The suburbs of Overland Park call to all types of people looking to escape city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Overland Park to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
So the question arises: do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Overland Park ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Overland Park area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Overland Park proper, although Fairway certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Overland Park are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones.
We examined the 42 biggest suburbs of Overland Park to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Kansas lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Overland Park in terms of quality of life.
The 10 worst suburbs around Overland Park for 2023
- Kansas City
- Sugar Creek
- Harrisonville
- Grandview
- Independence
- Riverside
- Pleasant Hill
- Kansas City
- Raytown
- Belton
Now don’t freak out.
What’s the worst suburb of Overland Park? Kansas City ranks as the worst suburb of Overland Park for 2023 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Overland Park that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger.
Or, if you’re thinking of moving to elsewhere in Kansas check out the best places in Kansas overall or the worst.
And remember, there are some good places to live around Overland Park too.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
For more Kansas reading, check out:
The 10 Worst Overland Park Suburbs To Live For 2023
/10
Population: 155,745
Median Income: $50,707 (3rd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.3% (5th highest)
Median Home Value: $112,500 (2nd lowest)
More on Kansas City:
We’ll get the ball rolling with Kansas City, the absolute worst place to live around Overland Park according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Kansas City beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 3rd worst in the Overland Park area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 2nd worst when it comes to home values.
But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Kansas City.
You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.
2. Sugar Creek
/10
Population: 3,268
Median Income: $51,860 (5th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.4% (10th highest)
Median Home Value: $76,500 (lowest)
More on Sugar Creek:
Welcome to Sugar Creek. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 23.0 miles to Overland Park. Income levels here are the 5th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $51,860 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
3. Harrisonville
/10
Population: 10,070
Median Income: $51,460 (4th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.9% (3rd highest)
Median Home Value: $155,400 (8th lowest)
More on Harrisonville:
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Overland Park suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Harrisonville on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.
In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Overland Park suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
4. Grandview
/10
Population: 25,931
Median Income: $48,233 (2nd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.0% (8th highest)
Median Home Value: $127,200 (4th lowest)
More on Grandview:
If you live in Grandview, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 2nd lowest Overland Park suburb for median household incomes.
Not only that, but this is the 8th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Overland Park. Remember, we looked at 42 cities for this study.
Grandview is about 9.0 miles to downtown.
/10
Population: 122,230
Median Income: $53,996 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.1% (7th highest)
Median Home Value: $130,400 (5th lowest)
More on Independence:
Independence has the distinction of being a Overland Park suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Independence has the 5th lowest home values in the metro Overland Park area, where the median price is $130,400. The median income is $250,001.
Independence has an unemployment rate of 6.08% which ranks 7th worst.
6. Riverside
/10
Population: 3,866
Median Income: $42,703 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.3% (11th highest)
Median Home Value: $245,500 (29th lowest)
More on Riverside:
Riverside has 3,866 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)
Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 20.467215290682237%.
7. Pleasant Hill
/10
Population: 8,673
Median Income: $76,593 (19th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.5% (2nd highest)
Median Home Value: $186,400 (16th lowest)
More on Pleasant Hill:
Ah, Pleasant Hill. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Overland Park.
It’s the place with the 2nd most out of work residents in the Overland Park metro area (8.48%).
/10
Population: 502,597
Median Income: $60,042 (8th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.1% (13th highest)
Median Home Value: $175,400 (14th lowest)
More on Kansas City:
Kansas City is a city about 11.0 miles from Overland Park, but Overland Park probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Kansas City has the 9th most uninsured people, 8th worst incomes, and has the 13th highest unemployment rate (5.09%) in the entire Overland Park metro area.
Homes only cost $175,400 for a reason. That’s cheap for Overland Park standards.
9. Raytown
/10
Population: 29,893
Median Income: $59,049 (7th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 4.7% (16th highest)
Median Home Value: $124,300 (3rd lowest)
More on Raytown:
If you absolutely have to live near Overland Park, then Raytown might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Overland Park suburb.
About 4.7% of residents are out of work.
10. Belton
/10
Population: 23,832
Median Income: $67,213 (14th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 4.4% (17th highest)
Median Home Value: $153,700 (7th lowest)
More on Belton:
Rounding out the ten worst Overland Park suburbs to call home is Belton.
Located 9.9 miles outside the city, Beltons is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 17th highest unemployment rate (4.41%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Overland Park for 2023
To figure out how bad a Overland Park suburb is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.
It’s Saturday Night Science.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2017-2021, this is the criteria we used:
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school dropouts
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
We defined a suburb as any town within 30 miles of Overland Park.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 42 suburbs to evaluate around Overland Park.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 42 in each category, where 1 was the “worst.”
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.
And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index, the “Worst Suburb near Overland Park.” We’re looking at you, Kansas City.
We updated this article for 2023, which reflects our tenth time ranking the worst suburbs around Overland Park.
Summary: The areas around Overland Park where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2023
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Overland Park with Kansas City casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Overland Park aren’t all bad. Fairway takes the cake as the best place to live around Overland Park.
- Fairway
- Mission Hills
- Leawood
For more Kansas reading, check out:
- Best Places To Retire In Kansas
- Richest Cities In Kansas
- Safest Places In Kansas
- Worst Places To Live In Kansas
Detailed List Of The Worst Overland Park Suburbs
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Kansas City | 155,745 |
2 | Sugar Creek | 3,268 |
3 | Harrisonville | 10,070 |
4 | Grandview | 25,931 |
5 | Independence | 122,230 |
6 | Riverside | 3,866 |
7 | Pleasant Hill | 8,673 |
8 | Kansas City | 502,597 |
9 | Raytown | 29,893 |
10 | Belton | 23,832 |
11 | Bonner Springs | 7,858 |
12 | Paola | 5,733 |
13 | Peculiar | 5,559 |
14 | Gladstone | 26,825 |
15 | Edwardsville | 4,690 |
16 | Pleasant Valley | 2,757 |
17 | De Soto | 6,160 |
18 | Tonganoxie | 5,383 |
19 | Merriam | 11,110 |
20 | Louisburg | 4,865 |
21 | Basehor | 6,717 |
22 | Lansing | 11,321 |
23 | Blue Springs | 58,265 |
24 | Liberty | 30,129 |
25 | Eudora | 6,457 |
26 | Spring Hill | 7,883 |
27 | Roeland Park | 6,871 |
28 | Mission | 9,884 |
29 | Gardner | 23,065 |
30 | Shawnee | 67,021 |
31 | Raymore | 22,722 |
32 | Grain Valley | 15,435 |
33 | Olathe | 140,339 |
34 | Greenwood | 6,008 |
35 | Lee’s Summit | 100,772 |
36 | Lenexa | 56,755 |
37 | Lake Lotawana | 3,084 |
38 | Parkville | 7,153 |
39 | Weatherby Lake | 2,408 |
40 | Leawood | 33,748 |
41 | Mission Hills | 3,579 |
42 | Fairway | 4,147 |