Crime & Safety in Kansas
Kansas's statewide crime picture runs genuinely mixed, and this record discloses both halves fully rather than emphasizing one at the expense of the other: a 2024 statewide violent crime rate of 439-456.2 per 100,000, genuinely 22%-30% ABOVE the national average, even as the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's own official report found that same rate down a real 6.4% from 2023, the lowest in 20 years.
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Learn moreA real, current statewide picture: 22%-30% above the national average, even as it genuinely improves
This pass's 2026 research, drawing on both a USAFacts FBI-derived figure (439 per 100,000) and a separately reviewed source (456.2 per 100,000), found Kansas's 2024 statewide violent crime rate ran genuinely 22%-30% above the national average -- even as the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's own official 2024 Crime Index report found that same rate down 6.4% from 2023, the lowest level in 20 years, detailed fully in kansas.js's own crime metrics. This record credits both the still-above-average absolute level and the real, disclosed improving trend, rather than emphasizing one at the expense of the other.
Kansas City, KS and Wyandotte County carry a real, separately elevated crime profile
This record discloses a real, honest nuance rather than treating the statewide figure as describing every Kansas city equally: Kansas's largest urban core -- Kansas City, KS, in Wyandotte County -- carries a real, documented, and separately elevated crime profile distinct from the statewide average, a pattern consistent with the general tendency of urban rates to exceed statewide averages nationally.
Johnson County's Kansas City-metro suburbs and Kansas's smaller cities generally run safer than the statewide figure
By contrast, Johnson County's affluent Kansas City-metro suburbs -- Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, Shawnee, Leawood, and Prairie Village -- and many of Kansas's smaller cities and rural counties generally run meaningfully safer than the statewide average, consistent with the strong-schools, low-crime reputation that drives several of those same suburbs' top rankings on this project's best-places-to-live topic page.
Confirm current, local crime data for your specific target community
As in every state, a statewide figure does not describe every Kansas city, county, or neighborhood identically -- confirm current, local crime statistics directly for your specific target community rather than relying on the statewide figure alone, particularly given the real, disclosed gap between Kansas City, KS's own elevated urban-core profile and Johnson County's own generally safer suburban pattern.
Key takeaways
- Kansas's 2024 statewide violent crime rate ran 439-456.2 per 100,000 depending on source -- genuinely 22%-30% above the national average -- even as the state's own KBI report found it down 6.4% year-over-year, the lowest in 20 years.
- Kansas City, KS and Wyandotte County carry a real, separately elevated crime profile distinct from the statewide average, consistent with urban rates generally exceeding statewide figures nationally.
- Johnson County's Kansas City-metro suburbs (Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, Shawnee, Leawood, Prairie Village) generally run meaningfully safer than the statewide average.
- Statewide improvement coexists with real city-level variation -- confirm current, local crime data directly for your specific target Kansas community.
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