City · Clay County, Missouri

Liberty, Missouri

Liberty is a city in Clay County, Missouri, part of the Kansas City, MO-KS metro area. It has 30,689 residents. Liberty, Missouri has a quality-of-life score of 72 out of 100 (high), ranking #4,392 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Missouri it ranks #62 of 375 cities and towns. It ranks best on child poverty rate (low), primary care shortage (low) and mammography screening (high). It ranks worst on violent crime rate (high), property crime rate (high) and grocery stores (low).

72High

Quality-of-life score: #4,392 of 15,651 cities and towns
Missouri: #62 of 375 in MO
Population: 30,689 (2020-2024)
Land area: 30 mi²
Density: 1,034.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 2942032

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 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.

Safety16#13,157/15,637
Economy75#3,945/15,631
Housing71#4,276/14,977
Health63#5,760/15,609
Healthcare62#5,876/15,650
Environment50#7,671/15,453
Education89#1,794/15,649
Infrastructure85#2,297/15,650
Community71#4,526/15,651
Leisure & amenities37#9,874/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Liberty, Missouri ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Clay 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 poverty rate · low5.0%
92/100Missouri 15.3%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Primary care shortage · low0.0
90/100Missouri 10.5United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationClay County value
Mammography screening · high54.0%
88/100Missouri 49.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteClay County value
High school diploma or higher · high95.9%
88/100Missouri 91.8%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Missouri 0United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteClay County value
Food insecurity · low9.5%
85/100Missouri 14.3%United States 15.6%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate

Weaknesses

Violent crime rate · high855 /100k
1/100Missouri 418 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationClay County value
Property crime rate · high2,727 /100k
3/100Missouri 1,644 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationClay County value
Grocery stores · low0.9 /10k
11/100Missouri 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsClay County value
Days with unhealthy air · high1.9%
20/1002025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyClay County value
Firearm deaths · high18.1 /100k
22/100Missouri 20.1 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataClay County value
Preventable hospital stays · high3,457 /100k
22/100Missouri 3,034 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteClay County value

Trends

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

New homes permittedWorsening
8.5 /1k (2021) → 2.2 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−74%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.4× (2015-2019) → 3.2× (2020-2024)
+35%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
41.3% (2015-2019) → 47.4% (2020-2024)
+6.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Child poverty rateImproving
8.8% (2015-2019) → 5.0% (2020-2024)
−3.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Median household incomeImproving
$76,577 (2015-2019) → $88,542 (2020-2024)
+16%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
90.3% (2015-2019) → 93.3% (2020-2024)
+3 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%

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, Liberty, Missouri improved on 3 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 9 moved within the margin of error and 1 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

Uninsured−2.7 points8.4% → 5.7%
Household income+16%$76,577 → $88,542
Broadband+3 points90.3% → 93.3%

Declined2

Unemployment+1.9 points2.5% → 4.5%
Price / income+0.8×2.4× → 3.2×

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Liberty, Missouri between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	22.6 min2015-2019	22.9 min2020-2024	+0.4 min	Within the margin of error	43%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.6%2015-2019	39.6%2020-2024	+1 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Broadband subscriptions	90.3%2015-2019	93.3%2020-2024	+3 points	Improved	20%
Child poverty rate	8.8%2015-2019	5.0%2020-2024	−3.8 points	Within the margin of error	64%
Effective property tax rate	1.27%2015-2019	1.08%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Little change	58%
High school diploma or higher	94.9%2015-2019	95.9%2020-2024	+1 points	Within the margin of error	46%
Home price to income ratio	2.4×2015-2019	3.2×2020-2024	+0.8×	Declined	30%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4202015-2019	0.3882020-2024	−0.033	Within the margin of error	76%
Median household income	$76,5772015-2019	$88,5422020-2024	+16%	Improved	25%
Poverty rate	7.6%2015-2019	7.0%2020-2024	−0.7 points	Within the margin of error	50%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	26.8%2015-2019	29.1%2020-2024	+2.3 points	Within the margin of error	37%
Rent-burdened households	41.3%2015-2019	47.4%2020-2024	+6.1 points	Within the margin of error	34%
Unemployment rate	2.5%2015-2019	4.5%2020-2024	+1.9 points	Declined	17%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	8.4%2015-2019	5.7%2020-2024	−2.7 points	Improved	74%

“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 Liberty, Missouri five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Liberty, Missouri 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, Liberty, Missouri itself moved −5.1 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

30,689 residents (±46)

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

11,568 households (±343)

Liberty, Missouri
Missouri share

Under $25k10%1,192
$25k–50k15%1,694
$50k–75k19%2,157

Homes

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

Owners and renters

11,568 households (±343)

Liberty, Missouri
Missouri share

Own73%8,442
Rent27%3,126

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

15,058 workers (±634)

Liberty, Missouri
Missouri share

Drive alone77%11,658
Carpool4.7%701
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 Clay County, the county holding most of Liberty's residents.

Clay County has 5,654 employer establishments, 218 for every 10,000 residents (0.88× the US rate of 248; 0.89× Missouri's), with 118,402 paid employees at an average annual pay of $61,650. The Census Bureau also counts 20,557 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 5,654; 20,557 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 218; US 248 · Missouri 244
Paid employees: 118,402
Average annual pay: $61,650; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	529	20.4	0.98×About typical	4,898	$83,363	726
Restaurants and other eating places	427	16.4	0.89×About typical	9,764	$22,116	73
Specialty trade contractors	362	13.9	0.90×About typical	3,160	$70,883	1,027
Lessors of real estate	313	12	0.98×About typical	1,361	$66,119	2,028
Limited-service restaurants	219	8.4	1.05×About typical	4,645	$19,483	33
Offices of other health practitioners	207	8	1.31×More than typical	892	$44,371	432
Insurance agencies and brokerages	173	6.7	1.52×More than typical	920	$58,666	319
Services to buildings and dwellings	169	6.5	0.96×About typical	1,256	$37,911	1,011
Real estate agents and brokers	161	6.2	1.27×More than typical	242	$51,760	706
Religious organizations	156	6	1.08×About typical	1,987	$28,242	—
Building equipment contractors	154	5.9	0.98×About typical	1,685	$69,278	223
Full-service restaurants	154	5.9	0.77×Fewer than typical	4,525	$25,040	18

Rank places for an industry Open Clay County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 259,937 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 $1.4M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Liberty, Missouri: $45.46 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $1.4M; −79% vs FY2025
Per resident: $45.46; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 3.8%; 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

Defense Logistics Agency$858.8K62%
U.S. Coast Guard$431.9K31%
Department of the Army$93.2K6.7%
Department of Veterans Affairs$14.9K1.1%
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acquisition and Property Management Division$1,7570.1%

Top recipients

CENTRAL POWER SYSTEMS & SERVICES, LLC$1.3M92%
FERRELLGAS, L.P$91.8K6.6%
LETCHER'S ECI, LLC$14.9K1.1%
MGROTHAUS LLC$1,7570.1%

Spending by fiscal year

1.4MFY2017
1.2MFY2018
835.2KFY2019
6.3MFY2020
6.1MFY2021
7.2MFY2022
7.4MFY2023
3.9M

Top industries (NAICS)

Engine, turbine, and power transmission equipment manufacturing · 3336$931.6K67%
Motor vehicle parts manufacturing · 3363$310.8K22%
Petroleum and coal products manufacturing · 3241$93.2K6.7%
Other general purpose machinery manufacturing · 3339$72.7K5.2%
Semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing · 3344$57.2K4.1%
Other fabricated metal product manufacturing · 3329$51.8K

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 Liberty, Missouri, so they do not add up across cities.

Liberty, Missouri's figures are part of those of Clay County, MO ($44.5M in FY2026), never added to them: 3.1% of that total.

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

See federal money in Clay 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.

Liberty, Missouri is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

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

Clay County74100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Kansas City, MO-KS73

Other cities and towns in Clay 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/2942032

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends