City · Osage County, Kansas

Lyndon, Kansas

Lyndon is a city in Osage County, Kansas, part of the Topeka, KS metro area. It has 1,023 residents. Lyndon, Kansas has a quality-of-life score of 51 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #7,696 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Kansas it ranks #125 of 202 cities and towns. It ranks best on child care cost burden (low), unemployment rate (low) and drought exposure (low). It ranks worst on mental health providers (low), average weekly wage (low) and primary care physicians (low).

51Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #7,696 of 15,651 cities and towns
Kansas: #125 of 202 in KS
Population: 1,023 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 1,146.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 2043350

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety31#10,730/15,637
Economy63#5,832/15,631
Housing94#919/14,977
Health35#10,151/15,609
Healthcare12#13,842/15,650
Environment36#9,928/15,453
Education55#7,009/15,649
Infrastructure77#3,637/15,650
Community67#5,152/15,651
Leisure & amenities33#10,443/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Lyndon, Kansas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Osage County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Child care cost burden · low16.0%
99/100Kansas 18.9%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteOsage County value
Unemployment rate · low0.0%
98/100Kansas 3.8%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025
Drought exposure · low0%
98/100Kansas 28%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAOsage County value
Home price to income ratio · low1.7×
97/100Kansas 2.9×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Public libraries · high3.2 /10k
96/100Kansas 1.3 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesOsage County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.335
96/100Kansas 0.457United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083

Weaknesses

Mental health providers · low6 /100k
0/100Kansas 266 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteOsage County value
Average weekly wage · low$765
0/100Kansas $1,216United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsOsage County value
Primary care physicians · low6 /100k
0/100Kansas 79 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteOsage County value
Pharmacies · low0.0 /10k
1/100Kansas 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsOsage County value
Property crime rate · high3,219 /100k
2/100Kansas 1,797 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationCovers part of the area: some reporting agencies or member counties have no figureOsage County value
Dentists · low13 /100k
2/100Kansas 64 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteOsage County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
78.5% (2015-2019) → 95.3% (2020-2024)
+17 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
New homes permittedImproving
1.8 /1k (2021) → 2.9 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+64%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent as share of incomeImproving
28.4% (2015-2019) → 20.7% (2020-2024)
−7.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Median household incomeImproving
$50,972 (2015-2019) → $67,227 (2020-2024)
+32%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Bachelor's degree or higherWorsening
30.8% (2015-2019) → 26.9% (2020-2024)
−3.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Unemployment rateImproving
3.2% (2015-2019) → 0.0% (2020-2024)
−3.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Lyndon, Kansas improved on 2 of 10 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 8 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Broadband+17 points78.5% → 95.3%
Household income+32%$50,972 → $67,227

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Lyndon, Kansas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	26.4 min2015-2019	25.9 min2020-2024	−0.5 min	Within the margin of error	54%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.8%2015-2019	26.9%2020-2024	−3.9 points	Within the margin of error	10%
Broadband subscriptions	78.5%2015-2019	95.3%2020-2024	+17 points	Improved	84%
High school diploma or higher	96.2%2015-2019	97.0%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Home price to income ratio	1.9×2015-2019	1.7×2020-2024	−0.2×	Within the margin of error	85%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3772015-2019	0.3352020-2024	−0.042	Within the margin of error	81%
Median household income	$50,9722015-2019	$67,2272020-2024	+32%	Improved	59%
Poverty rate	8.0%2015-2019	8.8%2020-2024	+0.8 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	28.4%2015-2019	20.7%2020-2024	−7.7 points	Within the margin of error	90%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Lyndon, Kansas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Lyndon, Kansas in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Lyndon, Kansas itself moved +11 points in standing on average over the same 8 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

1,023 residents (±197)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

383 households (±68)

Lyndon, Kansas
Kansas share

Under $25k15%†56
$25k–50k16%†60
$50k–75k26%

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

383 households (±68)

Lyndon, Kansas
Kansas share

Own75%286
Rent25%†97

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

483 workers (±93)

Lyndon, Kansas
Kansas share

Drive alone89%430
Carpool5.0%†24
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Topeka, KS

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Osage County, the county holding most of Lyndon's residents.

Osage County has 261 employer establishments, 165 for every 10,000 residents (0.66× the US rate of 248; 0.64× Kansas's), with 1,737 paid employees at an average annual pay of $35,828. The Census Bureau also counts 1,058 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 261; 1,058 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 165; US 248 · Kansas 258
Paid employees: 1,737
Average annual pay: $35,828; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Osage County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	30	19	1.23×About typical	114	$42,921	125
Restaurants and other eating places	21	13.3	0.72×Fewer than typical	233	$12,897	3
Religious organizations	17	10.7	1.94×More than typical	34	$18,382	—
Full-service restaurants	15	9.5	1.24×About typical	179	$13,425	—
Ambulatory health care services	12	7.6	0.36×Fewer than typical	89	$66,157	26
Gasoline stations	12	7.6	2.34×More than typical	105	$26,171	—
Banks and credit unions	11	7	2.15×More than typical	73	$59,110	—
Building finishing contractors	10	6.3	1.66×More than typical	29	$48,690	35
Services to buildings and dwellings	10	6.3	0.94×About typical	13	$33,077	81
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	9	5.7	1.81×Too few to compare	31	$35,258	20
Insurance agencies and brokerages	9	5.7	1.30×Too few to compare	25	$46,960	15
Truck transportation	9	5.7	1.13×Too few to compare	17	$45,176	39

Rank places for an industry Open Osage County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 15,814 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Lyndon, Kansas: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

974.8FY2017
913.1FY2018
919.8FY2019
862.1FY2020
1.1KFY2021
1.2KFY2022
201.7FY2023

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Lyndon, Kansas, so they do not add up across cities.

Lyndon, Kansas's figures are part of those of Osage County, KS ($513.8K in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Lyndon is mostly in Osage County.

See federal money in Osage County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Lyndon, Kansas is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Derek SchmidtR-KS-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 0.7%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Osage County45100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Topeka, KS61

Other cities and towns in Osage County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2043350

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends