Independence vs Kansas City

A side-by-side comparison of Independence and Kansas City: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Kansas City has the higher population (508,233 vs 121,944 in Independence). Kansas City has the higher median household income ($67,449 vs $59,480 in Independence). Kansas City has the higher median home value ($227,000 vs $166,400 in Independence).

Population, income & housing

	Independence	Kansas City
Population	121,944	508,233
Median age	38.4 yrs	35.7 yrs
Median household income	$59,480	$67,449
Median home value	$166,400	$227,000
Median gross rent	$1,061	$1,186
Housing units	55,424	243,692
Homeownership rate	61.0%	54.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.9%	37.8%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Independence	Kansas City
Population	117,084 → 121,944 (+4.2%)	486,404 → 508,233 (+4.5%)
Median household income	$50,592 → $59,480 (+17.6%)	$54,194 → $67,449 (+24.5%)
Median home value	$114,100 → $166,400 (+45.8%)	$154,600 → $227,000 (+46.8%)
Median gross rent	$864 → $1,061 (+22.8%)	$941 → $1,186 (+26.0%)

Independence

Population

117,084121,944

Median household income

$50,592$59,480

Median home value

$114,100$166,400

Median gross rent

$864$1,061

Kansas City

Population

486,404508,233

Median household income

$54,194$67,449

Median home value

$154,600$227,000

Median gross rent

$941$1,186

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Independence	Kansas City
Under 5	6.5%	6.2%
5 to 17	17.0%	16.4%
18 to 24	7.9%	9.1%
25 to 34	14.5%	17.4%
35 to 44	12.1%	13.7%
45 to 54	10.8%	11.4%
55 to 64	13.0%	11.8%
65 to 74	9.9%	8.8%
75 and over	8.4%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Independence	Kansas City
White (non-Hispanic)	69.2%	54.5%
Black or African American	10.8%	25.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	1.3%	2.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.9%	0.2%
Some other race	0.7%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.5%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	12.5%	12.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Independence	Kansas City
No high school diploma	9.8%	8.2%
High school graduate	37.2%	25.0%
Some college or associate's	32.0%	29.0%
Bachelor's degree	13.7%	23.8%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	14.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Independence	Kansas City
Drove alone	81.2%	72.7%
Carpooled	7.3%	7.4%
Public transit	0.3%	1.9%
Walked	0.5%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	10.1%	14.8%
Other means	0.6%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Independence	Kansas City
1-unit, detached	72.1%	61.2%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	8.9%	11.9%
20 or more units	6.3%	14.8%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Independence	Kansas City
Poverty rate	15.3%	14.6%
Average household size	2.37	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	24	22
Median year structure built	1967	1968