Ness City, KS

The affordability dashboard for Ness City, KS aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 1,740 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of B (73/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $68,654, median home value of $121,700, median rent of $638 per month, and 28.7% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $877 per month (studio $643, 1BR $668, 3BR $1,163, 4BR $1,168). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $4,971 per year, consuming 7% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Strengths visible in the raw data for Ness City, KS include housing, rent, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 0.1% and poverty 9.9% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.