7 Best Small Towns To Retire In Kansas

Kansas small towns and suburban communities offer retirement options with low housing costs and regional healthcare access. Humboldt hosts two music festivals a year. Lindsborg holds a Swedish heritage weekend every other October. Leawood is located in the Kansas City metro with suburban-grade healthcare nearby. The seven Kansas communities ahead each pair healthcare and housing with local amenities suited to retirement.

Wamego

Wamego, population about 4,800, is known for its Wizard of Oz tourism, which includes the Oz Museum on Lincoln Avenue. The Columbian Theatre hosts community productions and touring shows, and the Toto's Around Town sculpture trail is located in the downtown. Independent filmmaker Steve Balderson, a Wamego native, drew on a 1952 local murder case for his 2005 film Firecracker, now more than seventy years in the past.

Manhattan, Kansas, is a 20-minute drive away and provides larger restaurants, Kansas State home games, and a major regional hospital. In town, Wamego Health Center covers primary and urgent care. Family-run restaurants including Friendship House, The Friendly Cooker, and Barleycorn's Downtown Deli are located along the main street. Emerald City Playground, themed to the Oz brand, is a local park.

Concordia

Concordia, population just over 5,000, includes a walkable historic downtown with the 1907 Brown Grand Theatre as its principal cultural venue. The theater seats about 650 and hosts plays, concerts, and touring productions. North Central Kansas Medical Center, opened in 2013 on the north edge of town, is the regional hospital for a wide rural service area and reduces the need to drive to Salina or Manhattan for care.

The Concordia Senior Center includes pool, card games, and exercise classes. The town has a nine-hole golf course, and three more are located within 12 miles. Housing is a notable factor: median listing prices are around $120,000, among the lowest on this list.

Leawood

Leawood, population around 34,000, is located in Johnson County on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro, bordering Kansas City, Missouri. It is the largest community on this list and features suburban amenities rather than a traditional small-town layout. The Fairways of Ironhorse Independent Living is an upscale active-senior community with a pool, movie theater, and in-house dining. The Colonial Oaks at Leawood offers a more affordable independent living option. The Leawood Parks and Recreation Department offers programs and classes for older residents.

Violent crime is well below the national average, with no homicides reported in the past five years. Park Place is the community's main shopping and dining district, arranged around a public square with tree-lined sidewalks and outdoor seating. Saint Luke's South Hospital, in neighboring Overland Park, is the closest full-service hospital and is part of the Saint Luke's Health System based in Kansas City.

Abilene

Abilene, population about 6,400, is the boyhood home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and includes the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum on the south side of town. The downtown is walkable, with bars such as Saddles and Spurs and The Hickok featuring a western-frontier theme. A 28-foot Big Spur sculpture and the World's Largest Belt Buckle, a 14-by-20-foot wall piece, are located in town.

Joe Snuffy's Old Fashioned Grill is a local breakfast-and-lunch spot. Abilene Golf and Fitness, the municipal parks and trails network, and the community center are available for retirees. Memorial Health System is the town hospital. The western-frontier theme is present across more of the streetscape than is typical elsewhere in Kansas.

Humboldt

Humboldt, population about 1,850, hosts a full events calendar for its size. The Summer Solstice features live music in the downtown square in June, and the Middle of Nowhere Music Festival takes place over Labor Day weekend. The square includes Octagon City Coffee Co., The Hitching Post (a country-music bar), and Sticks Golf Lounge, an indoor venue with three golf simulators and a full bar. A nine-hole golf course is also located in town.

The Southwind Rail Trail connects Humboldt to Iola and points south with views of farmland and open country. The Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas handles primary care locally, and larger hospitals in Iola and Pittsburg are within a half-hour drive.

Lindsborg

Lindsborg is a town of about 3,400 known locally as Little Sweden USA, with Swedish heritage reflected in the town's food, festivals, and architecture. The biennial Svensk Hyllningsfest takes place over a weekend each October in odd-numbered years, and the Crown & Rye restaurant serves Swedish dishes year-round. Other regular events include Storm the Castle, the Messiah Festival of Arts, and Christmas in July.

Bethany Village includes independent and assisted senior living, and Lindsborg Community Hospital handles basic medical needs in town. Salina Regional Health Center is about 20 miles north for higher-acuity care. Coronado Heights Castle, a 1930s WPA-built sandstone structure on a hilltop northwest of town, is a local hiking destination with long prairie views.

Hillsboro

Hillsboro, population about 2,700, offers an open-country setting and a quiet pace. Property crime rates are low, with no homicides or robberies reported in the last five years. For a town this size, the amenities are unusually full: a senior center, Hillsboro Community Hospital and Clinic, and a nine-hole golf course all operate within town limits.

The annual Arts and Crafts Fair and the Marion County Fair are held once a year each, and Rhubarb Market Café is the downtown coffee-and-baked-goods stop. Tabor College, a small Mennonite Brethren liberal arts school, is located in town and adds an on-campus cultural element.

Retirement in a Kansas Small Town

The seven communities above offer a range of retirement options in Kansas: low housing costs in Concordia and Hillsboro, Swedish heritage in Lindsborg, Oz tourism in Wamego, a presidential library in Abilene, suburban amenities in Leawood, and a music-festival calendar in Humboldt. Each includes healthcare in town or within a short drive, and each combines a walkable downtown or central district with surrounding open country.