Kansas City (Somali community)

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). Local estimates have ranged from 3,000 in 2003 to about 6,000 (The Pitch, August 2003; Visit KC).

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). It counted 180 in Kansas City, Kansas, and 3,249 in the whole metro area (ACS 2020–2024, B02025).

Statewide, the survey counted 4,237 Somali people in Missouri and 1,266 in Kansas (ACS 2020–2024, B02025). In the metro area, 1,628 people gave Somali ancestry and 884 were born in Somalia (ACS 2020–2024, B04006; ACS 2020–2024, B05006).

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). The Kansas City Star put the figure at about 5,000 in 2008 (Kansas City Star via Hiiraan Online, September 2008). The city's visitor bureau now gives about 6,000 (Visit KC).

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). Most had waited first in camps in Kenya and Ethiopia (The Pitch). The Don Bosco Nationalities Center housed early arrivals, enrolled them in support programmes and taught basic English (The Pitch).

By 2008, about 700 Somali families lived in Northeast Kansas City (KCUR, June 2008). 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).

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). Many had no formal schooling in any language, which made learning English harder (VOA).

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). 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). Dozens of residents met them with cheers and signs (KCUR).

Work and business

Early jobs were in airport car rental, warehouses, office cleaning and casinos (The Pitch, 2003). By 2003, Somali restaurants and halal markets clustered near Lexington and Brooklyn avenues (The Pitch). One shop owner there had run a store in Mogadishu before the war (The Pitch).

Today Somali restaurants and halal markets line Lexington and Independence avenues in the Historic Northeast (Visit KC). 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).

Somalis abroad sent home US$3,134 million in 2025, about 24% of Somalia's GDP (Central Bank of Somalia, Annual Report 2025).

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). The Star called it the city's largest and oldest Somali-majority community centre (Kansas City Star via Horseed Media).
• Masjidu Nuur Islamic Community Center, East 11th Street, hosts a mainly Somali Sufi congregation (Visit KC, Muslim life).
• The Somali Foundation was founded in 1999 to give social services to East African refugees (KCUR, 2008).
• The Somali Bantu Community Association of Greater Kansas City is a registered non-profit (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer).
• Della Lamb Community Services and JVS resettle refugees and run English classes (The Pitch, 2003; KCUR, March 2025).

Researchers and Somali Bantu women in Kansas City ran 42 health-education sessions together, with JVS interpreters (Mulcahy et al., BMC Research Notes, 2019).

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). Both agencies said the government owed them close to $1 million each (KCUR).

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). In January 2019 they were sentenced to 25 to 30 years (HPPR).

Somali residents gave videotaped statements to the court about lasting fear, and Garden City's police chief asked for the strictest sentences (HPPR). Close to 200 Somalis had left nearby Liberal, Kansas, many for Garden City (KCUR, March 2018).

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). See 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). 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).

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). 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).

Related pages

• Other US Somali communities
• United States (Somali diaspora)
• Denver and Colorado
• Dallas–Fort Worth
• Why and how Somalis left
• Migration routes
• Refugee camps
• Refugee papers and status
• Life after leaving
• 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. Checked 2026-11-12.
2. US Refugee Processing Center. "FY 2025 Arrivals by State and Nationality as of 30 Sep 2025." rpc.state.gov. Checked 2026-11-12.
3. Kendrick Blackwood, The Pitch. "Out of Africa." 28 August 2003. thepitchkc.com. Checked 2026-11-12.
4. Susan Wilson, KCUR. "Somalis adapt to life in Kansas City." 23 June 2008. kcur.org. Checked 2026-11-12.
5. Kansas City Star (republished by Hiiraan Online). "East Africa refugees find welcoming home in KC." September 2008. hiiraan.com. Checked 2026-11-12.
6. Voice of America. Report on Somali Bantu refugees resettled by Jewish Vocational Service in Kansas City. 2005. voanews.com. Checked 2026-11-12.
7. Visit KC. "African community in Kansas City." visitkc.com. Checked 2026-11-12.
8. Farooq Ahmed, Visit KC. "Muslim life and culture in Kansas City." visitkc.com. 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. Checked 2026-11-12.
10. KCUR. "Somali refugees arrive in Kansas City to warm welcome." 9 February 2017. kcur.org. 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. Checked 2026-11-12.
12. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. "Somali Bantu Community Association of Greater KC." propublica.org. 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. Checked 2026-11-12.
14. High Plains Public Radio. "Kansas men sentenced to prison in Garden City bomb plot." 25 January 2019. hppr.org. Checked 2026-11-12.
15. Frank Morris, KCUR/NPR. "Somali immigrants have abandoned Kansas town after bomb plot." 19 March 2018. kcur.org. Checked 2026-11-12.
16. Central Bank of Somalia. "Annual Report 2025." August 2026. centralbank.gov.so. Checked 2026-11-12.
17. UNHCR. Refugee Data Finder API, Somalia as country of origin, 2024. unhcr.org. 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.