The 10 Worst Kansas City, MO Suburbs

The 10 Worst Kansas City Suburbs To Live For 2024

We’ll get the ball rolling with Sugar Creek, the absolute worst place to live around Kansas City according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Sugar Creek beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 3rd worst in the Kansas City area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 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 Sugar Creek.

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.

Welcome to Kansas City. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 0.0 miles to Kansas City. Income levels here are the 4th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $56,120 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.

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Kansas City suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Grandview 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 Kansas City suburbs.

But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.

If you live in Harrisonville, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 6th lowest Kansas City suburb for median household incomes.

Not only that, but this is the 2nd worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Kansas City. Remember, we looked at 47 cities for this study.

Harrisonville is about 27.7 miles to downtown.

Independence has the distinction of being a Kansas City suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Independence has the 4th lowest home values in the metro Kansas City area, where the median price is $189,173. The median income is $250,001.

Independence has an unemployment rate of 6.17% which ranks 5th worst.

Riverside has 4,017 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 26.291560102301787%.

Ah, Excelsior Springs. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Kansas City.

It’s the place with the 2most out of work residents in the Kansas City metro area (4.04%).

Leavenworth is a city about 28.6 miles from Kansas City, but Kansas City 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. Leavenworth has the 15th most uninsured people, 8th worst incomes, and has the 15th highest unemployment rate (4.63%) in the entire Kansas City metro area.

Homes only cost $225,494 for a reason. That’s cheap for Kansas City standards.

If you absolutely have to live near Kansas City, then Oak Grove might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Kansas City suburb.

About 5.28% of residents are out of work.

Rounding out the ten worst Kansas City suburbs to call home is Raytown.

Located 5.6 miles outside the city, Raytowns is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 13th highest unemployment rate (5.18%), and poverty is far above the area average.