Independence vs Lee's Summit

A side-by-side comparison of Independence and Lee's Summit: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Independence has the higher population (121,944 vs 102,583 in Lee's Summit). Lee's Summit has the higher median household income ($104,989 vs $59,480 in Independence). Lee's Summit has the higher median home value ($313,200 vs $166,400 in Independence).

Population, income & housing

	Independence	Lee's Summit
Population	121,944	102,583
Median age	38.4 yrs	38.6 yrs
Median household income	$59,480	$104,989
Median home value	$166,400	$313,200
Median gross rent	$1,061	$1,382
Housing units	55,424	41,358
Homeownership rate	61.0%	73.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.9%	48.7%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Independence	Lee's Summit
Population	117,084 → 121,944 (+4.2%)	97,275 → 102,583 (+5.5%)
Median household income	$50,592 → $59,480 (+17.6%)	$89,969 → $104,989 (+16.7%)
Median home value	$114,100 → $166,400 (+45.8%)	$223,700 → $313,200 (+40.0%)
Median gross rent	$864 → $1,061 (+22.8%)	$1,077 → $1,382 (+28.3%)

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

Lee's Summit

Population

97,275102,583

Median household income

$89,969$104,989

Median home value

$223,700$313,200

Median gross rent

$1,077$1,382

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Independence	Lee's Summit
Under 5	6.5%	5.6%
5 to 17	17.0%	20.1%
18 to 24	7.9%	7.1%
25 to 34	14.5%	11.2%
35 to 44	12.1%	15.1%
45 to 54	10.8%	12.5%
55 to 64	13.0%	12.8%
65 to 74	9.9%	8.8%
75 and over	8.4%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Independence	Lee's Summit
White (non-Hispanic)	69.2%	77.6%
Black or African American	10.8%	10.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	1.3%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.9%	0.3%
Some other race	0.7%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.5%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	12.5%	5.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Independence	Lee's Summit
No high school diploma	9.8%	2.6%
High school graduate	37.2%	18.7%
Some college or associate's	32.0%	30.0%
Bachelor's degree	13.7%	29.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	19.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Independence	Lee's Summit
Drove alone	81.2%	73.7%
Carpooled	7.3%	5.3%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	0.5%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.1%	19.4%
Other means	0.6%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Independence	Lee's Summit
1-unit, detached	72.1%	72.7%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	9.2%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	8.9%	6.4%
20 or more units	6.3%	6.6%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Independence	Lee's Summit
Poverty rate	15.3%	5.5%
Average household size	2.37	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	24	26
Median year structure built	1967	1994