DesotoExplorer.com

Call it learning by numbers.

The U.S. Census Bureau — through its American Community Survey program — released a large new batch of statistics for every community in the United States on Thursday.

De Soto residents, according to the figures, are generally older and more predominantly white than those in most of the listed surrounding cities and pay the most for their homes. With the exception of Topeka, the cities listed here are home to newspapers or news websites owned by the World Company, parent company of The Explorer.

All the numbers are a five-year average from 2006 to 2010. The numbers are garnered from a continuous survey that the Census Bureau conducts throughout the country. The five-year average is meant to lower the margin of error on the statistics, but some of the margins of error are still significant. But they’re the best numbers that will be released.

So dive in and learn how De Soto stacks up to other communities in the area.

Median age of residents

Only three nearby communities have median ages higher than De Soto.

1. Manhattan: 23.4 years
2. Lawrence: 25.6
3. Eudora: 31
4. Tonganoxie: 31.2
5. Baldwin City: 31.7
6. Olathe: 32.4
7. Bonner Springs: 33.8 8. De Soto: 34.5
8. Shawnee: 35.0
9. Topeka: 36.0
10. Basehor: 38.9

Percent of population that is white

According to the numbers, De Soto is the most predominantly white community in the area.

1.De Soto: 99.3 percent white 2. Tonganoxie: 97.5 percent 3. Baldwin City: 97.4 percent 4. Basehor: 96.0 percent 5. Eudora: 95.7 percent 6. Bonner Springs: 89.7 percent 7. Manhattan: 88.7 percent 8. Shawnee: 86.8 percent 9. Olathe: 84.2 percent 10. Lawrence: 82.5 percent 11. Topeka: 75.7 percent

Percent of owner-occupied homes

More folks still own than rent in De Soto.

1. Basehor: 81.6 percent owner-occupied
2. Bonner Springs: 75.2 percent
3. Olathe: 74.1 percent
4. Shawnee: 73.3 percent
5. Eudora: 72.5 percent 6. De Soto: 70.6 percent
6. Tonganoxie: 67.9 percent
7. Baldwin: 62.4 percent
8. Topeka: 59.6 percent
9. Lawrence: 46.7 percent
10. Manhattan: 41 percent

Median price of a home

De Soto's median home prices are the most expensive in the pack.

1. De Soto: $220,100 2. Shawnee: $198,600 3. Olathe: $193,300 4. Basehor: $183,000 5. Lawrence: $172,900 6. Manhattan: $163,800 7. Tonganoxie: $151,800 8. Eudora: $151,200 9. Baldwin: $150,600 10. Bonner Springs: $147,100 11. Topeka: $94,200

Spending on housing costs

This is the percent of homeowners who spend more than 35 percent of their household income on housing costs.

1. Bonner Springs: 25.2 percent of homeowners
2. Lawrence: 22.4 percent
3. Baldwin City 20.2 percent
4. Topeka: 19.1 percent
5. Shawnee: 18.1 percent
6. Basehor: 17.2 percent
7. Tonganoxie: 16.8 percent
8. Olathe: 16.7 percent
9. Manhattan: 16.6 percent
10. Eudora: 15.3 percent 11. De Soto: 11 percent

Median monthly rent

Some of these communities may be more focused on renting houses than apartments.

1. Basehor: $921
2. Baldwin: $826
3. Olathe: $801
4. Eudora: $777
5. Lawrence: $774
6. Tonganoxie: $765
7. Shawnee: $753
8. Manhattan: $739
9. Bonner Springs: $697 10. De Soto: $680
10. Topeka: $628

Median household income

This number is probably lower in college towns, such as Lawrence, because students who earn part-time incomes do drag numbers down.

1. Olathe: $75,228
2. Shawnee: $72,122
3. Basehor: $72,120
4. Baldwin City: $65,053 5. De Soto: $61,915
5. Eudora: $60,544
6. Tonganoxie: $58,672
7. Bonner Springs: $56,630
8. Lawrence: $41,290
9. Topeka: $40,342
10. Manhattan: $36,630

Median earnings for a male, full-time, year-round worker

De Soto is towards the bottom of the list.

1. Basehor: $60,326
2. Olathe: $56,934
3. Shawnee: $56,312
4. Baldwin City: $50,833
5. Bonner Springs: $47,670
6. Tonganoxie: $47,500
7. Eudora: $45,861 8. De Soto: $45,000
8. Lawrence: $42,362
9. Topeka: $40,832
10. Manhattan: $39,095

Percent of households receiving food stamps

There are several ways to measure poverty in a community, and this is one.

1. Topeka: 11.9 percent of households
2. Bonner Springs: 7.4 percent
3. Eudora: 5.3 percent
4. Lawrence: 5.1 percent
5. Baldwin City: 4.7 percent
6. Manhattan: 4.1 percent
7. Olathe: 3.7 percent 8. De Soto: 3.4 percent
8. Shawnee: 3.1 percent
9. Basehor: 2.1 percent
10. Tonganoxie: 0.8 percent

This story originally appeared in the Lawrence Journal-World by reporter Chad Lawhorn. We modified portions of this story to reflect De Soto numbers.