Area Cities Trail Olathe in Births

Area cities trail Olathe in births
Leawood birth rate low by contrast, survey says
By MICHELLE BURHENN
The Kansas City Star
Where do babies come from?
Well, in Johnson County, your safest bet is Olathe.
The latest vital statistics released by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reinforce the notion that young people are flocking to the fast-growing suburb in southwest Johnson County. In Olathe, young families can find affordable homes and a school district planning for its burgeoning population.
The Annual Summary of Vital Statistics, released in November, compares cities and counties on the touchstones of a Kansan’s life: birth, marriage and death. It tells us which county gained the most population in 2004 (Johnson County) and which county lost the most (Ness County).
Out of the 11 Johnson County cities surveyed for live births in 2004, Olathe recorded the highest birth rate: 20.1 people out of 1,000 gave birth. That translated into 2,181 births last year to Olathe women. Only Overland Park, with 2,202 live births, topped Olathe by sheer volume. In contrast, Mission Hills and Leawood had the lowest birth rates, with 6.2 and 9.7 people out of 1,000 giving birth.
Olathe first broke the 2,000 births mark in 2002. A similar milestone was hit in Olathe this year: The Olathe Public Schools had its first 2,000-student kindergarten class. The school district is growing at a tremendous rate, Chris Gralapp, the district’s growth planner, said.
Gralapp said the district is now seeing the effects of the housing boom that hit Olathe earlier this decade.
“There’s not a lot of new construction now,” he said, “but the populations continue to rise because young families have bought these houses years ago and their kids are just now getting into the school system.”
With 2,181 births in 2004, compounded with the number of families that move to Olathe seeking better schools, the numbers are only going to get bigger, he said. Gralapp predicted Olathe would pass the Shawnee Mission School District within three years to become the second-biggest district in Kansas following Wichita Public Schools.
The Olathe district now has four high schools, which serve three grades each. Gralapp said Olathe has acquired land to build a fifth senior high school to deal with the demand.
Other survey tidbits:
■ Teen pregnancy rates continued to decline, but out-of-wedlock births were at an all-time high with 32.6 of babies born out of wedlock in 2004 compared to 25.9 percent in 1994.
■ Half of the state’s abortions were performed on non-Kansans.
■ Kansans were waiting longer to get married. Fewer brides (8.9 percent) and grooms (3.4 percent) were under 20 when they married in 2004 compared to 1995 (11.9 and 4.6 percent, respectively).
The survey results prove what many Johnson Countians have long known to be true. The cities near Kansas City are losing population and the cities that extend outward are gaining. But what the report shows is that the birth and death rates are compounding the exodus and tipping population totals toward the newer suburbs.
People who live in northeast suburbs are dying at a higher rate than those who live on the county’s outskirts. Merriam, Prairie Village and Mission topped the list with 8.5, 8.2 and 7.9 people per 1,000 dying last year. In contrast, those cities finished in the lower half of the birth rates as well, with only Mission Hills and Leawood reporting lower birth percentages.
Gordon Davis, aging information specialist at the county’s Department of Aging, said the department provides services to all areas of Johnson County, but his staff does note higher percentages of older residents in the inner-ring communities, such as Prairie Village and Mission.
“There are older pockets of housing there that traditionally are older neighborhoods that have people aging within them,” he said.
The lowest death rate for 2004 was Fairway’s, which had only 3.6 of 1,000 people dying last year. But its five-year rate crept up to 7, and the city with the lowest death rate over the past five years was – no surprise here – Olathe, where only 4.6 people per 1,000 population died in 2004.
Births, deaths and population growth
Johnson County posted the highest population growth statewide, above-average birth rates and below-average death rates in 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available. Here is how cities in Johnson County compare. Birth and death rates are the number per 1,000 people.

Birth rate in 2004
Births in 2004
Death rate in 2004
Deaths in 2004
Population in 2004
% change 2003-2004
Statewide
14.5
39,553
9
23,720
2,735,502
0.4
Johnson
15.4
7,651
5.7
2,827
496,691
2.1
Fairway
15.8
61
3.6
14
3,849
-1
Leawood
9.7
286
5.2
153
29,504
2.1
Lenexa
15.1
644
5.8
247
42,615
1.5
Merriam
13.3
143
8.5
92
10,774
-0.6
Mission
12.3
120
7.9
77
9,772
2.2
Mission Hills
6.2
22
4
14
3,524
-0.8
Olathe
20.1
2,181
4.7
508
108,390
3
Overland Park
13.5
2,202
5.8
948
162,728
1.5
Prairie Village
12.3
264
8.2
176
21,511
-1
Roeland Park
15.3
107
5.3
37
6,997
-1.1
Shawnee
16.5
927
5.4
301
56,178
3.9
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment did not include in its study complete data for De Soto, Edgerton, Gardner, Spring Hill, Westwood, Westwood Hills or Mission Woods.
County vs. state
Here is how Johnson county stacked up against statewide averages in 2004:
■ Population
County: up 10.1 percent.
State: up 0.4 percent.
■ Birth rates
County: 15.4 per 1,000.
State: 14.5 per 1,000.
■ Teenage pregnancy rates
County: 14.6 per 1,000 girls.
State: 26.1 per 1,000 girls.
■ Death rates
County: 5.7 per 1,000.
State: 8.7 per 1,000.
■ Marriage rates
County: 5.3 per 1,000.
State: 7.0 per 1,000.
■ Divorce rates
County: 0.8 per 1,000.
State: 3.2 per 1,000.