How do you like living in Kansas? (Kansas City, St. Louis: sales, apartment)

[UTVols865]

I'm looking at a possible relocation to Johnson County, Kansas for my wife. I'm curious to know more about Kansas.

For those who moved to Kansas, how do you like living in the state? What are pros and cons you can share?

Does Kansas have plenty of open space and friendly people with balanced cost of living (overall including housing prices and tax burden) and good paying jobs at universities/community colleges?

I noticed Kansas is growing rapidly in Johnson City for a state that is experiencing a rural flight. Are the newcomers mostly from other states or are they just Kansans from rural areas?

I'm curious since my parents are from Missouri. Is Johnson County attracting Missourians as well?

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by UTVols865

I'm looking at a possible relocation to Johnson County, Kansas for my wife. I'm curious to know more about Kansas.

For those who moved to Kansas, how do you like living in the state? What are pros and cons you can share?

Does Kansas have plenty of open space and friendly people with balanced cost of living (overall including housing prices and tax burden) and good paying jobs at universities/community colleges?

I noticed Kansas is growing rapidly in Johnson City for a state that is experiencing a rural flight. Are the newcomers mostly from other states or are they just Kansans from rural areas?

I'm curious since my parents are from Missouri. Is Johnson County attracting Missourians as well?

Hi there, I moved from KC to the DC area. Lived in Germantown for a while, now live in Annapolis. Work in DC and Silver Spring.

Johnson County is a large suburb. It's not all that different from the new parts of upper Montgomery County (think the 270 corridor), it just doesn't have dense business districts like Rockville, Silver Spring and Bethesda. Actually it's more like Tyson Corner or McLean in NoVA only zero transit options (not that No VA is transit heaven, it’s light years ahead of the KC area, especially the KS side of KC.) JoCo is Louden County VA with some Tysons Corner type office park areas mixed in.

What I'm saying is that's pretty typical big city suburbs. Pretty different than the rest of Kansas, but not all that different than suburban Chicago, Dallas, Denver, St Louis etc.

Having said that, it's VERY different culturally from a place like Bethesda. Very conservative. Bethesda is very urban compared to anything in Kansas. You would have to go to KCMO (on the Missouri side for urban areas, the plaza area of KCMO is sort of like downtown Bethesda at least in urban scale). I’m not sure if a lot of people from Missouri move there or not. There are plenty of fast growing suburbs on the Missouri side of KC too which probably get most of the MO people.

Cost of living in “joco” is dirt cheap compared to dc, but it’s one of the more expensive areas in metro KC. I personally think it’s a bit overpriced for what you get compared to other suburbs around KC, but that depends on what you want I guess.

I personally think the best thing about JoCo is its proximity to Kansas City, Missouri, but there are lots of decent paying white collar jobs there. Overall taxes are lower, but sales taxes are high in metro KC and they have personal property taxes on vehicles. There is almost no traffic compared to DC, but it’s not like it’s a small town either. It’s a big city with little to no congestion.

Kansas (and Missouri) have lots of open space, but JoCo is pretty built out. There is very little recreational space there for the population. It’s not like Maryland where you have so much parkland and greenways reserved for recreation even in populated suburbs. But at the same time it’s more spread out. Basically instead of having lots of “usable” parks and greenways and state parks the place has lots of grass with very large right of way for roads and huge setbacks for buildings. So it’s spread out and green but the green space is more for aesthetics than recreation.

Overall though metro KC is a nice place to live and you can really live nice there on a lower salary. The city has lots of big city attractions that are easily accessible vs a large crowded area like DC where it can be more difficult to take advantage of cultural and entertainment assets due to cost, traffic, etc.

[RjRobb2]

I dont live in Kansas but I do work in Kansas.

I do know several people that have moved from Missouri to Kansas but I also know people that do the opposite.

If I were to move to Kansas, I would probably choose Shawnee. I work in Shawnee but there are a few others reasons as well including, close to downtown and other areas of the city, things seem to be a bit cheaper there, it isnt nearly as crowded, the traffic isnt nearly as congested, downtown Shawnee is a bit more original than most of JoCo, and housing is a bit cheaper.

If the schools were better, I would also consider Wyandotte over in the Legends area. I have some friends who have moved out there over the years and they have gotten a really good return on their homes because property values have increased due to all the development.

[flynavyj]

My wife and I lived in Kansas for a year. She lived in KC for about 4 or 5, and Kansas for 2.5 or so. While we were there, she had an apartment in Mission for a year or two, and we both settled in Olathe for a year. I loved Olathe, but it was a little far out for my taste. I do like some of the other far suburbs, but didn't like the idea of driving an hour to stay by our old church. If i'd have had the dollars, i'd have been in Brookside (I know, it's not in Kansas, but oh well). That was a gorgeous location, great homes, and very central...We looked at tons of homes in Prairie Village, really liked that area...along with a few in Roeland Park. I really miss the Kansas City metro, but we're setting our permanent roots in St. Louis...gotta go where the job is. Good luck!

[aragx6]

We live on the MO side now, but when we moved to the metro 2 1/2 years ago my SO and I stayed for a short time in JoCo with his parents while we got settled. They live in Southern JoCo (south of 435) which is newer, flatter and generally more bland. For my part, I prefer the older sections of Johnson County -- most of which is in the Shwnee Mission school district. Areas like the above-mentioned Shawnee as well as downtown Overland Park and particularly, the cities that hug the state line such as Mission, Fairway, Westwood, Leawood and Prairie Village.

[xenokc]

Looking at migration stats, I was surprised how many move from JoCo to Jackson County. JaxCo to JoCo net migration was still higher but the low net difference surprised me. Typically about 5K a year go from JaxCo to JoCo, but about 4K a year from move from JoCo to JaxCo - net difference is only about 1K or 20%. Many probably think people from JoCo don't move to JaxCo, kinda surprised me how many do.

Also, the last few years there are moree JoCo people moving to Platte, Clay and Cass counties than other way, which is an unusual turnabout.

[TabulaRasa]

I also really prefer vintage homes, older and more historic parts of town, so there are wide swaths of Johnson Co. that don't especially appeal to me...I would consider parts, though, like old downtown Overland Park.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by xenokc

Looking at migration stats, I was surprised how many move from JoCo to Jackson County. JaxCo to JoCo net migration was still higher but the low net difference surprised me. Typically about 5K a year go from JaxCo to JoCo, but about 4K a year from move from JoCo to JaxCo - net difference is only about 1K or 20%. Many probably think people from JoCo don't move to JaxCo, kinda surprised me how many do.

Also, the last few years there are more JoCo people moving to Platte, Clay and Cass counties than other way, which is an unusual turnabout.

Why would you be surprised by this? While I think most people that move to metro KC from outside the area initially settle in JoCo, many of them migrate to the MO side once they learn the area and JoCo probably fuels much of the younger urban population growth in central kcmo.

Also, most people that I know that are born and raised in kcmo would not even consider the KS side. If they migrate to the suburbs, it's to Lee's Summit, Northland etc.

Just saying.

[aragx6]

^Eh, my future father in law grew up near UMKC and they moved out to KS back in the 80s. My future mother in law wants to move back -- not because of the state or anything but to be somewhere more dense -- but FFIL loves his giant house and wide-open yard.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by aragx6

^Eh, my future father in law grew up near UMKC and they moved out to KS back in the 80s. My future mother in law wants to move back -- not because of the state or anything but to be somewhere more dense -- but FFIL loves his giant house and wide-open yard.

Oh, I know that people move from central kcmo to KS. I'm just saying that I think it's far more popular for those that are from the city to stay in Missouri. I could be wrong, but that's what I have seen via friends and family.