The Best Wichita Suburbs for Families and Professionals to Consider
Wichita, Kansas, is a fine city in the Great Plains, poised for rapid growth over the next decade. In fact, some researchers anticipate a 17% growth in the Wichita Metro between now and 2035, outpacing the national average of 12% by a fair margin. It’s not hard to understand why: Wichita scores roughly 10 percentage points below the national average on the cost-of-living index, making it an extremely affordable place to live. Located directly on Interstate 35 (I-35), traveling to Oklahoma City, Dallas/Fort Worth, and even on to Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and even the beaches of Coastal Texas is a breeze. If you want to go east or west, it is an easy drive up to I-70 and take it to either coast.
But living downtown or in the city isn’t always everyone’s cup of tea, and we get it. The suburbs are quieter with less crime and more amenities, and Wichita has plenty of nice suburbs. Let’s take a look at these and help you find out which one is the best fit for you and your family.
Overview of Wichita Suburbs
Wichita is the largest independent city in Kansas and is nearly twice the size of the state’s second-largest city. Wichita is home to iconic companies like Cessna, Beechcraft, and Learjet. Also, Wichita is the original home of Pizza Hut pizza!
Wichita’s population is just shy of 400,000, although the entire metroplex is over 650,000, so it has all the amenities of major U.S. cities, a full-service airport with daily flights, and maintains the feel of a much smaller city. Also, Wichita’s cost of living index is roughly ten points below the national average, meaning your dollar goes a lot farther.
The great thing about Wichita is the way it is built to make it easy for people to get from one side to the other. It is an easy city to get across, with a sprawling main drag that sometimes spans six or seven lanes. This is Kellogg Avenue, which is also U.S. Route 400 and Kansas State Highway 54. With this massive roadway, along with I-35/135/235 and a few other main arteries, you can get across town easily.
Wichita suburbs offer a range of options for families and professionals, from affordable housing to top-rated schools and community amenities. Wichita has close to 20 suburbs, depending on what you consider a suburb. These towns and small cities range in size from around 3,000 to about 25,000 and are some of the most desirable places to live in the metro. The suburbs are known for their safe and welcoming communities, making them an attractive choice for those looking to relocate.
With easy access to downtown Wichita, the suburbs offer the best of both worlds: a suburban lifestyle with urban amenities. Even downtown Wichita is a relatively short drive from most suburbs, thanks to the simple, fast roadway system. If city life isn’t really your cup of tea in the Wichita area, it’s okay; we’ve got you covered with the best suburbs in the metro. There are a number of excellent school districts in the highest-ranked suburbs of the Wichita area.
Education
One thing that is almost universally accepted as the ultimate bellwether of suburban development is the educational outlook. Whether you are looking for an independent school, a classical school, or private schools nearby, these are all important considerations.
Of course, most people are not seeking top private schools, or even nearby private schools, so they will congregate near public schools with high scores and rankings.
Top-Rated Schools in Wichita Suburbs
Here is a list of the highest-ranking schools in the Wichita area, along with the town they are in.
Park Hill Elementary School in Derby, Kansas
Located to the south of Wichita, Derby is one of the largest and most popular suburbs in the Wichita area. Derby is a popular town for service members to call home, too, since it is just outside of McConnell Air Force Base.
Park Hill Elementary in Derby is a great place to start. According to popular school-review website Niche, Park Hill Elementary scores a solid B+. It comes in at the 215th best public elementary school in Kansas out of 703 surveyed.
Maize Central Elementary School (A−) in Maize, Kansas
Maize lies opposite Wichita. Maize is a small suburb with a population slightly under 6,000, which keeps it with a small-town appeal and charm that gets lost in some of the other cities. Surrounded by rolling prairie, Maize is a great place to call home.
Maize Central is also a great place for your kiddos to call their academic home. Niche gives Maize Central an A-and ranks it as the 111th-best public elementary school in Kansas.
Derby North Middle School (B+) in Derby, Kansas
Back to Derby, we find Derby North Middle School. Derby North scores a B ranking and has a student-teacher ratio of roughly 14 to 1. This school is a large middle school with over 800 students, feeding into Class 6A Derby High School.
Robert M. Martin Elementary School (A) in Andover, Kansas
Robert M. Martin Elementary in Andover is a quality public school, with over 63% of students scoring proficient in reading and math. This is higher than both the district and state averages. In fact, USNews.com ranks Robert M. Martin Elementary as the second-best elementary school in the Andover Public Schools District and the 15th best in Kansas.
Abilene Elementary School (A) in Valley Center, Kansas
Another excellent school in the Wichita area is in Valley Center on the north side of the city. Valley Center Elementary nabs a solid A rating from Niche.com with 75% proficiency rating in math and 65% in reading.
Wheatland Elementary School (A) in Andover, Kansas
One of the very best schools in Kansas is in the popular, quaint Wichita suburb of Andover. Wheatland Elementary School is the #6 best grade school in Kansas according to the U.S. News and World Report. Proficiency levels are nearly 80% for math and a little over 70% for reading, making it an all-star school for your kids.
Don’t overlook Wheatland Elementary School as a top educational destination for your kids.
Andover Middle School (A) in Andover, Kansas
Andover has really dialed in education as a priority, and it shows. Andover Middle School ranks 12th among Kansas middle schools, out of 326. Over half of the students are proficient in math and science. Again, Andover is a great place to be in Wichita.
Maize South High School (A−) in Maize, Kansas
Rounding out the city’s different areas is Maize. Maize is on the west side of Wichita, and Maize High School, with an enrollment just shy of 1,100, puts it in the 6A bracket, the largest in Kansas.
Maize is a good option for parents who still want their kids to have access to a state-of-the-art, large high school without some of the less savory problems associated with large inner-city schools.
Pray-Woodman Elementary School (A−) in Maize, Kansas
Pray-Woodman in Maize earns a B+ rating and is the #157 school in the state out of 703 schools. It sits comfortably in the top quarter of grade schools in the state, and with a good high school in the district, Maize is a fine place to call home.
Family-Friendly Suburbs
With around ten suburbs closely nestled to Wichita, you have a lot of great places to choose from. Yet, all of the iconic things that make Wichita such a cool place to live are never far away. The famous Keeper of the Plains, Botanica, Old Cowtown, the Kansas Aviation Museum, the Great Plains Nature Center, and a whole lot more make Wichita a top place to call home. You can pick a classical school if you want, or one of the many excellent school districts in the suburbs to settle down in.
Andover, Kansas
Andover is one of the nicest small cities in Kansas. That is mostly a personal anecdote, but as a native Kansan who has lived here for 38 years, I know a thing or two about the state. Some towns are wonderful, while others seem content to just exist.
Andover is a wonderful place to grow up and grow old. Wichita is more than enough city to support anyone’s dreams. With a heaping helping of cutting-edge industry and manufacturing, and lots of high-quality schools nearby, Andover residents can pursue college degrees while enjoying the quiet and extra space that a small city affords.
Andover is home to excellent schools, including Andover Middle School (A) and Wheatland Elementary School (A). All of the schools in the district receive high marks from trusted sources like Niche and U.S. News and World Report.
Beautiful parks and green spaces, perfect for outdoor activities. Even though we are enveloped in a nasty winter storm at the moment, Andover and the rest of South Central Kansas actually enjoy a very nice, long, warm season. There are really only a couple of cold months here (January and February), and nearby Southeastern Kansas is well known for excellent fishing in the waterways. There are ample lakes in the area, and just a couple of hours to the Southeast gets you into the Ozarks.
Strong community ties make it easy to feel at home in a small city with a population of just under 15,000 that still feels like a sleepy, quaint small town. Located just 15 minutes from downtown Wichita, it’s got access to everything you want without being burdened by the noise and traffic.
Andover High School is a smaller high school (4A), which gives your kids a quieter experience with more one-on-one teacher-to-student opportunities than the much larger schools in the area. Andover is definitely one of the best suburbs in the Wichita area.
Derby, Kansas
With its close proximity to McConnell Air Force Base, Derby is a very popular small town for locals and military families alike. McConnell is one of the major employers in Wichita and accounts for somewhere in the ballpark of 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in the area and hasa $1 Billion economic impact on the community. The base is on the outskirts of Wichita to start with, so many military members choose to live in the suburbs on that side of Wichita rather than in the city itself.
Derby is a traditional suburb in the sense that it maintains small-town charm yet with one of the largest high schools in the state, your kids have the chance to access elite athletics programs (Derby has a rare “threepeat” of 6A football championships from 2017-2019 in the largest classification in the state, plus a fourth championship in 2013), and elite academics.
Ike’s interstate system runs right outside of Derby, making it easy to get up to Topeka or Kansas City, or connect to I-70 to head out west to Denver and beyond. Or, you can get on I-35 south and head all the way to the beaches of South Texas if you want.
Derby has a low cost of living with lots of affordable housing options, making it a great choice for growing families. The median home price fluctuates between about $277,000 and $284,000, depending on the source, which is far below the national median of around $406,000. With a lively city so close and mortgages that are so much less than much of the country, it’s no wonder Derby is a top suburb of Wichita.
Derby is home to lots of parks and recreational facilities, including Rock River Rapids Aquatic Park, and at only about 15-20 minutes away from downtown Wichita, you can be in the thick of things in no time.
The weather grade for Derby is consistent with Wichita and earns a B+ on Niche.com, and as a native Kansan, I agree! This region of America has a humid subtropical climate, characterized by warm and humid summers and cold winters. According to the Köppen-Geiger classification, the climate type in this region is Cfa, which indicates a climate with no dry season and warm summers. Here are some key points about the climate of the Wichita area:
- Humid Subtropical Climate: Wichita experiences hot and humid summers and cold, snowy winters. The city’s climate is characterized by significant seasonal variation.
- Average Temperature: The average temperature in Wichita is 14.4 °C | 58.0 °F.
- Precipitation: The city receives an annual precipitation level of 924 mm | 36.4 inches.
- Warmest Month: July is the warmest month with an average high of 92.5°F (33.6°C).
- Coldest Month: January is the coldest month, with an average low of 26.6°F (-3°C).
- Rainfall: May typically experiences the highest rainfall, averaging 2.8 inches (71mm), while December generally registers the least, at around 0.39 inches (10mm).
- Snowfall: January and February are peak periods for snowfall, making them challenging months for outdoor activities.
- Daylight Hours: Daylight hours vary from 9.9 hours in December to 14.7 hours in June.
Maize, Kansas
Located on the opposite side of Wichita from Derby is Maize, a small city with a population of just under 6,000. You really do get a small-town feel in Maize because it is a small town. The weather grade is a B+ for the same reasons as Derby and Wichita.
For recent high school graduates or working adults alike, there are ample opportunities to pursue college degrees from top private schools like Friends University or major state schools like Wichita State University. You can expect college-town amenities within easy reach of Maize, as it is only about 15 minutes from downtown Wichita. But if you want quiet and extra space to stretch out and admire the open plains, the Maize is a great place.
The median rental price in Maize is about $1,500, according to Zumper, which is about 20% lower than the national average. Who could ask for more? Small town feel, located in the air capital of the world, and easy access to Ike’s interstate system.
Family-oriented lifestyle with a focus on active living with a mix of modern amenities and small-town charm. There are plenty of single-family homes to choose from, and all areas of Wichita still beat the national average by up to 10 percentage points.
Affordable Suburbs
You can definitely consider all of the suburbs of Wichita to be what you’d call affordable. Whether you want to live the high life in the city or you want to settle onto a little farmstead and raise chickens and goats, Wichita has a suburb to offer you, either at a very affordable price point.
Haysville, Kansas
Haysville is located on the south side of Wichita, right on the opposite (west) side of Derby off of I-35. Haysville is home to around 11,000. Median home prices are hovering around $200,000, but a quick look at Zillow showed me there were plenty of houses in the $130,000 range.
- Median home price: ~$200,000.
- Affordable housing options make it a great choice for first-time homebuyers
- Good schools, including Haysville High School
Valley Center, Kansas
Valley Center is located north of Wichita on I-135, just past Bel Aire and Park City. Valley Center is also reasonably close to Newton, in case your work takes you there.
- Median home price: ~$239,000
- Affordable housing options make it a great choice for families
- Good schools, including Valley Center High School
Valley Center is a small suburb with just over 7,000 residents, making it a great place to call home. Since it is fairly far outside of Wichita, you can get far from the city lights to enjoy the sprawling prairie and find some acreage to buy or build on.
Parting Thoughts
Wichita is a great city to live in or live near. Home to several four-year universities and excellent trade schools like Wichita State University Tech, you can attend an excellent primary school in a Wichita suburb, graduate, and then move on to learning a valuable skill without the necessity of moving away.
It’s also a great place to move to. Wichita has tons of opportunities for entrepreneurs and people looking for something new or a good place to stretch their dollar.