The 10 Cheapest Wichita, KS Neighborhoods To Live In For 2024


The cheapest Wichita neighborhoods are South Area and Macdonald for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

By: Chris Kolmar | About HomeSnacks
Last Updated: January 27, 2024
Worst Neighborhoods In Wichita
Source: Wikipedia User Fetchcomms | CC BY-SA 2.0

Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.

I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.

And while every neighbhorhood in Wichita might be more expensive than living in rural Kansas, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.

What exactly are those Wichita neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?

Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Wichita are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.

The Cheapest Neighborhoods In Wichita For 2024

  1. South Area
  2. Macdonald
  3. Orchard Breeze
  4. South Central Improvemen
  5. Pleasant Valley
  6. Sherwood Glen
  7. Hilltop
  8. Southwest Village
  9. Pueblo
  10. Oakview

What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Wichita for 2024? According to the most recent census data, South Area looks to be the cheapest Wichita neighborhood to live in.

At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Wichita. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.

Read on to see how we determined the places around Wichita that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Wichita.

For more Kansas reading, check out:

Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Wichita For 2024

1. South Area

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,689
Cost Of Living Index: 81 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.3 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (16th cheapest)
More on South Area: Data | Real Estate

2. Macdonald

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 1,095
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (26th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.7 (12th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.011 (2nd cheapest)
More on Macdonald: Data | Real Estate

3. Orchard Breeze

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 3,030
Cost Of Living Index: 84 (34th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.5 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (17th cheapest)
More on Orchard Breeze: Data | Real Estate

4. South Central Improvemen

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 8,744
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.7 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.019 (37th cheapest)
More on South Central Improvemen: Data | Real Estate

5. Pleasant Valley

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 926
Cost Of Living Index: 86 (46th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.5 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (6th cheapest)
More on Pleasant Valley: Data | Real Estate

6. Sherwood Glen

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 1,444
Cost Of Living Index: 86 (46th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.5 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (6th cheapest)
More on Sherwood Glen: Data | Real Estate

7. Hilltop

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 1,653
Cost Of Living Index: 77 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.9 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.023 (56th cheapest)
More on Hilltop: Data | Real Estate

8. Southwest Village

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,999
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (26th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (23rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (13th cheapest)
More on Southwest Village: Data | Real Estate

9. Pueblo

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 6,429
Cost Of Living Index: 81 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.8 (19th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (32nd cheapest)
More on Pueblo: Data | Real Estate

10. Oakview

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 1,529
Cost Of Living Index: 77 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.9 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.026 (63rd cheapest)
More on Oakview: Data | Real Estate

Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Wichita Hoods In 2024

To rank the cheapest places to live in Wichita, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.

Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:

  • Overall Cost Of Living
  • Rent To Income Ratio
  • Median Home Value To Income Ratio

We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 69 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.

And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Wichita.” We’re lookin’ at you, South Area.

We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Wichita. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.

Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Wichita

If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Wichita where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.

The most affordable neighborhoods in Wichita are South Area, Macdonald, Orchard Breeze, South Central Improvemen, Pleasant Valley, Sherwood Glen, Hilltop, Southwest Village, Pueblo, and Oakview.

As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Wichita aren’t all cheap. Comotara Mainsgate Villa takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Wichita.

The most expensive neighborhoods in Wichita are Comotara Mainsgate Villa, Grandview Heights, Cottonwood Village, Brookhollow, and Harrison Park Rk.

We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.

For more Kansas reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Wichita For 2024

Rank Neighborhood Cost Of Living Index
1 South Area 81
2 Macdonald 83
3 Orchard Breeze 84
4 South Central Improvemen 80
5 Pleasant Valley 86
6 Sherwood Glen 86
7 Hilltop 77
8 Southwest Village 83
9 Pueblo 81
10 Oakview 77
11 East Mt Vernon Na 83
12 South City Community 80
13 Stanley-Aley 82
14 Meadowlark 87
15 Planeview United 78
16 Riverside 83
17 Southwest 83
18 Power 78
19 Orchard Park 85
20 Matlock Heights 81
21 Linwood 80
22 Courtland 94
23 Jones Park 83
24 Sunflower 82
25 Northeast Millair 82
26 Ken-Mar 83
27 Longview 89
28 Sunnyside 84
29 K-15 87
30 Mccormick 81
31 Indian Hills Riverbend 89
32 Historic Midtown 82
33 North Riverside 86
34 Rockhurst 99
35 Hilltop-Jefferson 90
36 New Salem 78
37 Delano 84
38 Kellogg School 81
39 Park Meadows 97
40 Crown Heights South 93
41 Village 94
42 Benjamin Hills 87
43 College Hill 95
44 East Front 85
45 Mead 84
46 Fairmount 81
47 The Elm 81
48 Mcadams 83
49 Central 2000 83
50 Murdock 81
51 Sleepy Hollow 89
52 Crown Heights 93
53 Country Overlook 85
54 Indian Hills 85
55 North Central 79
56 Eastridge 85
57 Fabrique 84
58 La Placita Park 85
59 Schweiter East 83
60 Northwest Big River 89
61 Northeast Heights 86
62 Schweiter 84
63 Uptown 87
64 Chisholm Creek 87
65 Harrison Park Rk 97
66 Brookhollow 98
67 Cottonwood Village 91
68 Grandview Heights 91
69 Comotara Mainsgate Villa 93
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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