Four major middle Midwest metros: Kansas City, Saint Louis, Omaha, Indianapolis (live, best)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
KC is definitely underrated, but come on man. Kansas City doesn't have anything to offer that St. Louis doesn't have in abundance. As far as urban, hip neighborhoods it is no comparison. St. Louis blows KC and every other neighborhood on this thread. Aesthetically, "Paris on the Prairie" isn't that Chicago? Nothing very Parisian about KC's architecture, but it does have some beautiful neighborhoods, although St. Louis has a superior housing stock in the city and suburbs. Better restaurants? Up for debate.....hipper vibe? I guess. Younger? More immigration from Latin America. KC is definitely more of a bedroom community than St. Louis, St. Louis has an edgier vibe for sure.... at least in the inner city.
It got dubbed that mostly because of the abundance of boulevards from what I have been told. KC had some fantastic leaders early in it's history to plan and institute so many boulevards and fountains.
Been to St.Louis plenty of times....I travel weekly around the US....my company has offices in St.Louis and Kansas City. I'm looking at metros as a total, and for better or worse, STL is linked to East St. Louis. KC just has a younger, hipper vibe, with better restaurants, and miles upon miles of beautiful neighborhoods (there is a reason it was nicknamed "Paris of the Plains").
East St. Louis has what, 30,000 people? St. Louis County is one of the safest in America and has 1 million people. And St. Louis is linked with the town across the river with 30,000 people?..
It depends on what you consider "quality of life." KC people are not that friendly compared to other places I've lived, particularly suburban areas. The climate in KC generally sucks with scorching summers and wind. The metro is very spread out and many other metros offer far more for a slightly higher cost of living. The social culture of KC leaves lots to be deisred as well.
1. People in KC are as "friendly" as anywhere else, certainly no difference in the midwestern cities in that regard, and I don't buy that there is that much difference anywhere. Certainly some places have dominant socio-ethnic cultures that are "cooler" (New England) or more hostile to outsiders (Hawai'i) but people have and make friends averywhere.
2. The climate in KC is excellent. Full four seasons, real winter, real summer, plenty of sunshine, beautiful lush green spring with big storms and an incomparable fall. ITs green, verdant, the soil is rich, its hilly and scenic, there are all kinds of things do do outdoors, AC is only "necessary" about a month or 2 a year, it snows regularly in the winter but doesn't shut-in, more or less 7 months of the year are very pleasant here, and 4 of those are pitch-perfect and gorgeous.
3. KC has an excellent social, civic and urban culture, well above most cities its size, and often times equal to or very comparable to larger metros. Very few 2 million person metro offers as much as KC, regardless of cost of living, with the exception of Portland. KC open and welcoming, there's a lot of high and low culture, almost no pretension, a very broad spectrum of politics, religiousness, and an overarching sense of the kind of egalitarianism and little "d" democratic value system that the midwest has always cherished and nourished.
And 4. The metro is not any more spread out than any other midwestern mid-sized city. It's urbanized area's population density is smack dab in the middle of the pack of the StL, Cleveland, Cincy, Columbus, Indy, Minneapolis, et al.
But you can keep singing your silly song until the wheels fall off, man, but it's still just regurgitated bull****. You don't like KC. Fine. I don't like a lot of places (like New England, for instance), so you you know what I don't do? Lurk around internet forums about New Hampshire and repeat semi-facts, misrepresentations and outright falsehoods about it.
Really? KC people dont need to be so stuck up. keep that mentality with the New Yorkers.
and 2nd arguing with a moderator and calling what he says BS?
Ouch...............
Really? KC people dont need to be so stuck up. keep that mentality with the New Yorkers.
and 2nd arguing with a moderator and calling what he says BS?
Ouch...............
Well, I have no problems with him, but I think he rubs a lot of people the wrong way being the moderator of the KC forums, it's well known on the kc forums that he doesn't like kc (and doesn't even know much about the actual city (only suburban johnson county). No offense to him, I also agree with him quite often as well.
great post s.davis. I agree 100% with your post about kc. The only thing KC lacks IMO is a winter pro sport (NHL/NBA) and better recreational and transit options. KC is way WAY behind when it comes to bike trails, river front trails, bike lanes, urban park development (not just grass but actual use) etc. KC is also way behind when it comes to transit, although there are some mid sized cities out there that are even worse than KC when it comes to transit. At least KC has a pretty solid urban core bus system. Also the state line in KC is a deal breaker for me. I hate how the city can't get along with itself. That alone will keep me away. But KC offers a lot for the size of the metro, it really does.
Yeah, KC is not perfect by any measure, all of the flaws you noted are accurate and well known. I certainly don't think its the greatest place on earth, and I'm definitely not a blinders-on booster, but there's also a tendency for people -- on these boards and in real life -- to spout of a bunch of oft-repeated but nonetheless inaccurate hyperbolic criticisms of KC ("very sprawled out", or "flat/treeless" or "bible belt/conservative" or "bad for singles") which are basically based on ignorance, stereotype, assumption and prejudice.
Well, I have no problems with him, but I think he rubs a lot of people the wrong way being the moderator of the KC forums, it's well known on the kc forums that he doesn't like kc (and doesn't even know much about the actual city (only suburban johnson county). No offense to him, I also agree with him quite often as well.
great post s.davis. I agree 100% with your post about kc. The only thing KC lacks IMO is a winter pro sport (NHL/NBA) and better recreational and transit options. KC is way WAY behind when it comes to bike trails, river front trails, bike lanes, urban park development (not just grass but actual use) etc. KC is also way behind when it comes to transit, although there are some mid sized cities out there that are even worse than KC when it comes to transit. At least KC has a pretty solid urban core bus system. Also the state line in KC is a deal breaker for me. I hate how the city can't get along with itself. That alone will keep me away. But KC offers a lot for the size of the metro, it really does.
So Does Indianapolis.
Indianapolis and Kansas City offer plenty of the same amendities.
Indy is better in urban trails though ill give credit to Indy for that.
the cultural trail is awsome.
Yeah, KC is not perfect by any measure, all of the flaws you noted are accurate and well known. I certainly don't think its the greatest place on earth, and I'm definitely not a blinders-on booster, but there's also a tendency for people -- on these boards and in real life -- to spout of a bunch of oft-repeated but nonetheless inaccurate hyperbolic criticisms of KC ("very sprawled out", or "flat/treeless" or "bible belt/conservative" or "bad for singles") which are basically based on ignorance, stereotype, assumption and prejudice.
Sounds like exactly what people say about the Midwest in general.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
