How do Kansas City and Missouri rank in national report on ‘pothole problems’?

Natalie Wallington
·1 min read
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Kansas City is one of the top metro areas in the nation for search terms related to potholes and the issues they cause, according to a new report from USA Today.

The publication analyzed Google Trends reports between January 2020 and October 2023 for the search terms “pothole,” “potholes,” “pothole repair,” “pothole damage” and “pothole complaint.”

Missouri ranked 14th for these searches out of all 50 states, while the Kansas City metro area ranked 10th in the nation, leading USA Today to declare them “hot spots” for pothole-related problems.

Here are the metro areas that ranked above Kansas City for pothole related searches:

1. New York, NY

2. Los Angeles, CA

3. Minneapolis, MN

4. Nashville, TN

5. San Francisco, CA

6. Spokane, WA

7. Yakima, WA

8. Washington D.C.

9. Seattle, WA

While web search data doesn’t quantify them directly, potholes are a widely discussed issue in Kansas City — and one the city has said it is working aggressively to solve, particularly through street resurfacing initiatives.

City 311 complaint data shows that residents have reported 6,680 potholes to the city in 2023 so far. That’s a drop of 19% from the same period last year — Between Jan. 1 and Nov. 7 of 2022, residents made 8,259 pothole complaints to 311.

The map below shows all the pothole complaints filed with 311 during 2022 and 2023. You can report a pothole in your area by calling 311 or using the MyKCMO mobile app.

Do you have more questions about public works or development in Kansas City? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.