Kansas City, MO (population: 454,520) has three fashion schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. University of Central Missouri, the highest ranked school in this group with a fashion program, has a total student population of 11,191. It is the 1871st highest ranked school in the USA and one of the highest in the state . To learn more about fashion programs in Kansas City, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of fashion professors at University of Central Missouri such as Melissa Abner, Kathryn Callahan, and Keli Geisendorfer.
Fashion students from Kansas City schools who go on to become fashion professionals, fashion merchandisers, marketers, fashion models, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 15,780 people working as fashion designers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $74,410. Also, Merchandise displayers and window trimmers make on average $28,480 per year and there are about 61,280 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Kansas City-KS area alone, there are 240 employed merchandise displayers and window trimmers earning an average salary of $32,510. Fashion designers in this area earn $*/yr and there are 70 employed.
Kansas City lies in Jackson county, which is one of the 39 counties in Missouri. 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 0.068 out of every 1000 jobs in Kansas City are held by fashion designers, and 0.246/1000 are held by merchandise displayers and window trimmers.
Of the 3 fashion schools with a 100-mile radius of Kansas City, only 2 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, The Art Institutes International–Kansas City comes out as the most expensive ($35,813/yr) for fashion students, with University of Central Missouri as the lowest, reported at only $8,638/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Kansas City |
| North Kansas City | MO | - | 1 | 17.668 | 0 | 1.0 miles |
| Parkville | MO | - | 1 | 24.2346 | 91 | 8.8 miles |
| Independence | MO | 110,030 | 5 | 14.6026 | 91 | 10.9 miles |
| Blue Springs | MO | 57,147 | 1 | 22.3674 | 5 | 16.6 miles |
| Lees Summit | MO | - | 1 | 10.817 | 19 | 16.7 miles |
| Lenexa | KS | 49,185 | 2 | 9.677 | 29 | 17.0 miles |
| Olathe | KS | 125,326 | 3 | 26.6113 | 75 | 21.2 miles |
| Lawrence | KS | 92,060 | 4 | 30.1334 | 36 | 39.7 miles |
| Atchison | KS | - | 2 | 13.325 | 58 | 43.3 miles |
| Saint Joseph | MO | 76,371 | 4 | 37.3685 | 160 | 46.6 miles |
| Ottawa | KS | - | 1 | 45.4994 | 36 | 52.1 miles |
| Topeka | KS | 124,629 | 5 | 27.0429 | 163 | 61.5 miles |
| Sedalia | MO | - | 2 | 20.9991 | 46 | 76.7 miles |
| Fort Scott | KS | - | 1 | 19.5238 | 38 | 89.0 miles |
| Iola | KS | - | 1 | 14.0674 | 83 | 94.6 miles |