Belleville, a small town in north‑central Kansas, has recently been labeled as the “poorest city in Kansas” based on recent poverty‑and‑income rankings. The designation comes from analyses that compare median household income and poverty rates across Kansas cities, with Belleville showing one of the lowest income levels relative to the state average.
Why Belleville is being called Kansas’s poorest
Belleville sits in Republic County and has a median household income well below the statewide figure, with a notable share of residents living below the federal poverty line. Economic‑ranking sites and local‑news roundups that list the poorest counties and cities have placed Belleville near the top of Kansas‑wide poverty lists due to its combination of low income, aging population, and limited job diversity.
Because these rankings track current Census‑based data, different towns or counties can appear as “poorest” in different years, and some very small settlements (like Roxbury or Shallow Water) show 100% poverty in statistical tables, though they have tiny populations.
What “poorest town” actually means
Calling Belleville or another Kansas town the “poorest” is usually shorthand for:
- a low median household income compared with the state;
- a high percentage of residents living below the poverty line;
- often, an older population, shrinking workforce, and fewer high‑paying jobs.
These numbers do not capture every hardship or hardship‑relief effort, and local institutions (schools, nonprofits, churches) may be actively working to offset the statistics with food‑assistance programs, job‑training, and community support.
How other Kansas towns compare
Other Kansas cities and counties also carry high poverty rates, such as parts of southeastern Kansas (including Chetopa and several small towns in Chautauqua and Elk counties) and rural western counties like Jewell and Graham. County‑level rankings often show a cluster of rural areas where median incomes lag, even if the town labels themselves are less publicized than Belleville.
If you want to compare specific towns or understand which areas are struggling most, current Census‑based maps and local‑paper summaries of the “10 poorest counties in Kansas” are good starting points.
SOURCES :
- https://www.kansas.com/news/state/article300962194.html
- https://hdpulse.nimhd.nih.gov/data-portal/_social/poverty/table?statefips=20&demo=00007
