Understanding Kansas City Neighborhoods and Zip Codes

[Lee Ripma]

Hello fellow BP Members, 

I started as an out of state investor in Kansas City 5 years ago. I made a ton of mistakes but real estate tends to be pretty forgiving. Investing in out of state real estate from California changed my life. 

I created a guide to the Kansas City Area that will hopefully be helpful for others looking to invest in Kansas City! 

Kansas City is the “Heart of America” a transportation hub in the center of the country with a small city feel and the big city attractions of art, culture, fine dining, and professional sports teams. The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. The metro area’s core six counties straddle the border between the states of Missouri (4 counties) and Kansas (2 counties). With a population of more than 2.3 million people, Kansas City is the second-largest metropolitan area centered in Missouri (after St. Louis) and is the largest metropolitan area in Kansas. Kansas City has several suburbs with populations over 100,000 including Kansas City, Missouri, Independence, and Lee’s Summit on the Missouri side and Overland Park, Kansas City, Kansas, and Olathe on the Kansas side.

Downtown Kansas City, Missouri has experienced $9+ billion in investment since 2001, including a new convention center and hotel, a state-of-the-art sports arena, a performing arts center, a new streetcar, and an eight-block restaurant and entertainment district (read more here). Unprecedented levels of investment in private and public projects have made Kansas City a major entertainment and employment hub.

The Kansas City economy is diverse with numerous employment opportunities and a growing population. The city serves as the headquarters of several well known American companies including: Cerner Corporation (Oracle), T-mobile (Sprint), AT&T, BNSF Railway, GEICO, Garmin, Honeywell, and Hallmark. There are several large hospitals, universities, technology startups, and a diversity of small businesses. Kansas City also boasts the most BBQ restaurants per capita and has a thriving jazz scene.

Kansas City is also a great place to invest in rental real estate. The function of this guide is to get the reader up to speed quickly on the neighborhoods so you can invest in neighborhoods that meet YOUR investing criteria. Remember, cities, submarkets, zip codes, and blocks are each different. So get the lay of the land but always rely on a local market expert to help guide you.

First let’s get a basic handle on the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Zip Code Overview and Population Density:

If you’re looking at zip codes anything that starts with 66 is on the Kansas Side and anything that starts with 64 is on the Missouri side. In general, Kansas is more of a bedroom community and Missouri has arts, culture, and dense urban areas. For example, there are only eight zip codes with a population density of over 4,000 people per square mile in all of the Kansas City metro area. Seven of these are in Kansas City, Missouri and one of them is in Overland Park, KS. Kansas City, Missouri is also the city with the highest population in the metro area and the oldest part of the metro, so it makes sense that it would have the highest population density.

North of the River vs. South of River:

The Missouri River is the longest river in the United States. The river originates in the Rocky Mountains and flows east and south for 2,341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. In the Kansas City metro area the river runs roughly west to east. You’ll hear “north of the river” tossed around in the meteo. In general, south of the river has more going on in terms of arts, culture, and weekend activities. North of the River tends to house single family home bedroom communities. However, north of the river is the home of the current airport and the brand new single-terminal airport, the largest infrastructure project ever completed in Kansas City with a price tag of 1.5B. The northland (as north of the river is often called) is also a burgeoning home to massive data centers including one built by Facebook’s parent Meta and also has charming and distinctive downtowns including North Kansas City and Parkville.

The main counties and cities to know in the KC area:

Missouri side:

Clay

Platte

Jackson

Cass

Kansas:

Johnson

Wyandotte

Cities over 100,000 people in the metro:

Missouri side:

Kansas City, MO

Independence

Lee’s Summit

Kansas side:

Overland Park

Kansas City, KS

Olathe

Understanding neighborhoods by class.

Multifamily investors usually look to balance risk and return - usually picking either B or C neighborhoods to buy rentals in. Although D neighborhoods may cash flow on paper, in reality these are more suited to very hands-on local investors. C neighborhoods cash flow well and have working class tenants. B neighborhoods see some cash flow and some appreciation and have working class and professional tenants, while A neighborhoods see almost no cash flow and have only professional tenants. Below we’ll give you a general feel for the areas. Note that many areas have a mix of A-D neighborhoods but in general the below neighborhood classes hold true.

A or B+ neighborhoods:

Lee's Summit, MO

Overland Park, KS

Lenexa, KS

Raymore, MO

B to B- neighborhoods

Blue Springs, MO

North Kansas City, MO

Gladstone, MO

Areas of Kansas City MO city center - Westport, Hyde Park

Olathe, KS

Gardner, KS

C neighborhoods

Historic Northeast - 64124 and 64123, MO

Grandview, MO

Belton, MO

Independence, MO

Kansas City, KS

Areas of Kansas City, MO

Raytown, MO

Guide to Kansas City Zip codes

B+ zips

Blue Springs

64015

64014

Grain Valley

64029

Lee’s Summit

64068

64063

64081

Raymore

64083

Kansas City, MO

64145

64112

64101

Liberty

64158

Northland

64152

64151

64154

64155

Shawnee Mission

66217

66216

66219

66215

66210

Olathe

66026

66061

Prairie Village

66205

Gardner

66030

B zips

Grandview

64030

Belton

64012

Kansas City, MO

64137

64131

64114

64110

64111

64108

64105

64138

Independence:

64052

64055

64056

64057

Raytown

64133

North Kansas City

64116

64117

64119

Gladstone

64118

Kansas City, KS

66112

66106

Overland Park/Merriam

66202

66203

66204

66214

66212

66214

C zips

Historic Northeast:

64124

64123

Kansas City, MO

64129

64130

64109

64132

64134

Independence

64053

64054

64050

Kansas City, KS

66102

66103

66104

66105

Riverside

64150

D zips

Kansas City, MO

64125

64126

64127

64128

Kansas City, KS

66101

FAQs:

What are the main differences between Kansas and Missouri:

School ratings - KS in general has higher rated schools

Property Tax rates - little higher in general in KS, but some MO suburbs including Blue Springs and Lee’s Summit have high property taxes. So on average not a huge difference on property taxes but make sure you check the property taxes in each location, they can differ significantly.

Trash pickup - bags on the street in MO vs bins in KS

Road conditions and plowing - better roads and more frequent plowing in KS

Years of construction - Kansas is mostly 1960s and newer, MO has the older buildings - 1900s and newer.

Feel free to message me or comment with any edits/suggestions.

The End!