Olathe vs Shawnee

A side-by-side comparison of Olathe and Shawnee: population, income, housing, and more.

Olathe and Shawnee are places in Kansas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Olathe has the higher population (143,720 vs 68,175 in Shawnee). Olathe has the higher median household income ($112,232 vs $106,312 in Shawnee). Olathe has the higher median home value ($340,600 vs $332,900 in Shawnee).

Population, income & housing

	Olathe	Shawnee
Population	143,720	68,175
Median age	36.6 yrs	38.1 yrs
Median household income	$112,232	$106,312
Median home value	$340,600	$332,900
Median gross rent	$1,314	$1,233
Housing units	53,543	26,811
Homeownership rate	73.7%	73.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	49.4%	52.4%
Unemployment rate	2.8%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Olathe	Shawnee
Population	137,618 → 143,720 (+4.4%)	65,540 → 68,175 (+4.0%)
Median household income	$90,435 → $112,232 (+24.1%)	$87,120 → $106,312 (+22.0%)
Median home value	$238,100 → $340,600 (+43.0%)	$237,500 → $332,900 (+40.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,019 → $1,314 (+28.9%)	$1,008 → $1,233 (+22.3%)

Olathe

Population

137,618143,720

Median household income

$90,435$112,232

Median home value

$238,100$340,600

Median gross rent

$1,019$1,314

Shawnee

Population

65,54068,175

Median household income

$87,120$106,312

Median home value

$237,500$332,900

Median gross rent

$1,008$1,233

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Olathe	Shawnee
Under 5	6.2%	6.3%
5 to 17	20.6%	18.1%
18 to 24	8.1%	8.3%
25 to 34	12.4%	13.2%
35 to 44	15.8%	14.1%
45 to 54	13.4%	13.5%
55 to 64	10.3%	11.7%
65 to 74	8.3%	9.0%
75 and over	4.9%	5.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Olathe	Shawnee
White (non-Hispanic)	73.6%	78.0%
Black or African American	4.7%	6.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	4.2%	3.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.0%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	12.5%	9.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Olathe	Shawnee
No high school diploma	5.3%	4.0%
High school graduate	16.5%	15.6%
Some college or associate's	28.8%	28.0%
Bachelor's degree	30.7%	34.0%
Graduate or professional degree	18.8%	18.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Olathe	Shawnee
Drove alone	71.5%	73.5%
Carpooled	7.4%	5.9%
Public transit	0.2%	0.3%
Walked	0.8%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	18.8%	18.3%
Other means	1.2%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Olathe	Shawnee
1-unit, detached	71.0%	71.3%
1-unit, attached	9.8%	7.5%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	7.1%	12.2%
20 or more units	7.2%	4.2%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	1.2%

Poverty & households

	Olathe	Shawnee
Poverty rate	5.6%	5.4%
Average household size	2.73	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	21	22
Median year structure built	1994	1988