# Kansas City (Somali community)

> Kansas City's Somali community in the Historic Northeast: Census counts, refugee arrivals since 1992, Somali Bantu families, mosques, businesses and 2025 pressures.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/diaspora/kansas-city/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

The US Census Bureau's 2020–2024 survey counted 3,249 Somali people in the Kansas City metro area, including 2,781 in Kansas City, Missouri ([US Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024, B02025, via Census Reporter](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=16000US2938000,05000US29095,16000US2036000,31000US28140,04000US29,04000US20)). Local estimates have ranged from 3,000 in 2003 to about 6,000 ([The Pitch, August 2003](https://www.thepitchkc.com/out-of-africa-2/); [Visit KC](https://visitkc.com/visitors/things-do/trip-ideas-tools/discover/diversity/african-community-kansas-city)).

## How many Somalis live in Kansas City?

The American Community Survey (ACS) for 2020–2024 counted 2,781 people of Somali race or origin in Kansas City, Missouri, plus or minus 1,079 ([ACS 2020–2024, B02025](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=16000US2938000,05000US29095,16000US2036000,31000US28140,04000US29,04000US20)). It counted 180 in Kansas City, Kansas, and 3,249 in the whole metro area ([ACS 2020–2024, B02025](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=16000US2938000,05000US29095,16000US2036000,31000US28140,04000US29,04000US20)).

Statewide, the survey counted 4,237 Somali people in Missouri and 1,266 in Kansas ([ACS 2020–2024, B02025](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=16000US2938000,05000US29095,16000US2036000,31000US28140,04000US29,04000US20)). In the metro area, 1,628 people gave Somali ancestry and 884 were born in Somalia ([ACS 2020–2024, B04006](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B04006&geo_ids=31000US28140); [ACS 2020–2024, B05006](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B05006&geo_ids=31000US28140)).

Local counts are higher and older. In 2003, the community's elected chairman said he served about 3,000 Somalis in Kansas City ([The Pitch, 2003](https://www.thepitchkc.com/out-of-africa-2/)). The Kansas City Star put the figure at about 5,000 in 2008 ([Kansas City Star via Hiiraan Online, September 2008](https://hiiraan.com/news4/2008/Sept/7832/east_africa_refugees_find_welcoming_home_in_kc.aspx)). The city's visitor bureau now gives about 6,000 ([Visit KC](https://visitkc.com/visitors/things-do/trip-ideas-tools/discover/diversity/african-community-kansas-city)).

## How did Somalis come to Kansas City?

Somali refugees began arriving in Kansas City in 1992, after Somalia's government collapsed in January 1991 ([The Pitch, 2003](https://www.thepitchkc.com/out-of-africa-2/)). Most had waited first in camps in Kenya and Ethiopia ([The Pitch](https://www.thepitchkc.com/out-of-africa-2/)). The Don Bosco Nationalities Center housed early arrivals, enrolled them in support programmes and taught basic English ([The Pitch](https://www.thepitchkc.com/out-of-africa-2/)).

By 2008, about 700 Somali families lived in Northeast Kansas City ([KCUR, June 2008](https://www.kcur.org/2008-06-23/somalis-adapt-to-life-in-kansas-city)). Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) resettled 842 Somali refugees in the ten years to 2008, including 112 in 2007 ([Kansas City Star via Hiiraan Online, 2008](https://hiiraan.com/news4/2008/Sept/7832/east_africa_refugees_find_welcoming_home_in_kc.aspx)).

A large group of Somali Bantu families came in the mid-2000s. JVS resettled about 330 refugees in one year, including many Somali Bantu, who had spent 10 to 15 years in camps ([Voice of America, 2005](https://voanews.com/a/a-13-2005-05-04-voa87-66384147/547997.html)). Many had no formal schooling in any language, which made learning English harder ([VOA](https://voanews.com/a/a-13-2005-05-04-voa87-66384147/547997.html)).

Arrivals continue. In federal fiscal year 2025, Missouri received 102 Somali refugees, the fourth-most of any state, and Kansas received 47 ([US Refugee Processing Center, FY2025](https://www.rpc.state.gov/documents/FY%202025%20Arrivals%20by%20State%20and%20Nationality%20as%20of%2030%20Sep%202025.pdf)). In February 2017, a Somali family of nine landed at Kansas City International Airport a week late, held back by the travel order ([KCUR, February 2017](https://www.kcur.org/community/2017-02-09/somali-refugees-arrive-in-kansas-city-to-warm-welcome)). Dozens of residents met them with cheers and signs ([KCUR](https://www.kcur.org/community/2017-02-09/somali-refugees-arrive-in-kansas-city-to-warm-welcome)).

## Work and business

Early jobs were in airport car rental, warehouses, office cleaning and casinos ([The Pitch, 2003](https://www.thepitchkc.com/out-of-africa-2/)). By 2003, Somali restaurants and halal markets clustered near Lexington and Brooklyn avenues ([The Pitch](https://www.thepitchkc.com/out-of-africa-2/)). One shop owner there had run a store in Mogadishu before the war ([The Pitch](https://www.thepitchkc.com/out-of-africa-2/)).

Today Somali restaurants and halal markets line Lexington and Independence avenues in the Historic Northeast ([Visit KC](https://visitkc.com/visitors/things-do/trip-ideas-tools/discover/diversity/african-community-kansas-city)). The Kansas City Star, citing RefugeKC and CDC data, reported that Somali is the city's third most spoken language ([Kansas City Star via Horseed Media, 2022](https://horseedmedia.net/?p=362534)).

Somalis abroad sent home US$3,134 million in 2025, about 24% of Somalia's GDP ([Central Bank of Somalia, Annual Report 2025](https://centralbank.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Annual-Report_2025.pdf)).

## Who speaks for the community?

Community voice in Kansas City comes mainly through mosques, associations and the agencies that resettle refugees.

- **Masjid Al-Huda Center**, 141 S Van Brunt Blvd, opened in 1994 and serves a mainly Somali congregation ([Visit KC, Muslim life](https://www.visitkc.com/articles/muslim-life-culture-in-kansas-city/)). The Star called it the city's largest and oldest Somali-majority community centre ([Kansas City Star via Horseed Media](https://horseedmedia.net/?p=362534)).
- **Masjidu Nuur Islamic Community Center**, East 11th Street, hosts a mainly Somali Sufi congregation ([Visit KC, Muslim life](https://www.visitkc.com/articles/muslim-life-culture-in-kansas-city/)).
- **The Somali Foundation** was founded in 1999 to give social services to East African refugees ([KCUR, 2008](https://www.kcur.org/2008-06-23/somalis-adapt-to-life-in-kansas-city)).
- **The Somali Bantu Community Association of Greater Kansas City** is a registered non-profit ([ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/851343599)).
- **Della Lamb Community Services** and **JVS** resettle refugees and run English classes ([The Pitch, 2003](https://www.thepitchkc.com/out-of-africa-2/); [KCUR, March 2025](https://www.kcur.org/news/2025-03-21/kansas-city-refugee-resettlement-agencies-donations-federal-funding-cuts)).

Researchers and Somali Bantu women in Kansas City ran 42 health-education sessions together, with JVS interpreters ([Mulcahy et al., BMC Research Notes, 2019](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6757397)).

## What does the community face now?

**Resettlement cuts.** After federal refugee funding froze in early 2025, JVS laid off 12 staff and Della Lamb laid off 19 ([KCUR and The Beacon, March 2025](https://www.kcur.org/news/2025-03-21/kansas-city-refugee-resettlement-agencies-donations-federal-funding-cuts)). Both agencies said the government owed them close to $1 million each ([KCUR](https://www.kcur.org/news/2025-03-21/kansas-city-refugee-resettlement-agencies-donations-federal-funding-cuts)).

**A court case in western Kansas.** In April 2018, a federal jury convicted three men of plotting to bomb a Garden City apartment complex. More than 100 Somali Muslim immigrants lived there ([HPPR, January 2019](https://www.hppr.org/hppr-news/2019-01-25/kansas-men-sentenced-to-prison-in-garden-city-bomb-plot)). In January 2019 they were sentenced to 25 to 30 years ([HPPR](https://www.hppr.org/hppr-news/2019-01-25/kansas-men-sentenced-to-prison-in-garden-city-bomb-plot)).

Somali residents gave videotaped statements to the court about lasting fear, and Garden City's police chief asked for the strictest sentences ([HPPR](https://www.hppr.org/hppr-news/2019-01-25/kansas-men-sentenced-to-prison-in-garden-city-bomb-plot)). Close to 200 Somalis had left nearby Liberal, Kansas, many for Garden City ([KCUR, March 2018](https://www.kcur.org/2018-03-19/somali-immigrants-have-abandoned-kansas-town-after-bomb-plot)).

**Papers.** Across the United States, UNHCR counted 1,355 refugees and 3,945 asylum seekers from Somalia at the end of 2024 ([UNHCR Refugee Data Finder](https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=200&yearFrom=2024&yearTo=2024&coo=SOM&coa_all=true)). See [Refugee papers and status](/en/diaspora/refugee-papers-and-status/).

## How is Kansas City tied to home?

In 2003, a Somali store near Lexington Avenue sold prepaid phone cards and cassettes alongside carpets and household goods ([The Pitch, 2003](https://www.thepitchkc.com/out-of-africa-2/)). Missouri ranks seventh among states for resettled Somali refugees, according to CDC and RefugeKC figures reported by the Star ([Kansas City Star via Horseed Media, 2022](https://horseedmedia.net/?p=362534)).

## What else has been reported?

- **Gun deaths:** Horseed Media reported that shootings killed at least 75 people between 2011 and 2019 in the neighbourhoods where the city's Somali community lives, citing the Kansas City Star ([Horseed Media](https://horseedmedia.net/?p=362534)). The count covers all residents of those areas, not only Somalis.
- **December 2014:** a 15-year-old was struck and killed by a vehicle outside the Somali Center after leading evening prayers, and the FBI opened a civil rights investigation into a possible hate crime ([KCUR, 5 December 2014](https://www.kcur.org/community/2014-12-05/fbi-investigating-death-of-kansas-city-teenager-as-possible-hate-crime)).

## Related pages

- [Other US Somali communities](/en/diaspora/us-other/)
- [United States (Somali diaspora)](/en/diaspora/united-states/)
- [Denver and Colorado](/en/diaspora/denver/)
- [Dallas–Fort Worth](/en/diaspora/dallas-fort-worth/)
- [Why and how Somalis left](/en/diaspora/why-and-how-somalis-left/)
- [Migration routes](/en/diaspora/migration-routes/)
- [Refugee camps](/en/diaspora/refugee-camps/)
- [Refugee papers and status](/en/diaspora/refugee-papers-and-status/)
- [Life after leaving](/en/diaspora/life-after-leaving/)
- [Somali refugees by the numbers](/en/diaspora/somali-refugees-by-the-numbers/)

## Sources

1. US Census Bureau. American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, Tables B02025, B04006 and B05006 (Somali), Kansas City MO and KS, Jackson County, Kansas City metro, Missouri and Kansas, via Census Reporter. [censusreporter.org](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=16000US2938000,05000US29095,16000US2036000,31000US28140,04000US29,04000US20). Checked 2026-11-12.
2. US Refugee Processing Center. "FY 2025 Arrivals by State and Nationality as of 30 Sep 2025." [rpc.state.gov](https://www.rpc.state.gov/documents/FY%202025%20Arrivals%20by%20State%20and%20Nationality%20as%20of%2030%20Sep%202025.pdf). Checked 2026-11-12.
3. Kendrick Blackwood, The Pitch. "Out of Africa." 28 August 2003. [thepitchkc.com](https://www.thepitchkc.com/out-of-africa-2/). Checked 2026-11-12.
4. Susan Wilson, KCUR. "Somalis adapt to life in Kansas City." 23 June 2008. [kcur.org](https://www.kcur.org/2008-06-23/somalis-adapt-to-life-in-kansas-city). Checked 2026-11-12.
5. Kansas City Star (republished by [Hiiraan Online](/en/economy/somali-media-companies/)). "East Africa refugees find welcoming home in KC." September 2008. [hiiraan.com](https://hiiraan.com/news4/2008/Sept/7832/east_africa_refugees_find_welcoming_home_in_kc.aspx). Checked 2026-11-12.
6. Voice of America. Report on Somali Bantu refugees resettled by Jewish Vocational Service in Kansas City. 2005. [voanews.com](https://voanews.com/a/a-13-2005-05-04-voa87-66384147/547997.html). Checked 2026-11-12.
7. Visit KC. "African community in Kansas City." [visitkc.com](https://visitkc.com/visitors/things-do/trip-ideas-tools/discover/diversity/african-community-kansas-city). Checked 2026-11-12.
8. Farooq Ahmed, Visit KC. "Muslim life and culture in Kansas City." [visitkc.com](https://www.visitkc.com/articles/muslim-life-culture-in-kansas-city/). Checked 2026-11-12.
9. Kansas City Star (republished by Horseed Media). Report on Kansas City's Somali community. Posted 28 February 2022. [horseedmedia.net](https://horseedmedia.net/?p=362534). Checked 2026-11-12.
10. KCUR. "Somali refugees arrive in Kansas City to warm welcome." 9 February 2017. [kcur.org](https://www.kcur.org/community/2017-02-09/somali-refugees-arrive-in-kansas-city-to-warm-welcome). Checked 2026-11-12.
11. Suzanne King, The Beacon (via KCUR). "Kansas City's struggling refugee resettlement agencies turn to the public for help after federal cuts." 21 March 2025. [kcur.org](https://www.kcur.org/news/2025-03-21/kansas-city-refugee-resettlement-agencies-donations-federal-funding-cuts). Checked 2026-11-12.
12. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. "Somali Bantu Community Association of Greater KC." [propublica.org](https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/851343599). Checked 2026-11-12.
13. Mulcahy ER, Buchheit C, Max E, Hawley SR, James AS. "Collaborative health education for Somali Bantu refugee women in Kansas City." BMC Research Notes 12:616, 2019. [PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6757397). Checked 2026-11-12.
14. High Plains Public Radio. "Kansas men sentenced to prison in Garden City bomb plot." 25 January 2019. [hppr.org](https://www.hppr.org/hppr-news/2019-01-25/kansas-men-sentenced-to-prison-in-garden-city-bomb-plot). Checked 2026-11-12.
15. Frank Morris, KCUR/NPR. "Somali immigrants have abandoned Kansas town after bomb plot." 19 March 2018. [kcur.org](https://www.kcur.org/2018-03-19/somali-immigrants-have-abandoned-kansas-town-after-bomb-plot). Checked 2026-11-12.
16. Central Bank of Somalia. "Annual Report 2025." August 2026. [centralbank.gov.so](https://centralbank.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Annual-Report_2025.pdf). Checked 2026-11-12.
17. UNHCR. Refugee Data Finder API, Somalia as country of origin, 2024. [unhcr.org](https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=200&yearFrom=2024&yearTo=2024&coo=SOM&coa_all=true). Checked 2026-11-12.
18. Horseed Media. Report on Kansas City Somali community. https://horseedmedia.net/?p=362534. Checked 2026-11-12.
19. KCUR. "FBI investigating death of Kansas City teenager as possible hate crime". 5 Dec 2014. https://www.kcur.org/community/2014-12-05/fbi-investigating-death-of-kansas-city-teenager-as-possible-hate-crime. Checked 2026-11-12.

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