Garden City, KS — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

All states·Kansas·Garden City

Finney County · Garden City · population 27,996

First-time buyers
Garden City, KS
Image: Wikipedia · Garden City, Kansas
OverviewCost of livingMoving guide
View watchlist →
60
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Garden City stands

At or near all-time high.

Median home $235,086
1-year +0.1%
5-yr CAGR +4.3%
vs 5-yr peak -1.0%
Population -0.1%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2025-08$235k$133k$171k$209k$247k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
32/100
Very car-dependent
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
15/100
Transit limited
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
78/100
Strong remote-work fit
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
51 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
61 · w22%
Distance from peak
84 · w18%
Population growth
43 · w16%
Home 10-yr CAGR
61 · w10%
Long thesis

Garden City has held up across the cycle: home values at $235,086 with +4.3% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.

Short thesis

Garden City's bear case is the boring one: the cycle is real and any market that's run hard can stall. Watch for slowing population growth, rising days-on-market, or builder discounts as the early warning signals.

About Garden City

Garden City is a city in Finney County, Kansas, with an estimated population of 27,996. The median home value in Garden City is $235,086 as of 2026-04, up 0.1% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +4.3% annual growth, with prices at or near the 5-year peak. The composite momentum score is 60 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

▲ Bull case

●Held the highs: currently -1.0% from the 5-year peak — this market refused to give back gains.
○The data is the data: Garden City has at least 5 years of Zillow tracking, full Census identification, and is included in the 2-criteria momentum score on this page.

▼ Bear case

○Local nuance: city-level data smooths over neighborhood differences. School zones, HOA rules, and street-level character matter — visit before deciding.

About Garden City (Wikipedia)

Garden City is a city in and the county seat of Finney County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 28,151. The city is home to the Garden City Community College and the Lee Richardson Zoo, the largest zoological park in western Kansas.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Finney County right now.

NWS active alerts (KS)Kansas Emergency ManagementHow to prepare (NWS)

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Finney County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Cities like Garden City

Parsons, KS49 · StableEmporia, KS66 · RisingLiberal, KS56 · StablePittsburg, KS64 · Rising

Run the numbers for Garden City

ToolCan I afford Garden City?Income → city shortlistToolROI on a Garden City rentalCap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCRToolCompare Garden City to anywhereSide-by-side up to 3 citiesToolGarden City cost-of-livingEquivalent income elsewhere

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
41° / 21°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
89° / 66°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
230
~63% of year
Annual precip
30″ rain
15″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
Very low
Tornado
Very high
Wildfire
Low
Earthquake
Very low
Flood
Moderate

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Garden City listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Garden City area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
65%
Moderate climate
Median household income
$69,700
Kansas state median
Top industries (state-level)
Aerospace (Wichita)AgricultureHealthcare

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

Cities similar to Garden City

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