Considering Hays, Kansas...the good, the bad, the ugly (Wichita: sales, real estate)

[lavenderlady3388]

I would really appreciate the low-down on Hays, Kansas. The weather (summer and winter including humidity in summer), whether or not the folks there will welcome outsiders, crime (how bad) and whether or not "the arts" are robust in the community.

Here's where I am coming from: early 60's, looking for a simple, quiet place to live out my life (or at least until I get pushed into an old age home). I am a not-for-profit artist, but very much like to keep abreast of the arts and be involved, lean towards the liberal side (but can keep my mouth shut if I don't agree with opposing opinions, dog lover and tend to be a loner, but forcing myself to get out and about more.

Why I am interested in Hays: right size population for my wants (30K to 60K) looks like it would be easy to navigate, good rep at the hospital, local state college, fair amount of restaurants, low crime and I don't have to deal with hilly roads in bad weather. Mainly don't want to live in Podunk, but fear the hub-bub of a larger city and would never take advantage of going into a larger city. Soooo, here's your chance to sing the praises of Hays. Thank you one and all for any useful info. OH! And one last note: I truly fear the idea of tornadoes. I'm not really seeing safe rooms in my price range low to mid 200's, and wondering if a basement offers any sense of protection or that is just nonsense.

[mshultz]

I am seriously considering retiring to Hays, Kansas for many of the same reasons. I was able to visit it in June 2012, and would like to visit again.

Although I visited during a heat wave and drought, there is no doubt that Hays is a drier climate than northeast Ohio. I enjoyed the reduced humidity, especially the morning I walked through the park behind my hotel. Even the grass was dry.

Compared to where I live, winter is colder at night, but warmer and sunnier during the day, with a foot less snow. Since Hays does not plow residential streets, a 4WD vehicle with high ground clearance like my Toyota Tacoma would probably be useful. It is very easy to get around in Hays, since it is flat and the roads are laid out in a grid.

Crime is relatively low in Hays; the unemployment rate is really low. People who are working are much less likely to be up to mischief.

The university cities are the center of culture in Kansas, and Hays has the only public university in western Kansas.

The Wal*Mart cashier was surprised I chose to vacation in Hays. I got the feeling outsiders would be welcomed. The people I met were nice.

As far as tornadoes, even in Kansas, most people have never seen a tornado. I had one close enough to my house in Ohio that I could hear it. If I had recognized it as a tornado, and looked out the front window, I might have been able to see it.

[lavenderlady3388]

Thank you so much for your observations MShultz. Do you know why the residential streets are not plowed? I have never heard of this. Hopefully locals will find these posts and add some of their own info!

[mshultz]

Here is an article that indicates they did spray brine and plow residential streets at least once in 2013:
https://local.nixle.com/alert/4966002/
Note the disclaimer saying this does not indicate a change in policy.

I think the reason they do not normally provide snow removal on residential streets is a lack of resources. However, Hays gets very little moisture during the winter months, and a lot of sun between snowstorms. By way of contrast, there are elementary school-aged children in northeast Ohio who have never seen a sunny day.

[lavenderlady3388]

Thanks for the additional info MShultz. I can appreciate not having resources. Still I would think people living/working on the same street would band together and pool their money to hire an independent plower to come in. I guess I just have never had to deal with this before. Sure would hate to have to sell my car to buy a 4 wheeler. I'll definitely have to look into just how much snow this area gets.

[AnywhereElse]

Make sure you look at local and state taxes especially real and personal property taxes since that is one of the things that drive people away from the state. Also look at insurance rates. If you are used to the way the roads are taken care of in the northern states, KS across the board doesn't seem to do very good. Also, dry means blowing dust.

[Mattks]

My wife lived in Hays for 6 years and we go there twice a year to visit friends. To me the absolutely worst thing is the weather. Hot summers and cold winters. Not a lot of precipitation any time of the year. My wife was actually impressed by the snow removal in Hays, but she lived on a main street going through a neighborhood, so that probably limits her experience. Real estate and rent is relatively high for the state. Hays is a very isolated city, it will take half a day of driving to get to Wichita or Denver, Salina is about 1.5 hours driving, but is still not a big place. FHSU is the cultural center to Hays, they have a lot of events open to the public. Downtown is suprisingly nice and lots of little shops, but it is small. Many good restaurants, steak houses, sushi, Filipino, Chinese, Italian, cafes, etc.
In my personal opinion Hays is a good town, but it would be hard for me to live there, simply too isolated and the plains are boring to me, but that's a personal opinion. If you buy or rent make sure you have central heat and air, it makes life a lot easier and comfortable. The people are friendly, but I don't know if that means it's easy to get in new social circles, I would recommend hitting up some cafes where older folks tend to meet, that would probably be a good idea. Old farmers love to hang out at cafes for hours just chatting about nothing.

[lavenderlady3388]

Thanks for your input Anywhere Else. Yes, I will do more investigating in the tax thing. Insurance rates I did not think about, but makes good sense. Dry means blowing dust. Yep, and no matter where I live, I plan on putting an air cleaner in. Frankly I can move anywhere in the US, but I find this particularly hard to sort out because there are so many parameters that I have instituted: no extreme weather (hot or cold), close to a college, not too big, not too small, little crime, not too expensive...the list goes on and on. It was surely easier when my husband had a job transfer and you just simply picked the best of what you could afford within so many miles of the job. This really blows!

Mattks I realize the summers are hot and the winters are cold and everyone has their own standards of what they can accept. I have lived all over the US it seems like...Houston and Tampa were the pits when it comes to heat and humidity. Buffalo and Syracuse were the worst I have experienced when it comes to raw, winter weather. I would prefer not duplicating any of those four places weather-wise. And I do worry about the "plains" being less than exciting. The home in my heart will always be Asheville with the gorgeous mountains, but I can no longer afford living there. And living in the open, so to speak, might be a nice change of pace...sort of like living in Big Sky country. I also know that Hays could be considered small to some folks as you mentioned, but I come from a town that has just over 500 people and I have to drive 15 minutes to get to a gas station. There is nothing close by...everything is a 15 to 30 minute drive and I'm just talking about getting to a WalMart. Nope I'm done with that, but I also know getting into anything bigger than 60K, I would start to stress out.

I do appreciate everyone's comments though. Gives me more issues to keep delving into and considering.

[AnywhereElse]

Did you look at C-D main page: https://www.city-data.com/city/Hays-Kansas.html Also keep in mind that you will have limited shopping and many choices of products, unless you can order online, won't be available.

A lot of people are choosing to leave KS for retirement. The other day I was ordering something to send to my brother in MI and after changing the address from KS to MI, his sales tax total was 30% of what mine would have been for the same item. We bought a $10,000 pop-up trailer and paid almost $1,000 in sales tax, in NC where my older son lives it would have been less than $400.00. Now, we have to pay a personal property tax every year on it. Seems like it is about $300.00 a year. The tax on our house valued at $59,000 is about $1,200 a year. It just seems in retirement that would eat us alive. Although Brownback, the governor (term used loosely), is reducing state taxes, the local governments have to raise taxes to make up the difference and where that isn't possible, we just do without.

Have you looked at Arkansas or Alabama? Too humid? I love Alabama and many people are retiring to that state.

I was in Hays once years ago and it was a nice city. I really dislike the blowing dust and the ensuing "Kansas Kurd" - a sort of bronchitis that it always gave me. Have you considered Lindsborg? It is a quaint little town and would put you nearer the larger cities if you needed more extensive services or a heavier dose of culture? Manhattan might be a larger area than you are looking for but I always liked that area and the closeness to Topeka for an occasional out of town trip. I also really liked Salina and my husband and myself hoped to return there for retirement (no longer) as they had good services, especially medical which can be hard to get in some KS towns. I would avoid SE and SW KS, just because.

[lavenderlady3388]

I did take a look at the photos AnywhereElse. ;o} The tax things stinks! As for shopping, I do almost everything via the internet, so I don't think that will be an issue. The blowing dust thing could very well be. I am not familiar with Lindsborg, so I will check it out. I have looked at Salina, but not carefully. Kind of poked around in Hot Springs and Eureka Springs in AR and Birmingham in Alabama, but do worry about the humidity. Like I said, it is very overwhelming to have too many choices. I feel like Goldilocks checking out the bears' beds!