Is Kansas home to the ‘smartest’ city in the US? Here’s why one report thinks so

Kansas may be home to one of the smartest and most “news-obsessed” cities in America, according to a recent report by news aggregator SmartNews. 

Haysville, 20 minutes outside of Wichita, earned the top spot SmartNews’ list of the “999 Top Ranked News Cities,” while Hutchinson came in seventh. Wichita also made the list at No. 95.

SmartNews, a global app that gathers news from various sources into one place for readers, compiled its list by looking at news consumption times for the first quarter of 2025, specifically how much time spent per capita reading news via the SmartNews app. 

“While Haysville, Kansas, ranked as the smartest city in both Kansas and the nation overall, Haysville spent approximately 10% more time consuming news compared with people in Hutchinson. In comparison, people from Haysville spent 13% more time reading news than people from Wichita,” Jason Alderman of SmartNews wrote of the findings in an email to The Wichita Eagle. 

SmartNews has partnered with more than 300 media companies to offer news from the Associated Press, NBC News, The Atlantic, ProPublica and more. 

Haysville has a population of 11,406, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2024, up 1.3% compared to data from 2020. 

Hutchinson, home of the Kansas State Fair, is about an hour from Wichita and had a population of around 39,500 as of 2024. The population is down 1.1% compared to data from 2020. 

Smartest Kansas cities, according to SmartNews

Here are the Kansas cities that made ranking of the “smartest” in the U.S. based on news consumption habits:

• No. 1: Haysville
• No. 7: Hutchinson
• No. 95: Wichita
• No. 138: Shawnee
• No. 194: Lenexa
• No. 199: Topeka
• No. 287: Olathe
• No. 304: Overland Park
• No. 396: Salina
• No. 474: Leawood
• No. 484: Winfield

Alderman said the main finding from the study was small and mid-sized cities were the most news-engaged. 

“At SmartNews, we’ve always believed that intellect and curiosity aren’t limited by where you live. So we conducted a comprehensive, nationwide ranking of the smartest and most news-obsessed cities in America, and we found that it’s not the biggest cities that are the smartest, but small and mid-sized cities that are the most informed,” Alderman said. 

SmartNews’ 10 smartest cities are:

1. Haysville
2. Valley Center, Calif.
3. Green Valley, Ariz.
4. Cottage Grove, Minn.
5. Sequim, Wash.
6. Port Orchard, Wash.
7. Hutchinson
8. Grants Pass, Ore.
9. Sun City, Ariz.
10. Ames, Iowa

At 999th place was Montverde, Florida. 

This story was originally published July 28, 2025 at 9:12 AM.

Lindsay Smith

The Wichita Eagle

Lindsay Smith is a suburban news reporter for the Wichita Eagle, covering the communities of Andover, Bel Aire, Derby, Haysville and Kechi. She has been on The Eagle staff since 2022 and was the service journalism reporter for three years. She has a degree in communications with an emphasis in journalism from Wichita State, where she was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Sunflower, for two years. You can reach her via email at lsmith@wichitaeagle.com.