Bates in pictures
2 postcards, papers and photographs from public archives.
Explore the history →A town of 162. A regional job hub with 261 jobs.
The 2 things Bates does most differently from other towns.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Be the first to start the conversation.
Ordered by what stands out in Bates. Another town gets a different order.
Most working residents leave Bates for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Kansas City (20%), Blue Springs (12%) and Lee's Summit (9%). Half commute less than 19 miles.
The typical Bates home is worth about $375,000, up 7% in a year, 40% above the Missouri typical home.
Bates has chilly winters and warm summers. A typical July afternoon reaches 88°, a January night drops to 20°, and about 12 inches of snow falls in a normal winter.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 36% of U.S. communities.
7 crimes were reported in Bates in 2025: 6 property and 1 violent. In a town this small, a few incidents move the numbers a lot, so rates aren't shown.
Bates is small, so we show counts rather than rates.
Bates beats the Missouri average on 3 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0.
| What stands out | Bates | MO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.8% | 15.8% |
| More adults screened for colon cancer | 69.2% | 64% |
Where Bates’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
2 postcards, papers and photographs from public archives.
Explore the history →City in Missouri, United States
Bates City is a city in western Lafayette County, Missouri, and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The population was 219 at the 2020 census, which is neither a gain nor a loss in population since 2010.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)