These Are The 10 Worst Overland Park Suburbs For 2018

Swipe left for slideshow. Article continues below.

Not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Overland Park.

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 science and data 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’t expect all the suburbs to live up to Overland Park proper, although Leawood 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. So without further ado…

We examined the 29 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.

Here are the 10 worst suburbs around Overland Park for 2018:

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.

Editor’s Note: If you see a slight difference between the worst in state rankings and this suburb ranking, it’s because of the methodology. We needed a way to include more places, so we eliminated crime and commute times as criteria for this analysis.

For more Kansas reading, check out:

Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Overland Park for 2018

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data, 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 drop outs
High poverty
High rate of uninsured families

FYI: We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Overland Park.

10 Safest Places In Kansas

Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 5,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 29 suburbs to evaluate around Overland Park.

We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 29 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 lookin’ at you, Harrisonville.

Read on below to learn more about what it’s like to live in the worst of the worst. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from worst to best.

1. Harrisonville

Population: 10,002
Unemployment Rate: 11.4%
Median Home Price: $126,700
Median Income: $41,538
More on Harrisonville: Data | Jobs

We’ll get the ball rolling with Harrisonville, the absolute worst place to live around Overland Park according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Harrisonville beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 1st worst in the Overland Park area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 6th 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 Harrisonville.

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. Independence

Source: Wikipedia User TheCatalyst31 w | CC BY-SA 3.0

Population: 117,217
Unemployment Rate: 7.8%
Median Home Price: $100,500
Median Income: $44,415
More on Independence: Data | Jobs

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

This city is 22.7 miles to Overland Park. Income levels here are the 3rd lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $44,415 a year, which doesn’t go a long ways even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

3. Grandview

Source: Wikipedia User Nationalparks | CC BY-SA 2.5

Population: 25,126
Unemployment Rate: 7.3%
Median Home Price: $102,700
Median Income: $42,626
More on Grandview: Data | Jobs

Back up the highway we go for the third worst Overland Park 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 drop out rate is poor compared to other Overland Park suburbs.

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

4. Bonner Springs

Source: Wikipedia User Sdpeders | CC BY-SA 4.0

Population: 7,567
Unemployment Rate: 9.0%
Median Home Price: $157,700
Median Income: $58,601
More on Bonner Springs: Data | Jobs

If you live in Bonner Springs, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 12th lowest Overland Park suburb when it comes to residents making money.

Not only that, but this is the 3rd worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Overland Park. Remember, we looked at 29 cities for this study.

Bonner Springs is about 16.1 miles to downtown.

5. Raytown

Source: Wikipedia User Ichabod | CC BY-SA 3.0

Population: 29,366
Unemployment Rate: 7.8%
Median Home Price: $97,000
Median Income: $48,565
More on Raytown: Data | Jobs

Raytown has the distinction of being a Overland Park suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Raytown has the 1st lowest home values in the metro Overland Park area, where the median price is $97,000. To put that into perspective, in Leawood, the median income is $147,722, which is the best in the area.

Raytown has an unemployment rate of 7.8% which ranks 4th worst.

6. De Soto

Source: Wikipedia User Popcorn700 at E | CC BY 3.0

Population: 5,982
Unemployment Rate: 6.0%
Median Home Price: $192,700
Median Income: $52,077
More on De Soto: Data | Jobs

De Soto has 5,982 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 18.5%.

7. Belton

Population: 23,236
Unemployment Rate: 6.6%
Median Home Price: $124,000
Median Income: $60,405
More on Belton: Data | Jobs

Ah, Belton. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Overland Park.

It’s the place with the 7th most out of work residents in the Overland Park metro area (6.6%).

8. Eudora

Population: 6,116
Unemployment Rate: 12.9%
Median Home Price: $133,600
Median Income: $56,766
More on Eudora: Data | Jobs

Eudora is a city about 21.9 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. Eudora has the 6th most uninsured people, 9th worst incomes, and has the 1st highest unemployment rate (12.9%) in the entire Overland Park metro area.

Homes only cost $133,600 for a reason. That’s cheap for Overland Park standards.

9. Gladstone

Source: Wikipedia User 25or6to4 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Population: 26,562
Unemployment Rate: 5.9%
Median Home Price: $132,500
Median Income: $52,093
More on Gladstone: Data | Jobs

If you absolutely have to live near Overland Park, then Gladstone might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Overland Park suburb.

About 5.9% of residents are out of work.

10. Pleasant Hill

Source: Flickr User MoBikeFed | CC BY 2.0

Population: 8,272
Unemployment Rate: 5.9%
Median Home Price: $162,900
Median Income: $62,065
More on Pleasant Hill: Data | Jobs

Rounding out the ten worst Overland Park suburbs to call home is Pleasant Hill.

Located 23.2 miles outside the city, Pleasant Hills is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 9th highest unemployment rate (5.9%), and poverty is far above the area average.

The areas around Overland Park where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2018

Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Overland Park with Harrisonville casting itself ahead of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Overland Park aren’t all bad. Leawood takes the cake as the best place to live around Overland Park.