Why I Invest in Wichita, Kansas

I grew up in Lindsborg, Kansas, and Kansas is home.

I got into real estate in 2019, flipping houses in Tennessee and Virginia. Flipping taught me how fast a deal can go wrong when the numbers are thin, and how much a property's value depends on the neighborhood around it.

When I committed to long-term buy-and-hold investing, Kansas was the best fit for me. I bought my first rental property in 2021, and Wichita is where I've chosen to keep building.

The Air Capital of the World

Wichita is known as the Air Capital of the World, and once you spend time here, you see why. The city has about 400,000 residents, and the metro is close to 660,000.^1, 2 Textron Aviation (Cessna and Beechcraft), Spirit AeroSystems, and Bombardier Learjet anchor an aerospace base with more than 450 companies in the supply chain.³ The Greater Wichita Partnership reports that the metro ranks first in the U.S. for manufacturing.⁴

That kind of industry matters for rentals. Wichita's major employers include Via Christi Health, Koch Industries, Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation, and McConnell Air Force Base.⁵ When large employers hire, the people who take those jobs need somewhere to live, and many of them rent first. I don't count on any one employer, but a diverse base of manufacturers, health systems, and the military gives me more confidence that demand for rentals will hold.

What I look at first: the numbers

Wichita's median home sale price in 2026 was about $240,000, while the national median was about $430,000.^6, 7 Median three-bedroom rents run roughly $1,335 to $1,372.^8, 9

Prices here are rising, but at a pace I'm comfortable with. Over the past four years, the median sale price has risen between roughly 2% and 8% a year.⁶

The 1% rule is the first screen I use. It says monthly rent should be at least 1% of the purchase price.¹⁰ At median prices, it's hard to hit. But homes in the $100,000s are still part of the market. At the starter-tier median of about $146,000,¹¹ a three-bedroom renting for about $1,350⁸ comes close. Every property I look at has to work on its own numbers, including taxes, insurance, repairs, and vacancy.

What I'd tell a new investor

Wichita isn't a boomtown, and it won't grow as fast as some markets. The metro grew about 6% from 2010 to 2024, slower than the nation's growth of about 10%.¹² For me, that's part of the appeal: steadier prices and a market I can understand. It's also a trade-off. Appreciation will likely be modest, so rent has to carry more of the return.

An invitation

I trust this market, I invest in it, and I'd encourage you to take a look.

Call us anytime at 316-247-2260. I'm happy to walk you through my own experience, riff on real estate investing and the lessons I've learned, or just talk shop about management. You can also reach us here.