City · Miami County, Kansas

Paola, Kansas

Paola is a city in Miami County, Kansas, part of the Kansas City, MO-KS metro area. It has 5,770 residents. Paola, Kansas has a quality-of-life score of 59 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #6,471 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Kansas it ranks #95 of 202 cities and towns. It ranks best on child care cost burden (low), homicide rate (low) and job growth (high). It ranks worst on grocery stores (low), pharmacies (low) and broadband subscriptions (low).

59Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #6,471 of 15,651 cities and towns
Kansas: #95 of 202 in KS
Population: 5,770 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 1,089.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 2054250

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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.

Safety67#5,234/15,637
Economy67#5,164/15,631
Housing83#2,492/14,977
Health52#7,558/15,609
Healthcare30#10,953/15,650
Environment58#6,464/15,453
Education57#6,744/15,649
Infrastructure35#10,208/15,650
Community86#2,217/15,651
Leisure & amenities5#14,939/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Paola, Kansas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Miami 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 · low19.0%
97/100Kansas 18.9%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMiami County value
Homicide rate · low0.0 /100k
94/100Kansas 4.5 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataMiami County value
Job growth · high2.9%
93/100Kansas 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataMiami County value
Loneliness · low31.2%
93/100Kansas 31.5%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Child poverty rate · low0.0%
93/100Kansas 12.8%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Mental health care shortage · low0.0
91/100Kansas 9.4United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationMiami County value

Weaknesses

Grocery stores · low0.6 /10k
2/100Kansas 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMiami County value
Pharmacies · low0.3 /10k
2/100Kansas 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMiami County value
Broadband subscriptions · low80.1%
10/100Kansas 90.7%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Restaurants and bars · low5.0 /10k
10/100Kansas 7.9 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMiami County value
Dentists · low31 /100k
12/100Kansas 64 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMiami County value
Arts, entertainment and recreation · low2.2 /10k
14/100Kansas 3.4 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMiami County value

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
68.0% (2015-2019) → 80.1% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$51,324 (2015-2019) → $74,662 (2020-2024)
+45%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
6.9% (2015-2019) → 15.7% (2020-2024)
+8.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Child poverty rateImproving
7.9% (2015-2019) → 0.0% (2020-2024)
−7.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
40.0% (2015-2019) → 46.9% (2020-2024)
+6.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
High school diploma or higherWorsening
94.3% (2015-2019) → 88.1% (2020-2024)
−6.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

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, Paola, Kansas improved on 2 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 10 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

Household income+45%$51,324 → $74,662
Broadband+12 points68.0% → 80.1%

Declined1

Uninsured+8.8 points6.9% → 15.7%

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Paola, Kansas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	23.1 min2015-2019	25.7 min2020-2024	+2.6 min	Within the margin of error	22%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.6%2015-2019	26.4%2020-2024	+3.8 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Broadband subscriptions	68.0%2015-2019	80.1%2020-2024	+12 points	Improved	69%
Effective property tax rate	1.35%2015-2019	1.31%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	23%
High school diploma or higher	94.3%2015-2019	88.1%2020-2024	−6.2 points	Within the margin of error	4%
Home price to income ratio	2.6×2015-2019	2.8×2020-2024	+0.2×	Within the margin of error	68%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3962015-2019	0.4452020-2024	+0.050	Within the margin of error	16%
Median household income	$51,3242015-2019	$74,6622020-2024	+45%	Improved	81%
Poverty rate	8.2%2015-2019	7.8%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	47%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	27.2%2015-2019	28.7%2020-2024	+1.5 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Rent-burdened households	40.0%2015-2019	46.9%2020-2024	+6.9 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	6.9%2015-2019	15.7%2020-2024	+8.8 points	Declined	4%

“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 Paola, Kansas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Paola, 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, Paola, Kansas itself moved −10.8 points in standing on average over the same 10 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

5,770 residents (±24)

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

2,594 households (±196)

Paola, Kansas
Kansas share

Under $25k16%†413
$25k–50k20%†517
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,594 households (±196)

Paola, Kansas
Kansas share

Own65%1,685
Rent35%909

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

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

3,010 workers (±341)

Paola, Kansas
Kansas share

Drive alone78%2,342
Carpool11%†337
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 Kansas City, MO-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 Miami County, the county holding most of Paola's residents.

Miami County has 777 employer establishments, 220 for every 10,000 residents (0.88× the US rate of 248; 0.85× Kansas's), with 6,927 paid employees at an average annual pay of $49,635. The Census Bureau also counts 2,757 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 777; 2,757 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 220; US 248 · Kansas 258
Paid employees: 6,927
Average annual pay: $49,635; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	115	32.5	2.10×More than typical	633	$58,237	288
Restaurants and other eating places	45	12.7	0.69×Fewer than typical	592	$18,264	13
Services to buildings and dwellings	42	11.9	1.76×More than typical	133	$50,038	191
Ambulatory health care services	40	11.3	0.54×Fewer than typical	244	$66,766	69
Building equipment contractors	38	10.7	1.78×More than typical	223	$56,502	62
Other specialty trade contractors	36	10.2	4.05×More than typical	215	$67,935	106
Religious organizations	32	9	1.63×More than typical	207	$21,275	—
Construction of buildings	31	8.8	1.16×About typical	146	$66,233	94
Lessors of real estate	28	7.9	0.64×Fewer than typical	98	$42,918	288
Landscaping services	24	6.8	1.94×More than typical	86	$60,233	80
Automotive repair and maintenance	23	6.5	1.29×More than typical	79	$45,722	41
Full-service restaurants	23	6.5	0.85×About typical	266	$20,752	3

Rank places for an industry Open Miami County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 35,391 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 $708 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Paola, Kansas: $0.12 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $708
Per resident: $0.12; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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

Department of the Army$708100%

Top recipients

NYT INVESTMENTS LLC$708100%

Spending by fiscal year

519.1FY2017
961.9FY2018
2.4KFY2019
783.1FY2020
9.5KFY2021
775.8FY2022
860FY2023
7.4KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$708100%

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 Paola, Kansas, so they do not add up across cities.

Paola, Kansas's figures are part of those of Miami County, KS ($37.3K in FY2026), never added to them: 1.9% of that total.

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

See federal money in Miami 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.

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

House

Sharice DavidsD-KS-3 · 100% of residentsWith party 93%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.

Miami County73100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Kansas City, MO-KS73

Other cities and towns in Miami 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/2054250

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends