The best small city in America is a suburb of Kansas City, study says

Dorothy was talking about the Wheat State when she told us there’s no place like home. And it seems WalletHub would agree: There’s no place quite like Kansas.

The personal finance website named Leawood its “Best Small City in America.”

The Kansas City suburb is home to roughly 34,000 people and narrowly edged out Brentwood, Tenn., and Sammamish, Wash., for the top honor.

The study’s three worst small cities included Bessemer, Ala.; Pine Bluff, Ark., and West Memphis, Ark., according to WalletHub.

More than 1,250 cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 were assessed using what researchers called five key factors: affordability, economic health, education and health, safety and quality of life.

Overall, Leawood ranked No. 2 in affordability, with the fourth-lowest housing costs and second-lowest percentage of its population in poverty, according to the study. Leawood also had the second-highest percentage of its population insured.

The city saw its lowest ranking in Quality of Life — Leawood ranked 722nd — which takes into account factors such as commute time, average hours worked each week and the number of restaurants, bars and other centers for entertainment per capita.

Leawood wasn’t the only Kansas City suburb on the list. Shawnee, Kan., fell in the 86th percentile, ranking 58th in affordability and 68th in education and health, according to the study.

Liberty, Mo., about 16 miles northeast of Kansas City, landed in the 72nd percentile, with an affordability ranking of 73. Lawrence, Kan., home to the University of Kansas, barely cracked the top half, scoring in the 54th percentile, its highest ranking the 96 spot in quality of life.

You can see the full rankings here.

This story was originally published October 28, 2019 at 9:26 AM with the headline "The best small city in America is a suburb of Kansas City, study says."