Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies

2021 Kansas City Jewish Community Study

Matthew  Boxer, Matthew A. Brookner, Matthew Feinberg, Raquel Magidin de Kramer, Daniel Mangoubi, Adam Martin, Daniel Nussbaum, Ellie Pasternack, Zachary Seeskin, David Dutwin, Janet Krasner Aronson,  & Leonard Saxe

March 2022

Kansas City report cover

The 2021 Greater Kansas City Jewish Community Study is the first in-depth examination of the size and characteristics of the Jewish community in the Kansas City-area since 1985. The study provides a comprehensive portrait of the community's 22,100 Jews; their families; their Jewish attitudes, behaviors, and affiliations; their health and financial welfare; and other measures of their engagement in Jewish life. Findings should help the Greater Kansas City Jewish community make critical decisions about the next decade of Jewish life in the region.

Among the findings:

  • The Greater Kansas City Jewish community numbers approximately 28,300 adults and children, of whom 22,100 are Jewish, living in 12,600 households.
  • The mean age of Jewish adults in Greater Kansas City is 53, and the median is 60, somewhat older than the national median age of Jewish adults, 49.
  • Twenty-two percent of Jewish households in Greater Kansas City include children under age 18.
  • The individual intermarriage rate (i.e., the proportion of married Jewish adults with a non-Jewish spouse) is 41%, comparable to the national average.
  • Forty-four percent of Jewish adults in Greater Kansas City identify as Reform, slightly higher than the national average of 37%. Greater Kansas City’s proportions of Conservative Jews (18%) and Jews of no particular denomination (32%) are nearly identical to the national averages, but there are fewer Orthodox Jews (4%) and Jews who identify with other denominations (2%).
  • Six percent of Jewish adults in Greater Kansas City identify as LGBTQ.
  • Four percent of Jewish adults in Greater Kansas City grew up in Russian-speaking households.
  • Four percent of Jewish adults in Greater Kansas City identify as Israeli citizens.
  • Four percent of Jewish adults in Greater Kansas City identify as Hispanic or with any racial group other than white. However, only 2% self-identify as People of Color.
  • Sixty-three percent of Jewish adults in Greater Kansas City identify politically as very liberal or liberal. Another 23% describe themselves as moderate, and the remaining 14% are very conservative or conservative.
  • Two thirds of Jewish households in Greater Kansas City reside in Kansas and one third reside in Missouri.

Read the report


Read the technical appendices


Download the comparison charts


Download the public dataset