Clay County · MO
North Kansas City, MO
Founded 1912 · 2.9 miles from downtown Kansas City · population 4,983
The market, last twelve months
Half of the homes that sold went under contract within 25 days. The median sale closed at 100.0% of asking - at list. 45% closed at or above the original list price, which is the better measure of how much room a buyer actually has.
Aggregated from Heartland MLS closed sales, twelve months to July 2026. Individual sale prices are not shown - Kansas and Missouri are non-disclosure states and MLS rules do not permit their public display. Ask for the full report if you need them.
How it came to befounded 1912 · where the name comes from · 4 dated events
Created as a planned industrial town on the Missouri River bottoms opposite downtown Kansas City. The North Kansas City Development Company was formed in the early 1900s by three businesses - Armour Packing, Swift Packing and the Burlington Railroad - which bought several thousand acres from developer Willard E. Winner, then paved streets, built a levee, installed a waterworks and bridged the Missouri River. Federal law ultimately prevented Armour and Swift from moving their packing plants and stockyards across the river, but the platted industrial town remained and filled with other industry. source 1 source 2
The name. Named for its position directly north of Kansas City, Missouri across the river. The name is the single largest source of confusion about this city: it is a separate incorporated municipality, not a neighborhood of Kansas City and not a synonym for the Northland. source
Incorporated November 4, 1912 as the Town of North Kansas City. source
- 1903Chicago meatpackers Philip Armour and Gustavus Swift joined the Burlington Railroad to form the North Kansas City Development Company, which bought several thousand acres of river bottom from Willard E. Winner intending to relocate their plants and stockyards there. source
- 1911The development company built the first bridge to the site - the ASB (Armour-Swift-Burlington) Bridge across the Missouri River - along with paved streets, a levee and a waterworks. source
- 1912Incorporated November 4, 1912 as the Town of North Kansas City. Federal law blocked the packers from moving their plants across the river, so the town developed as a general industrial and warehousing district rather than a stockyards town. source 1 source 2
- 2022Cerner Corporation's world headquarters and its Realization campus in North Kansas City closed on November 30, following Oracle's acquisition of Cerner; in-office staff were consolidated at Oracle's Innovations campus in south Kansas City. Cerner's former headquarters at 2800 Rock Creek Parkway sits next to North Kansas City Hospital. source
The housing stockmedian built 1949
The median home sold here was built in 1949. Most of what sells was built between 1920 and 2006. The Census puts the median year built for all housing at 1972, so the homes changing hands skew older than the stock as a whole. 12% of sales included finished basement space beyond the above-grade footprint - which matters here, because square footage quoted above grade can understate a house considerably.
By property type, sales broke down as Single Family (32), Townhouse (8).
What's hereASB Bridge, Sears, Roebuck and Company Warehouse Building and more
A separately incorporated municipality entirely surrounded by Kansas City, Missouri, with its own mayor, its own city agencies and its own tax base. It is not part of Kansas City, Missouri and is not the same thing as 'the Northland'. source 1 source 2
A daytime working population of more than 30,000 against a residential population under 5,000 - the city holds more than 900 businesses in manufacturing, warehousing, transportation, wholesale and retail trade and services on 4.4 square miles. source
Kansas City, Missouri's 1% earnings tax follows KCMO residency (and income earned inside KCMO limits). Because North Kansas City is a separate municipality, living in North Kansas City does not by itself create that liability - though anyone who works inside Kansas City, Missouri pays it on that income regardless of where they live. source
- ASB Bridge
- Armour-Swift-Burlington bridge across the Missouri River, built 1911 by the development company to connect the new town to Kansas City. source
- Sears, Roebuck and Company Warehouse Building
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; a survivor of the city's warehouse-district era. source
- Armour Theater Building
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; named for one of the city's founding companies. source
Practical detailschool district · highways and transit · 5 employers
- Schools
- North Kansas City Schools (District 74). Boundaries do not follow city limits, and here the mismatch is dramatic: the district serves more than 21,800 students across 35 school sites throughout the Northland, and its own administrative address is a Kansas City, Missouri one (2000 NE 46th St). The 4.4-square-mile City of North Kansas City is a small fraction of the district. Most students in 'North Kansas City Schools' do not live in North Kansas City. Confirm attendance area by address. Confirm the assigned school for any specific address before you rely on it. source
- Getting around
- Directly across the Missouri River from downtown Kansas City, about 2.9 miles NNE in a straight line, reached by the ASB, Heart of America and Broadway bridges; I-35, I-29 and US-69 pass at or near the city. Kansas City International Airport is to the north-west via I-29. source 1 source 2
- Employers located here
- North Kansas City Hospital, Harrah's North Kansas City Casino & Hotel, Helzberg Diamonds, Ingredion, BNSF Railway. Listed as present in the city, which is not a statement about hiring.
More images4 more from the archives
Thinking about buying or selling here?
The numbers above describe the market. What they cannot tell you is what your own house is worth in it, or which of these streets fits what you need. Ask me about North Kansas City.