
  5. Phillips County 77
  6. Johnson County 76
  7. Trego County 75
  8. Wichita County 74
  9. Logan County 74
  10. Washington County 73
  11. Pottawatomie County 72
  12. Gray County 71
  13. Haskell County 71
  14. Mitchell County 70
  15. Thomas County 70
  16. Decatur County 69
  17. Rush County 69
  18. Sherman County 69
  19. Republic County 68
  20. Clark County 68
  21. Edwards County 68
  22. Nemaha County 68
  23. Smith County 67
  24. Sheridan County 67
  25. Riley County 67
  26. Dickinson County 66
  27. Jewell County 66
  28. Stevens County 66
  29. Wabaunsee County 66
  30. Hamilton County 66
  31. Ellis County 66
  32. Marion County 65
  33. Morris County 65
  34. Osborne County 65
  35. Butler County 64
  36. Cloud County 63
  37. Morton County 63
  38. McPherson County 63
  39. Gove County 63
  40. Scott County 63
  41. Hodgeman County 62
  42. Ellsworth County 62
  43. Kearny County 62
  44. Clay County 62
  45. Grant County 62
  46. Graham County 61
  47. Leavenworth County 61
  48. Barton County 61
  49. Chase County 61
  50. Rooks County 61
  51. Douglas County 61
  52. Ford County 60
  53. Russell County 60
  54. Comanche County 60
  55. Harvey County 60
  56. Doniphan County 59
  57. Rice County 59
  58. Lincoln County 59
  59. Marshall County 59
  60. Kiowa County 59
  61. Franklin County 58
  62. Miami County 58
  63. Lyon County 58
  64. Seward County 57
  65. Pawnee County 57
  66. Finney County 57
  67. Jefferson County 57
  68. Jackson County 56
  69. Pratt County 56
  70. Norton County 55
  71. Harper County 55
  72. Labette County 54
  73. Greenwood County 54
  74. Saline County 53
  75. Coffey County 53
  76. Allen County 53
  77. Meade County 53
  78. Kingman County 52
  79. Brown County 52
  80. Stafford County 52
  81. Reno County 51
  82. Geary County 51
  83. Crawford County 51
  84. Barber County 51
  85. Sedgwick County 51
  86. Bourbon County 50
  87. Sumner County 50
  88. Anderson County 50
  89. Cherokee County 49
  90. Neosho County 49
  91. Osage County 48
  92. Shawnee County 48
  93. Atchison County 48
  94. Chautauqua County 48
  95. Woodson County 47
  96. Linn County 46
  97. Ottawa County 46
  98. Elk County 43
  99. Montgomery County 41
  100. Cowley County 40
  101. Wilson County 38
  102. Wyandotte County 36
  103. Lane County –
  104. Ness County –
  105. Wallace County –

Your priorities

Choose how much each category counts toward the overall score. The map, rankings and every place’s overall score update as you go.

About the data

Every county is compared with every other US county, and every state with the other states.

Each measure becomes a percentile from 0 to 100, where 100 is always best. For crime, deaths, disaster risk, costs and commutes, the lowest value is best. A category score averages its measures’ percentiles and is then scaled so all four categories have the same spread around 50, so each counts equally. The overall score is the average of the four. 50 is a typical place, and most land between 35 and 65. Your priorities lets you weight the categories differently.

Grades: A 65 and up, B 55–64, C 45–54, D 35–44, F under 35.

Each category lists a county’s own figures next to its state’s and the US figures. Under the state and US columns, Difference shows whether the county is higher or lower, as a share of that figure (hover for the exact gap). Rank shows where it ranks instead: “ranked 75%” means it does better than 75% of the counties in its state, or in the US. A green arrow or dot means the county does better, red means worse.

Compare puts any two places side by side, counties or states, in any state. The better value in each row is highlighted.

A county gets an overall score only if all four categories have data and at least 60% of the measures are present. Small counties often have suppressed data, and without this rule they rank at the top on just a few numbers. Top 10 lists only include counties with at least 10,000 people.

What’s measured

Limitations

Sources