Wichita, Kansas LandValuePerAcre

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Wichita, Kansas Land Value Per Acre Analysis

The idea of creating a land value per acre map for Wichita, Kansas and Sedgwick County interests us. We are going to use this process described in the How-to documentation.

Overview

One way to examine the utilization and value of the land use in your community is to create a Total Value Per Acre (TVPA) analysis for your town. The idea is that various areas of your city, town or county contribute to the property tax roll at different rates. Sometimes this contribution is obvious; an undeveloped one-acre parcel of land contributes less tax than a one-acre parcel of developed land. Sometimes the contributions are counterintuitive. A 2-acre property with a two million dollar home might contribute less to the property tax roll than if there were 10 0.2 acre houses on the same property.

The organization Strong Towns has recently popularized the value per acre analysis in a piece that they wrote about Kansas City, scroll down to see the "Value Per Acre" map. In the Kansas City map they note "Where, in modern day Kansas City, is real-estate value most concentrated? We need only map the tax value per acre of properties within city limits to see that Kansas City’s highest-value land uses lie overwhelmingly within the 1910 borders."

Our goal is to create a new layer of "Blocks" where a block is a set of contiguous parcels, usually equal to a city block. For each block we will calculate the area (in acres) of the block, we will compute the sum Total Assessed Value of all of the parcels that make up the block, and lastly we will calculate the (Total Assessed Value / Area) for each block. This value - Total Value Per Acre - will give us an understanding of the relative contribution to the tax roll of each city block. Farmed land will typically have a Total Value Per Acre of < $50,000. The most developed and valuable land will have a Total Value Per Acre of over $500,000. We will then analyze larger trends within the City and look at some examples.

Data and Process

This analysis uses data from the Wichita, Kansas open data site. Specifically we are using the open data parcels found here. The data vintage is noted as "The Dataset is updated in real time as the City or County updates their records", therefore we are considering the vintage of the source data to be November 2025. The initial parcel table for Sedgwick County contains 238315 records and the resulting Blocks table contains 12,348 records.

We will use the following fields from the source data:

the spatial object for each parcel boundary
OBJECTID - we will use this to track the unique block as the parcels are aggregated
TotVal - the total value (land + improvements) in dollars for each parcel

We followed the process identified in the How-To documentation with one addition. The Wichita parcel geometries had a few geometries (~20) that were bad and prevented some spatial operations within QGIS. We chose to process the data with the advanced setting "Skip (Ignore) Features with Invalid Geometries" when performing the Dissolve and "Join Attributes by Location (Summary)" operations.

From the process we created a spatial table for our analysis, WichitaKS_Blocks_WithSummaryData.shp.

What we end up with are two layers shown in this map - parcel boundaries in brown on the bottom, and block boundaries on the top with no fill and a blue outline, where each block is labeled with its Total Value Per Acre.

Wichita Kansas Parcels overlaid with Blocks containing Total Assessed Value Per Acre ($)

Data Downloads

Download the Block data. This is an Esri shape file containing the blocks used in this data story. The shape file, WichitaKS_Blocks_WithSummaryData.shp, has the following structure:

OBJECTID - a unique ID for each of the 12,348 blocks in the file
ShapeSTAre - ignore this field
ShapeSTLen - ignore this field
AreaAcres - the size of each region object in acres
TotValAcre - this is the metric used in the maps - (TotVal_Sum / AreaAcres)
TotVal_Cou - the count of parcels covered by each block
TotVal_Sum - the sum of the Total Assessed Value of all parcels covered by each block

Big Picture Maps

In any of the images below we have created a thematic map that shows each block shaded by Total Value Per Acre. Blocks with the highest value are Blue, blocks with the lowest value are red:

We can start by looking at the value of property north and south of Highway 54. If you are familiar with Wichita, north of Highway 54 are neighborhoods such as Delano, College Hill, and Crown Heights, and each of these neighborhoods consists of Blocks that have higher Total Value Per Acre scores. South of Highway 54 are neighborhoods such as McCormick, Sunnyside and Hilltop-Jefferson that are a mix of Blocks that range between $250k/acre and $750+k/acre in Total Value. South of East Pawnee St the Block values can have values lower than $250k/acre.

Block Value per Acre, North and South of Highway 54

Neighborhoods such as Orchard Park, Orchard Breeze and Sunflower are interesting to compare. Housing in these neighborhoods developed between the 1920s and 1950s, however Sunflower has a slightly higher property or parcel density (slightly smaller lots). With more housing more lot, the total assessed value is higher for the same acreage. A typical Block in Sunflower will have a Total Value Per Acre of $600k, while a typical block in Orchard Park or Orchard Breeze will have a TVPA of $400k.

Wichita Kansas Comparing Orchard and Sunflower neighborhoods

If we look at areas with housing development that occurred in the 1970s, a good sample is in the neighborhoods south of W13th St N. A neighborhood like this has Blocks with high Total Value Per Acre. This housing is relatively new, the lot size is typically around 1/2 to 1/3 of an acre and a significant number of parcels or lots fall on each city block. This leads to Total Value Per Acre by block over $750k and frequently well over $1 million.

Wichita Kansas Total Value Per Acre around W 13th and Maize Streets

Lastly, we can observe neighborhoods such as Power and North Central, each of which have a large number of Blocks that have lower Total Value Per Acre, frequently between $50k and $500k. Heavily built in the 1950s, these neighborhoods have significant numbers of properties that are undeveloped. These lots were never developed, developed then deconstructed, or utilized by adjacent property owners for gardens, parking or other uses. If we think about housing development, these are areas that should be very supportive of infill development which will add housing with no or low infrastructure requirements.

Wichita Kansas Total Value Per Acre in the Power and North Central Neighborhoods

Additional Examples

When we start to look at property from an overall tax yield perspective, we being to notice interesting things. These are some examples.

At E Blake St and S Market St are two city blocks divided by an alleyway. The block to the west has a Total Value per Acre of $518k; the block to the east has a value that twice as high, $1.02 million. Same neighborhood, same property parcel sizes, same number of parcels on each block (about 10). What is the difference? The block on the east is primarily duplexes. Duplexes drive a higher assessed value and you don't need too many of them to drive significantly higher property tax yield. And duplexes are great starter homes. And duplexes add more housing units to the community.

Wichita KS City Blocks at Market and Blake Streets. Two block boundaries overlaid on top of the respective parcels that make up each block

We can look at Total Value Per Acre in affluent areas. Around E 13st St N and N Woodlawn Blvd is an area of upper incomes homes, typically $500-750k homes built between the 1950s and 1970s. These homes have large lot sizes as seen in the picture below.

Wichita KS around 13th and Woodlawn, showing houses and lot sizes

When we look at Total Value Per Acre, the value is relatively low. Every block has a TVPA of under $300k which is counterintuitive for an affluent area.

Wichita KS around 13th and Woodlawn, showing blocks and total value per acre

Finally, we can study the impact of undeveloped land on Total Value Per Acre for any block. Here are two blocks, divided by an alley at Gilbert and Pershing streets. The western block has a TVPA that is over 1/3 higher than the eastern block. Why? 2 out of 12 parcels that make up the eastern block are undeveloped. The eastern block currently has a Total assessed value of $568 thousand; adding two houses to the two undeveloped parcels would add $150-250k of total assessed value and would bring the TVPA to between $700-$730k, contributing significantly to an increased tax value of this land.

Wichita Kansas, comparison of two blocks around Gilbert and Pershing streets

Analyzing Total Value Per Acre by Neighborhood

In our analysis above we use neighborhoods to describe the scenarios and differences in Total Value Per Acre as we looked at various city blocks. Then we wondered what would the data look like if we rolled up our analysis by neighborhood. Using the a neighborhood boundary dataset from Zillow that contains 72 neighborhoods for Wichita, we summed up the Total Value Per Acre analysis by neighborhood. We used QGIS' "Join Attributes by Location (Summary)" tool to compare neighborhood boundaries against blocks, and the acreage and total value were summed for each neighborhood. In addition, we counted how many blocks were found in each neighborhood. Then we added in a Total Value Per Acre value for each neighborhood that is simply (Total Appraised Value of all blocks in the neighborhood / Total acres of all blocks in the neighborhood).

This table is fairly large so click "Expand" to see the entire table. Two values you may want to use for sorting include "Total Value Per Acre" and "Total Appraise Value, All Blocks in Neighborhood". This latter value will let you see the aggregate contribution of each neighborhood to the City's property tax roll. You will notice that neighborhoods can have dramatically different Total Values Per Acre. Residential neighborhoods range from over $1 million to under $200k.

There is no blanket statement that can be made about how bad or good a neighborhood is based on its high or low Total Value Per Acre values. There are many reasons why TVPA could be low for a neighborhood such as a large portion of its property being undeveloped. The TVPA for a neighborhood is a starting point for evaluating the neighborhood's contribution to the property tax roll.

Total Value Per Acre by Neighborhood
Name	Number of Blocks	Total Acres, All Blocks in Neighborhood	Total Appraised Value, All Blocks in Neighborhood	Total Value Per Acre
Westlink	19	119.766	$88,890,570	$742,202
Village	23	110.491	$85,654,750	$775,219
Uptown	73	107.093	$78,655,970	$734,464
The Elm	48	89.607	$50,623,030	$564,945
Sunnyside	57	129.576	$88,201,230	$680,691
Sunflower	215	742.582	$457,603,270	$616,233
Stanley-Aley	206	751.606	$324,737,680	$432,058
Southwest Village	132	1817.954	$660,439,350	$363,287
Southwest	230	1598.131	$871,645,400	$545,415
South City Community	127	789.999	$369,294,200	$467,462
South Central Improvemen	352	831.97	$417,844,870	$502,236
South Area	108	1683.356	$409,668,280	$243,364
Sleepy Hollow	18	50.223	$52,831,050	$1,051,929
Sherwood Glen	38	465.739	$183,201,340	$393,356
Schweiter East	29	168.082	$95,972,750	$570,988
Schweiter	16	89.844	$55,739,930	$620,408
Rockhurst	6	176.393	$112,473,720	$637,631
Riverside	99	2866.415	$490,185,730	$171,010
Pueblo	180	636.526	$270,815,370	$425,458
Power	53	140.784	$44,849,220	$318,568
Pleasant Valley	21	407.468	$153,354,900	$376,361
Planeview United	32	350.741	$65,134,150	$185,704
Park Meadows	9	206.989	$147,985,790	$714,945
Orchard Park	80	501.143	$302,742,720	$604,104
Orchard Breeze	84	502.086	$217,992,420	$434,173
Northwest Big River	39	242.398	$179,748,600	$741,543
Northeast Millair	36	567.426	$167,865,430	$295,837
Northeast Heights	72	1157.015	$258,852,810	$223,725
North Riverside	112	441.23	$312,246,810	$707,674
North Central	129	276.435	$99,061,830	$358,355
New Salem	39	65.477	$34,239,910	$522,930
Murdock	64	132.463	$51,898,610	$391,797
Meadowlark	26	223.66	$104,277,400	$466,232
Mead	90	310.737	$179,728,080	$578,393
Mccormick	207	488.474	$232,834,910	$476,658
Mcadams	92	269.262	$92,294,380	$342,768
Matlock Heights	48	174.084	$54,410,590	$312,554
Maple Hills	9	190.202	$106,535,480	$560,118
Macdonald	22	318.808	$195,793,310	$614,142
Longview	16	46.09	$30,303,820	$657,492
Linwood	71	124.7	$62,239,370	$499,113
Lambsdale	9	49.668	$34,208,990	$688,753
La Placita Park	32	234.934	$149,640,920	$636,949
Ken-Mar	40	168.936	$74,948,720	$443,652
Kellogg School	156	288.63	$225,730,860	$782,077
K-15	32	291.324	$95,779,350	$328,773
Jones Park	22	83.375	$28,632,710	$343,421
Indian Hills Riverbend	50	361.937	$222,209,050	$613,944
Indian Hills	36	501.851	$169,291,130	$337,333
Historic Midtown	305	881.556	$793,988,220	$900,667
Hilltop - Jefferson	58	213.846	$188,347,700	$880,763
Hilltop	10	118.039	$43,639,820	$369,707
Harrison Park Rk	7	239.923	$165,321,230	$689,060
Grandview Heights	30	269.269	$120,303,050	$446,776
Fairmount	37	240.454	$102,234,490	$425,173
Fabrique	60	225.131	$136,851,260	$607,874
Eastridge	80	439.586	$278,168,020	$632,795
East Mt Vernon Na	33	164.669	$94,346,650	$572,947
East Front	56	93.169	$79,122,980	$849,241
Delano Township	3	1075.363	$34,582,470	$32,159
Delano	340	693.706	$757,175,340	$1,091,493
Crown Heights South	23	116.229	$116,287,240	$1,000,501
Crown Heights	34	116.322	$135,749,090	$1,167,011
Courtland	18	96.755	$73,787,420	$762,621
Country Overlook	44	153.105	$92,453,020	$603,854
Cottonwood Village	12	214.843	$190,305,490	$885,789
Comotara Mainsgate Villa	6	214.845	$148,152,130	$689,577
College Hill	127	466.853	$621,765,490	$1,331,823
Chisholm Creek	139	1915.331	$1,243,587,910	$649,281
Central 2000	56	104.306	$34,903,160	$334,623
Brookhollow	11	78.473	$92,747,710	$1,181,906
Benjamin Hills	87	823.901	$414,041,240	$502,538

Conclusion

We put together this Total Value Per Acre analysis as an example of how we can analyze the areas of our city and county to understand the property tax value of different areas. We are only showing a few examples of how anyone can overlay this data on a map. We encourage anyone to look at the results and understand how we can use this data to provide guidance on our housing development decisions and policy.

Credits

This data story and its content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution license.

Persons or organizations that Share or Adapt this content should provide Attribution that provides appropriate credit, which includes:

Tyche Insights, P.B.C.
WichitaDataExplorer

For example, a data product or service that utilizes this article could include attribution such as:

Wichita, Kansas LandValuePerAcre

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