Ottawa, KS has seven EMT schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. Flint Hills Technical College, the highest ranked school in this group with an EMT program, has a total student population of 606. It is the 2993rd highest ranked school in the USA and the 37th highest in the state of Kansas (#1 is Southwestern College).
EMT students from Ottawa schools who go on to become emergency medical technicians, EMTs, paramedics, emergency medical service workers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 217,920 people working as emergency medical technicians and paramedics alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $33,020. Also, Medical and clinical laboratory technicians make on average $37,860 per year and there are about 152,420 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Kansas City-KS area alone, there are 1,560 employed medical and clinical laboratory technicians earning an average salary of $33,410. Emergency medical technicians and paramedics in this area earn $33,680/yr and there are 1,980 employed.
Ottawa lies in Franklin county, which is one of the 67 counties in Kansas. Overall, the Kansas City-KS area has 988,100 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.8% unemployment rate, $20.79/hr average worker wage, and a $43,240 average annual salary. Thus, about 2.000 out of every 1000 jobs in Ottawa are held by emergency medical technicians and paramedics, and 1.575/1000 are held by medical and clinical laboratory technicians.
Of the 7 EMT schools with a 100-mile radius of Ottawa, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Kansas City Kansas Community College comes out as the most expensive ($10,820/yr) for EMT students, with Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley as the lowest, reported at only $3,266/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Ottawa |
| Lawrence | KS | 92,060 | 4 | 30.1334 | 36 | 23.8 miles |
| Olathe | KS | 125,326 | 3 | 26.6113 | 75 | 31.1 miles |
| Lenexa | KS | 49,185 | 2 | 9.677 | 29 | 35.1 miles |
| Topeka | KS | 124,629 | 5 | 27.0429 | 163 | 37.1 miles |
| Iola | KS | - | 1 | 14.0674 | 83 | 48.3 miles |
| Parkville | MO | - | 1 | 24.2346 | 91 | 51.0 miles |
| Lees Summit | MO | - | 1 | 10.817 | 19 | 52.0 miles |
| North Kansas City | MO | - | 1 | 17.668 | 0 | 52.1 miles |
| Kansas City | MO | 454,520 | 32 | 15.0915 | 547 | 52.1 miles |
| Independence | MO | 110,030 | 5 | 14.6026 | 91 | 59.3 miles |
| Blue Springs | MO | 57,147 | 1 | 22.3674 | 5 | 60.6 miles |
| Fort Scott | KS | - | 1 | 19.5238 | 38 | 61.7 miles |
| Atchison | KS | - | 2 | 13.325 | 58 | 66.0 miles |
| Manhattan | KS | 53,426 | 5 | 26.3003 | 178 | 81.5 miles |
| Saint Joseph | MO | 76,371 | 4 | 37.3685 | 160 | 82.7 miles |
| Parsons | KS | - | 1 | 16.7815 | 59 | 88.2 miles |