Kansas’s 20 Safest Cities of 2021

1. Valley Center
2. Basehor
3. Goddard
4. Scott City
5. Mission Hills
6. Leawood
7. Gardner
8. Lindsborg
9. Rose Hill
10 Louisburg

See if your city made the full list.

For many Kansas residents, there’s no place like home. Well over half (58%) of Kansans who responded to our survey said they feel safe in The Sunflower State. They also expressed lower than average concern over issues like police violence, gun violence, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Property and violent crime were also low on the list for many Jayhawkers. Kansas placed number 39 for most concerned on both issues.

But, although Kansans are less concerned about crime, The Sunflower state sees the second-highest crime rates in the region just behind Missouri. Both the violent and property crime rates in Kansas top the national and regional averages.

This relaxed attitude in Kansas is new to the state. For the last two years, almost half of Kansas residents said they felt a daily level of high concern. In 2021, that number has dropped from 48% to 35%.

This year also saw a drop in the number of respondents who experienced violent crime, property crime, and gun crime in the last year. The biggest decrease happened in violent crime, from 10% of respondents in 2020 experiencing some kind of violent crime to only 3% in 2021.

We asked Kansas residents which crimes they worry may happen to them. See if Kansans are concerned about the same crime issues as the rest of the country.

View the complete 2021 State of Safety report.

Generally, Kansas sees more violent crime than several neighboring states and the national average. However, concern over violent crime remains low compared to the national average.

• The violent crime within the safest cities accounts for 5% of violent crime statewide.
• Aggravated assault was the most common violent crime in Kansas over the last year, accounting for 70% of violent crime in the safest cities and 77% of violent crime statewide.
• Kansas also saw a higher rate of rape statewide (12% of state violent crime) and within the safest cities (21% of safest cities’ violent crime). The national average is 8%.
• The number of mass shooting incidents dropped by 50% in the last year from 4 in 2019 to 2 in 2020.
• 52% of Kansans say they have confidence in law enforcement (US 56%).
• Of Kansas residents we surveyed, 24% carry personal protection, 10 percentage points less than the rest of the nation.
• 41% of Kansas residents said their safety was affected by the pandemic (US 44%).

While property crime in Kansas still tops the regional and national average, The Sunflower State saw a significant drop year over year from 2020.

• Property crime within the safest cities accounted for 5.7% of property crime across the state.
• Larceny-theft was the most common type of property crime in Kansas, accounting for 79% of property crime in the safest cities and 74% across the state.
• Scott City had the lowest property crime rate out of the safest cities with only 14 incidents in the last year.
• 59% of Kansas residents say they use some method to protect their property with the majority (28%) choosing guard dogs.
• In Kansas, 29% of survey respondents say the safety of their personal property was affected by the pandemic, matching the national average.

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

• Valley Center rose in the ranks to the top spot this year from last year’s number 3. The city saw a significant drop in property crime, seeing 6.1 fewer incidents year over year.
• There are 6 new cities that landed in Kansas’ top 20 safest cities this year.
• Gardner saw the biggest improvement from last year, rising 12 spots to this year’s number 7.
• Lansing was the only city in the top 20 that saw no change in rank and remains this year’s number 13.
• Basehor and Mission Hills each had only 1 violent crime reported in the last year.

Learn how we identified the safest cities on our methodology page.

Whether your city made our list or not, we encourage everyone to be proactive about home security. Learn more about your home security options—and find out which companies we recommend for every budget and lifestyle in our roundup of the Best Home Security Systems.

We calculated crime rates for every city in the state that met our population threshold, based on the state’s median population. See how the remaining cities ranked in the list below.

NOTE: If you don’t see your city on the list, it means that it was below the population threshold or didn’t submit a complete crime report to the FBI in 2019.

Click on the state image or dropdown menu below to check out the safest cities for each state.

• Best Home Security Systems
• Best Home Security Cameras
• Best Video Doorbell Cameras
• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State

FBI: Uniform Crime Reporting Program, “2019 Crime in the United States,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

US Census Bureau, "Data Explorer," Accessed November 18, 2020.

Best Places, “Find a Place Search Tool,” Accessed January 6, 2021.

SafeWise, “2021 State of Safety survey,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

Gun Violence Archive, “Past Summary Ledgers,” Accessed January 6, 2021.

Gun Violence Archive, “General Methodology,” Accessed March 15, 2021.

Melody Hicks, Ben Stickle, Joshua Harms, American Journal of Criminal Justice, “Assessing the Fear of Package Theft,” January 04, 2021. Accessed March 15, 2021.

For definitions and more on data sources, see our methodology page.