Moving to Overland Park, Kansas

Overland Park is a city of about 203,677 people (U.S. Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025) covering 75 square miles in Johnson County, Kansas. This guide covers the practical side of moving there: utilities, trash and recycling, registering a car, getting a Kansas driver’s license, property taxes and city services. For the city’s neighborhoods, parks and drive times, see the Overland Park area guide.

Overland Park in the Kansas City metro

Overland Park is on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro. Overland Park City Hall, at 8500 Santa Fe Drive, is about 13 miles from Union Station in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, roughly 22 minutes without traffic by OpenStreetMap routing. The Moving to Kansas City guide covers the whole metro.

Neighborhoods

Housing in Overland Park ranges from established streets with mature trees to newer subdivisions. The median value of owner-occupied homes was $413,600 in the Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 American Community Survey.

The area guide covers the city’s neighborhoods, and LionsGate and Deer Creek have their own golf community pages. A good place to start is your own list: the size of home, your commute and the setting you want. From there we can pick the areas to tour and look at listings together.

Setting up utilities

Overland Park does not provide utility or trash service. The city lists these companies as permitted or under agreement to serve Overland Park:

• Electricity: Evergy, 888-471-5275
• Water: WaterOne, 913-895-1800. Request service online or by phone at least one business day ahead, or two if the water is off. An adult 18 or older must be there when service starts.
• Natural gas: Kansas Gas Service, 800-794-4780, or Atmos Energy, 888-442-1313, depending on the address
• Sewer: Johnson County Wastewater, 913-715-8500
• Internet, cable and phone: AT&T, Everfast Fiber, Google Fiber and Spectrum, plus DIRECTV and Dish

Johnson County’s Location Services tool shows the providers and school district for any county address.

Trash and recycling rules in Overland Park

The city does not collect trash or recycling. It permits private haulers after reviewing their insurance and inspecting their trucks each year, and you choose your hauler. Every permitted hauler must provide:

• Standard trash removal
• Curbside recycling of household recyclables, excluding glass
• Yard waste collection at least 40 weeks a year, including grass clippings, leaves and small tree trimmings, in lawn bags (plastic bags are not picked up)
• At least one bulky item pickup a year, scheduled with the hauler (the city’s own bulky item program moved to the haulers in 2022)

Put trash, recycling and yard waste at the curb, not in the street or on the sidewalk, on collection day, and bring containers back within 24 hours. Hauler-issued containers can be stored within two feet of the front, side or rear of the house without screening. Extra containers must be screened from view or kept in the garage, and homes associations may have their own rules.

The city’s drop-off Recycling Center is at 11921 Hardy, open Tuesday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with last entry at 3:50 p.m. It takes residential recycling only. Paint, chemicals, batteries and other household hazardous waste go to the Johnson County Household Waste Collection and Reuse Facility, open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. by appointment (913-715-6907).

Registering your car

Kansas requires a vehicle to be registered within 90 days of establishing a Kansas residence, whether you own, rent or lease your home.

1. Take the vehicle and its title to a Kansas Highway Patrol inspection station for a VIN inspection (form MVE-1). Kansas does not require an emissions test.
2. Bring the title, the pink copy of the MVE-1 and proof of insurance to a Johnson County Motor Vehicle Office in Mission or Olathe. You can reserve a place in line from your phone. Vehicles cannot be registered at the Treasurer’s office in the County Administration Building.
3. If your lender holds the title, Johnson County requests it from the lender for you.

You pay vehicle property tax when you first register and again with each yearly renewal. The Kansas Department of Revenue’s lookup estimates it by make, model and year.

Getting a Kansas driver’s license

You have 90 days after establishing residency to trade an out-of-state license for a Kansas one. If your license is valid, no written or driving test is required. Bring proof of lawful presence, proof of your Social Security number and two proofs of your Kansas address. Most licenses arrive by mail in 14 to 20 days, and some take up to 45.

Property taxes in Overland Park

Johnson County values every property as of January 1 and mails notices of appraised value by March 1. If you disagree with the value, you generally have 30 days to request an informal appeal, or you can pay under protest when the tax is due, one or the other each year.

Residential property is assessed at 11.5% of appraised value, and the tax is the assessed value times the total levy in mills, divided by 1,000. These were the 2025 levies for an Overland Park home:

Added up, that is about 104.5 mills for a home in Blue Valley USD 229 and about 98.9 mills in Shawnee Mission USD 512. Kansas exempts the first $75,000 of a home’s value from the 20-mill statewide school levy, which takes about $172 off each bill.

On a home appraised at $413,600, the city’s median value, the assessed value is $47,564, and the 2025 levies come to about $4,800 a year in Blue Valley USD 229 and about $4,530 in Shawnee Mission USD 512. Special assessments can add to an individual bill. The first half of the tax is due by December 20 and the second half by May 10.

Owners who meet income and home value limits and another condition, such as being 55 or older or having a disability, can claim a Kansas homestead refund of up to $700 a year from the Kansas Department of Revenue.

Schools

Overland Park is served by more than one school district, including Blue Valley USD 229 and Shawnee Mission USD 512.

Always verify boundaries

School attendance boundaries do not always follow city limits or neighborhood names, and they can change. Look up each address in Johnson County’s Location Services or the Kansas State Department of Education’s district lookup, then confirm the assigned schools with the district before you decide.

Severe weather alerts

Overland Park’s emergency management division tests the outdoor warning system and uses Notify JoCo for alerts. Johnson County tests its sirens at 11 a.m. on the first Wednesday of each month, or the second Wednesday if the weather is bad. The city sounds sirens by zone based on National Weather Service warnings, and they are meant for people outdoors, so sign up for Notify JoCo or keep a weather radio as well.

Getting around the metro

Interstate 435, US 69 and the Metcalf and Nall corridors connect Overland Park to the rest of the metro. Commute times depend on where you work and when, so test a drive at the hours you would travel. Johnson County Transit is part of RideKC, which charges $2 a ride from June 1, 2026.

Kansas and Missouri considerations

Because the metro spans two states, where you buy affects state income tax, property assessment and how you register a car. The state-line guide compares the two side by side with each state’s published rates. Tom is licensed in both Kansas and Missouri, so you can compare homes across the whole metro.

Starting a remote search with Tom

If you are moving from out of the area, you can start before you arrive:

• A search set up to send you matching listings as they come on the market
• Detailed reviews of the homes you are interested in
• Video walkthroughs or live virtual tours when you cannot visit
• Touring schedules planned around the trips you make
• Prompt replies across time zones

Contact Tom

Tom Staats is a REALTOR® with Keller Williams Realty Partners, Inc. in Overland Park, licensed in Kansas and Missouri. Call or text 913-777-4461, or send a message about your move.