It may not feel this way to some local residents, but Arkansas City is one of the most affordable cities in Kansas. That’s according to a research group attempting to rank cities of 5,000 people or more by affordability. SmartAsset, a New York company that offers online financial advice, said it examined closing costs, real estate taxes, homeowners’ insurance, mortgage rates, and the cost of home ownership in 64 Kansas cities each over a five-year period. That cost was then measured as a proportion of median household income to determine affordability, and indexed on a scale from 0 to a top score of 100. This year marked the seventh annual study. Ark City landed as fifth most affordable city in Kansas. It held the same ranking in 2020 but was not in the top 10 in 2019, according to the SmartAsset website. With increasing water rates, planned increases in sewer rates and rising landfill costs, some might find it hard to believe Ark City’s ranking. But city commissioners contacted Monday welcomed the information even as they said they were surprised by it.
Source: The Arkansas City Traveler
