City · Labette County, Kansas

Parsons, Kansas

Parsons is a city in Labette County, Kansas. It has 9,425 residents. Parsons, Kansas has a quality-of-life score of 19 out of 100 (very low), ranking #12,741 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Kansas it ranks #197 of 202 cities and towns. It ranks best on home price to income ratio (low), job growth (high) and average commute time (low). It ranks worst on mental health care shortage (high), gyms and fitness centers (low) and broadband subscriptions (low).

19Very low

Quality-of-life score: #12,741 of 15,651 cities and towns
Kansas: #197 of 202 in KS
Population: 9,425 (2020-2024)
Land area: 11 mi²
Density: 886.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 2054675

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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.

Safety10#14,046/15,637
Economy34#10,239/15,631
Housing92#1,188/14,977
Health20#12,558/15,609
Healthcare29#11,084/15,650
Environment8#14,170/15,453
Education55#7,117/15,649
Infrastructure16#13,201/15,650
Community35#10,104/15,651
Leisure & amenities8#14,430/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Parsons, Kansas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Labette 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

Home price to income ratio · low1.4×
99/100Kansas 2.9×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Job growth · high6.4%
99/100Kansas 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataLabette County value
Average commute time · low13.1 min
99/100Kansas 19.7 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Public libraries · high3.0 /10k
96/100Kansas 1.3 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesLabette County value
Preventable hospital stays · low1,611 /100k
95/100Kansas 2,534 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLabette County value
Rent as share of income · low24.1%
95/100Kansas 27.1%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071

Weaknesses

Mental health care shortage · high19.0
4/100Kansas 9.4United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationLabette County value
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.0 /10k
4/100Kansas 1.0 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLabette County value
Broadband subscriptions · low80.6%
6/100Kansas 90.7%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Distance to an Amtrak station · high118 mi
7/100Kansas 30 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauLabette County value
Voter turnout · low53.5%
8/100Kansas 62.9%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionLabette County value
Suicide rate · high25.2 /100k
8/100Kansas 18.4 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataLabette County value

Trends

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

Child poverty rateImproving
29.7% (2015-2019) → 16.3% (2020-2024)
−13 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
53.2% (2015-2019) → 40.0% (2020-2024)
−13 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
31.7% (2015-2019) → 24.1% (2020-2024)
−7.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Median household incomeImproving
$39,949 (2015-2019) → $52,428 (2020-2024)
+31%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
74.5% (2015-2019) → 80.6% (2020-2024)
+6.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Average commute timeWorsening
10.0 min (2015-2019) → 13.1 min (2020-2024)
+30%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min

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, Parsons, Kansas improved on 3 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 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.

Improved3

Child poverty−13 points29.7% → 16.3%
Rent / income−7.6 points31.7% → 24.1%
Household income+31%$39,949 → $52,428

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Parsons, Kansas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	10.0 min2015-2019	13.1 min2020-2024	+3.0 min	Within the margin of error	19%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.1%2015-2019	21.7%2020-2024	+2.6 points	Within the margin of error	48%
Broadband subscriptions	74.5%2015-2019	80.6%2020-2024	+6.1 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Child poverty rate	29.7%2015-2019	16.3%2020-2024	−13 points	Improved	87%
Effective property tax rate	2.01%2015-2019	1.79%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	62%
High school diploma or higher	89.2%2015-2019	88.1%2020-2024	−1.1 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Home price to income ratio	1.6×2015-2019	1.4×2020-2024	−0.3×	Within the margin of error	88%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4342015-2019	0.4312020-2024	−0.004	Within the margin of error	54%
Median household income	$39,9492015-2019	$52,4282020-2024	+31%	Improved	58%
Poverty rate	22.9%2015-2019	20.9%2020-2024	−1.9 points	Within the margin of error	62%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	31.7%2015-2019	24.1%2020-2024	−7.6 points	Improved	89%
Rent-burdened households	53.2%2015-2019	40.0%2020-2024	−13 points	Within the margin of error	87%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	11.4%2015-2019	8.9%2020-2024	−2.5 points	Within the margin of error	73%

“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 Parsons, Kansas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Parsons, 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, Parsons, Kansas itself moved +6.8 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

9,425 residents (±19)

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

3,905 households (±250)

Parsons, Kansas
Kansas share

Under $25k21%835
$25k–50k26%1,000
$50k–75k22%874

Homes

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

Owners and renters

3,905 households (±250)

Parsons, Kansas
Kansas share

Own69%2,682
Rent31%1,223

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+8.4 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

4,245 workers (±402)

Parsons, Kansas
Kansas share

Drive alone72%3,041
Carpool19%†822
Public transit0.0%0

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 Labette County, the county holding most of Parsons's residents.

Labette County has 443 employer establishments, 224 for every 10,000 residents (0.90× the US rate of 248; 0.87× Kansas's), with 6,826 paid employees at an average annual pay of $47,880. The Census Bureau also counts 1,211 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 443; 1,211 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 224; US 248 · Kansas 258
Paid employees: 6,826
Average annual pay: $47,880; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	36	18.2	0.87×About typical	312	$56,827	29
Restaurants and other eating places	32	16.1	0.88×About typical	343	$20,362	6
Religious organizations	18	9.1	1.64×More than typical	54	$20,556	—
Specialty trade contractors	17	8.6	0.55×Fewer than typical	51	$29,608	158
Banks and credit unions	15	7.6	2.34×More than typical	175	$52,943	—
Limited-service restaurants	15	7.6	0.94×About typical	235	$20,251	—
Full-service restaurants	14	7.1	0.92×About typical	106	$20,132	—
Offices of other health practitioners	12	6.1	1.00×About typical	23	$52,000	6
Building material and supplies dealers (hardware, home centers)	11	5.6	3.37×More than typical	65	$43,369	—
Individual and family services	11	5.6	1.98×More than typical	284	$30,067	9
Gasoline stations	10	5	1.56×More than typical	169	$19,497	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	10	5	1.15×About typical	34	$52,206	17

Rank places for an industry Open Labette County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 19,816 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 -$2,297 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Parsons, Kansas: -$0.24 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: -$2,297; −100% vs FY2025
Per resident: -$0.24; 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

GERMRIP LLC$1,4110.0%
SPARETIME INVESTMENT GROUP INCORPORATED$1,3050.0%
DAY AND ZIMMERMANN, INCORPORATED$00.0%
DAY & ZIMMERMANN KANSAS LLC-$7.990.0%
AECOM TECHNICAL SERVICES, INC.-$5,0050.0%

Spending by fiscal year

1.9MFY2017
1.4MFY2018
1.8MFY2019
1.3MFY2020
662.3KFY2021
1.1MFY2022
583KFY2023
929K

Top industries (NAICS)

Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$2,7160.0%

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

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

See federal money in Labette 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.

Parsons, 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.

Labette County34100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Labette 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/2054675

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends