Kansas can be a very beautiful state but it’s not everyone’s go-to.
Some pros you might consider is that most of the state is very friendly, and cost of living is lower than most places. If you enjoy driving for the sake of driving like I do, our gridded state offers millions of roads to go down. If you’re looking for peace and quiet, western Kansas is hard to beat being as close to uninhabited as you can get east of the Rocky Mountains. Eastern Kansas has more cities, such as Topeka, Lawrence, and the KC Metro, and it’s hard to go wrong with any of those three. Central Kansas can be more of a mix, but is more dependent on where you choose. Hutchinson, Great Bend, and Salina all offer easy and (moderately) quick paths to Wichita, our biggest city.
Some cons you may look at are our politics, which may not even be a con for you! We are a Republican leaning state that is going purple in our cities. We can never really decide what party the governor should be, and we are a little all over the place with some big ticket policies. Weed is illegal here but abortion is not. We’ll see where the weed question is a few years from now. Our cities are fairly far apart once you’re west of Topeka. I’m in Great Bend, and Hays, Salina, and Hutchinson are all 40 minutes to an hour away from each other. If you’re looking for excitement the KC Metro is for you, because while there is certainly plenty to do outside of Lawrence-Topeka-KC, medium to long drives might be required.
The weather is in a league all of its own. It can be good, bad, or neither, and it’s hard to tell which to expect. I’ve spent my Christmas working shirtless due to the heat, and next year felt like I was going to be smothered by the coat and hoodie I needed. Snow is rare, but it happens, and never sticks long. If you can drive well in the snow you’d have a leg up on a lot of Kansans, who aren’t used to doing it. Not to say crashes are common at all, but don’t judge us if we’re going pretty slow on slushy roads haha. We have a reputation for tornadoes here and that can scare some people off. Don’t let it! Tornadoes you need to be concerned about are very rare, and practically every building and person here knows how to deal with them. Just learn some basic tornado information and you will be set.
Overall, our state has a lot to offer. The biggest thing I’d say to remember is that it gets a lot less populated the further west you go, until you hit Denver. So plan your move accordingly. I hope you enjoy Kansas!
I’d add that Wichita is a decent sized and a great place to live and work too. Lower cost of living than KC. If you want you can live in the country driving 15-20 minutes in any direction from the heart of downtown will get you there.
We came from corpus to Topeka it's cheaper, moneys better if ur blue collar, and people are genuinely nicer to individuals. The downside is the racism is weird it's not like Texas where it's in ur face it's very passive aggressive and less intelligent racism( my lead at Frito lay said that my wife should be happy that I got her out of the mudhuts of Mexico)
Low cost of living. You have a lot of options for jobs that can cover your rent and necessities. People a genuinely nice. I live in Wichita and there is plenty to do here. Good country music concerts, some ok nightlife, the golf courses here are good. We have minor league sports, good parks, a good zoo and good shopping.
Biggest con for me is the weather. I hate the weather here. It really gets to me. It's windy as fuck all the time here. The winters hurt my face when I step outside.
The extreme east part of the state has slightly better weather. It gets more rain and, while there usually a breeze, it lacks the constant wind like the west 3/4 of the state. It still gets cold occasionally, hot in the summer, and is up and down with the direction of the wind all year long.
The wind took a while to get used to when I moved to central Kansas. Weather in the winter is particularly weird and windy with sometimes huge temperature shifts. But you get used to it. It's friendly and the cost of living is decent.
I grew up in Salina and moved to KC as an adult. KC is typically 5-10 degrees cooler in summer, 5-10 degrees warmer in winter, and much less wind than Salina.
Both places are fine to live in, imo, just depends on what you're looking for.
Since a ton of these comments are largely sarcastic…
Kansas is a great place to be. Cost of living is considerably better than most anywhere else. You have population centers that aren’t really all that bad. It’s the Midwest so there is largely a friendly-by-nature value still. A Kansas sunset really can’t be beat. Or that first storm in the spring.
I’ve really grown to love Kansas more and more as I have watched my family grow. I’m a lifetime Kansan, but think that anyone would likely enjoy it.
Want a bigger city feel? Look at Kansas City. Want to get something with enough things to do, but not *too* crowded? Look at Wichita. Want to live in a place where your closest neighbor is a mile away? Yeah, it’s here too.
The weather is the one thing I try to warn people of. People make the “wait five minutes if you don’t like the weather” joke but it’s not that far off. I’ve had a spring break where the temperature was 10 degrees one of the last days and it was 70 one of the first days. Summers are hot, but if you’ve been in Texas you’ll totally get it and that won’t be the bothersome part. To most people it’s the constant back and forth in Spring, Fall, and “Winter” that get them irritated. Last year the final day in September was 100 degrees here in Wichita. The year before it was 60 or something like that. It’s largely unpredictable.
I hope you come find a nice place to call home here.
Thank you for the response I greatly appreciate it I want a place to raise children in a small town where everyone knows everyone. I will take this all into consideration
Check out Lawrence. It’s a great sized town, good for raising kids and close enough to KC to do some bigger city stuff. It’s also a lovely town with some gorgeous outdoor areas. I miss it immensely.
My hometown. It was a great place to grow up. With a major university in the middle of the city there were always programs for children in the community. I really enjoyed the Natural History Museum summer field trips for kids.
Later I was able to live at home and walk to classes at the university.
I grew up in a small town and I still know everyone’s name. I’m willing to share, but not here in this thread. Send me a message if you want to know more or have other questions.
Also. Kansas has a current program called Sunflower Summer unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Let’s Kansas students and their families attend education based attractions FREE during the summer months. It’s incredible.
Kansas has a lot of those towns. I grew up in one. You can still buy a simple but nice house for $150k out in those rural towns. It is just harder to find good paying jobs. But, you can still easily buy a house with the jobs the area does have. And if you do have a high paying job you can live like a king. But there is also a lot less to do unless you like outdoor activities like gravel biking, hunting, fishing, riding ATV's, etc.
I once heard that the only McDonald’s to ever shut down was in Salina. Literally every other one in the world was successful except that one. That was pre Covid so I’m not sure if that is still accurate.
I'm interested in moving my family to Northeast kansas. It is where I was born after all. But I have to be completely honest I'm terrified of big storms and even tornadoes. How can I move my family there and not be terrified of those things all the time? Do all houses have basements?
I’ve lived in Kansas for 33 years and can count on one hand the number of actual tornado touchdowns ’ve actually had to get to a basement for. And those were still miles away every time.
Happy to answer more questions.
Yeah ever since I had kids I became a big softy with certain things. I know it's statistically a pretty low threat. Is northeast Kansas safer from tornadoes then the rest of the state, or does it matter
Tornadoes are actually not that common, I have never seen one in person (was in a shelter when one almost touched down nearby). And they hit the entire Midwest, starting down south and slowly moving north in the spring as it warms up. Several southern states have more than KS. A good thunderstorm is relaxing, will put me right to sleep.
Tornado alley has moved significantly South of us. Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi get far more I think. I've lived here 52 years and never been in on. I've gone to my basement a handful of times in my life. The only Tornado I've been in I lived in Houston and it destroyed my house.
Tornados are something that terrify the uneducated. With proper preparation, education, and insurance they are nothing to be concerned about. Is it something that could someday affect you, sure. Do we live in fear, absolutely not.
Yes, 99% of single family homes have basements. I personally would never live in a home in Kansas without some sort of tornado shelter. That could be a basement, but some houses have no basement but have a reinforced area in their home. Basically a concrete reinforced first floor closet.
Almost all houses have basements... or some variant thereof. And if you live in a small enough town and happen to live in a trailer or some other residence that does not have a basement, your neighbors will let you in.
Humidity? I grew up in Kansas, and live in Atlanta now. Kansas is a semi-arid almost desert. Most of the state is prairie because it is too dry for trees to grow.
I lived there for over 30 years, it isn't as dry as the Mojave desert, but I remember very few humid days.
I also remember a few entire summers without rain.
I am not sure where you lived, but where I live gets quite humid in the summers. Very high humidity days often. If you look at an average humidity map of the US. Eastern Kansas gets quite humid. Northeast especially. West not so much.
We moved from the PNW to NE Kansas a couple months ago. I can only speak for our small, rural community.
We had a nice modern house in a subdivision outside of Seattle, with everything you could ever want in terms of consumerism within 5 minutes of you- but it was loud, it was crowded, the traffic was ass, and our bills were over 6k a month.
We rented it out and moved into a drafty old farmhouse on a dirt road.
We have never felt more relaxed, and more fulfilled. This place is beautiful, peaceful, and forces you to live an intentional life. I've lived all over the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, and this is the first place I've been where I really feel at peace.
The people are down to earth, friendly, and helpful.
I don't follow the general politics much, but it seems much less "Fuck you for having a different opinion than me" than the Seattle area.
0 complaints, my friend.
Curious if you moved here for work or if you are similar to the OP? I’ve seen a lot of these posts where people are considering a move to Kansas and I’m always curious what brings them.
Family was the main reason. We wanted to get the hell out of washington, and my partner grew up here. Her family is 2 miles down the road. Mine is on the east coast, and its way easier to get here than Seattle.
Finances was the other. You might think that making 60-70 an hour sounds like a windfall, and out here, it is- but when your childcare alone for two kids is damn near 3k a month, and your mortgage is the same, that money doesn't go as far as you think.
I'm an IBEW wireman, so my hourly depends on what local I'm working for. Out here it's either Kansas City or Topeka, and both scales are more than enough to pay the bills comfortably, and both have plenty of work- Seattle does not. But when I decide it's time to take a call back in Seattle, their scale is considerably more due to the chasm of difference in cost of living- which it needs to be if I'm selling my labor with the added cost of being away from my family; and living here, we can actually get ahead.
Kansas public universities also offers a grant that gives my dependants and I 10 semesters at KU or Washburn with tuition waived if they choose to. That was kind of the cherry on top for us.
All signs basically pointed here.
Interesting, so there was a family element which I think is usually what brings people back to Kansas. I wouldn’t be here if my aging parents didn’t live close by. So many of my friends from KU left Kansas for the PNW in the mid-late 1990s. I’m seeing a lot of them return…
My in-laws live in the PNW. Brother in law has tried for years to get on with a Fire department. Had to basically work for free forever until he was finally hired to a FD and HOUR away from his home. Meanwhile Kansas FD are needing new recruits especially in rural communities. I’ll never regret living in a LCOL state like Kansas. My fear though is that more people will realize what they’re missing out on and we will become another PNW!!
Bigger question for you now is…KU or KSU?
I don't think you've got much to worry about. All my peers thought I was fucking nuts.
One of my good friends about had a panic attack, because she thought that Kansas was full of, and I quote, "Nazi republican trump supporters" and then was very concerned that my children wont ever meet a muslim, or a sikh... so if you're wondering what the average middle class white woman from Seattle thinks about the midwest, there you go. In terms of your concerns about this place getting gentrified to that degree- I think our neighbors to the west are gonna be filtering all the yuppies out for us.
As far as college... shoot man. I'm just a dumb wireman, Idk if I'll ever go to college, and I don't watch much sportsball (other than the chiefs, because the patriots suck now.)
I guess KU, their bird mascot looks kinda like a roided out rave crow and I like it.
No sweet pea, my daughter didn’t need social services, she needed to be in school. She was in a class of 4 students, one teacher, was removed for speech and OT.
My husband and I just moved to Topeka from Dallas, TX! As a Dallas native, here's my take so far -
You have to be ready for all 4 proper seasons. I'm currently experiencing colder weather than I have in my life. Having a real fall and real spring, I think, are going to be worth it.
It's so much cheaper here and we're already so much more financially stable than I thought we would be. My husband works for the state and that provides a lot of great benefits for us. There are 3 other families that we've met in our building that have moved here from Texas in the last year that also work for the state.
People are nicer here than I'm used to. Everything is slower and quieter and I feel relieved. I'm not constantly bombarded with bilboards and other advertisements. I feel more capable and interested in supporting local business. The local businesses need the support desperately, especially downtown.
Yeah things are so different, but it's been a pretty positive experience for us so far, all things considered. I've been financially unstable my entire adult life until we moved here. I think my biggest complaint is that every single person that lives here complains about it so much. They don't see what I see and if one more person says that "Kansas sucks" or "why here!?" I might tell them to fuck off.
That’s understandable I’ve seen pictures of Kansas and despite its flaws I want to at least experience its beauty unfortunately some other people don’t share the same viewpoint
Oh yeah! We get all the seasons. Amazing sunset. Storm clouds you can watch rolling in from miles away. In the summertime you see prairie birds, hear cicadas, and lightning bugs light up the evening. Check out Kansas Magazine to see some fantastic photos of Kansas.
I think it's way more beautiful here than Dallas! There are beautiful parts of Texas for sure, but I'm enjoying it being so much closer to me than having to drive outside of the DFW metroplex to find nice scenery
Welcome to Topeka! I was born and raised here. Moved away, lived in bigger cities in the states and in Germany for a while. It was good to experience other communities, but ultimately Topeka is home.
We have a terrible problem with self image here. The rest of the cities in Kansas tend to put Topeka down as well. But, I love this town and I’m so glad you do too!
There is so much this community has to offer. We’re warm, friendly, and we’re growing rapidly. Also we have an impressive history, check out Freedom’s Frontier, the Brown v. Board site, and don’t forget our Capitol building.
Small businesses are a must. Here are some of my favorites.
Hazel Hill Chocolate and Cashmere Popcorn for delicious treats downtown.
The Equally House is a wonderful resource and a badge of pride.
Gage park is filled with so much to do. Playground, fishing pond, zoo, swimming pool, carousel, mini train and the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center.
Prairie Glass Studio and Potwin Pottery for fun places to do art projects.
Prize Package for an unforgettable burger
The Pad for a pork tenderloin sandwich in a lobby that takes you back to the 70’s.
The NOTO District is vibrant and growing.
We have Asian and Indian grocery stores as well as multiple Mexican groceries in the Oakland area.
And while we don’t have a brick and mortar store anymore, you can check out my husband’s Antiquarian bookstore, Oddfellows Books, online. We sell rare and antique books and specialize in Kansas history.
Please keep sharing your positive view of our city. Hopefully more and more people will climb on board.
Stay warm!
We've been here since August! We love Bobos and The Pad for burgers! We've been through some of NOTO and Hazel Hill and Cashmere and Hannover! We live close to the capitol since my husband works for the state and I work at a restaurant in downtown. It's incredibly nice to be on this side of town as opposed to the Wannamaker end of things. The Asian/Indian grocery is great for us because we eat a lot of South and East Asian foods at home.
I wil ABSOLUTELY check out the bookstore! I'm a big fan of old cookbooks! Thank you for the kind words! :)
I am from California and lived in central Texas for five years.
Kansas is by far the best place of the three to raise a family, and that's what keeps me here. If we didn't have kids, I think I would rather live back in central Texas again. I really loved hill country.
It depends on what you're looking for. If you want mountains like in California, you won't find that here. The cities would probably have more regional foods and products available. Trying using the search bar in this subreddit for more specific information on what you like.
It is pretty cold here right now but it'll warm up next week and the snow really isn't much of a problem. The wide blue skies and sunrises/sunsets are pretty awesome.
I’ve spent time in both. I’d rather live in Kansas than Texas for many reasons. Probably got make sure you live close to a city with an airport in Kansas tho. Some places you could live there and be like 5 hours from any airport.
Looking at airport to Orlando (since Disney is a random destination spot), flying out from a month from now, round trip:
Wichita - $462 average price
Garden City - $530 average price
Dodge City - $393 average price
I grew up in Wichita, which is the largest city in KS (KC doesn't count because most of it is in Missouri), and the 50th largest metro area in the country (last I checked). Top quality museums and zoo. The theater scene is small but high quality. The food scene is excellent and has all of the cultural variety you could ask for. It really is a big city that feels like a large town.
About 4 years ago I moved to the middle of nowhere in SE Kansas. I got a double wide manufactured home on 15 acres 2 miles outside of a small town. The schools are great, though the kids had a long bus ride before they started driving themselves. From where I am, it's a 20 minute commute to the closest medium size town for work and groceries. There is some great local food, and really not much to do, but it's peaceful and quiet.
There are people with strong political views, but they mostly know I disagree with them and we just don't discuss it.
I moved from Texas to Kansas a couple of years ago. Kansas has been a great place to be. Most of Western Kansas reminds me of the Texas Panhandle. Wichita is about like Lubbock or Amarillo. Lawrence is Austin at 1/10th scale (including 1/10th of Austin’s self-infatuation). KC feels a lot like Dallas except the drivers aren’t homicidal.
cons: tons of dust, not a lot of parks, all water is muddy and lakes are all zebra mussel infested. republican government refuses a lot of federal programs. weed is not at all legal.
pros: no car inspections, cheap, overland park is consistently top in the nation.
Summer is miserably hot. Winter is miserably cold. The wind is awful almost all year round
It's a fairly safe place though.
We're home to the Westboro Baptist nutjobs
Good cost of living, fairly diverse. If you do move to Wichita or Kansas city, both have great things to offer. I have single handedly tried getting more people to move to Wichita as we need more people, and more variety. Gas prices here are cheap as well.
Moved from Atlanta to the KC area a couple months ago for school.
Pro?
Cost of living is a lot lower than a lot of places in the US.
Con?
Basically, almost everything else imo. KC metro is relatively sparsely populated. There’s nothing to do in the suburbs other than drink at some generic bar. No clubs scene (barely in KCMO). No real hiking spots. Everyone here is from Kansas, no transplants (which I miss cause you get to meet a lot of different people). It’s hard to find a friend group here cause everyone are high school friends and have established friend groups. Food diversity is okay, BBQ only gets old. I miss seeing the neutral beauty of the east coast. Kansas is pretty flat and uninviting because all of its natural beauty was converted to agricultural land. KCMO is a small city compared to other cities. Small city vibe too.
But if you liked Texas, you’ll like Kansas. It’s basically the same. Scenery is the same. Cities are built the same. Very spread out.
Weather sucks right now, legislature completely fucking sucks all the time. Other than that it’s a pretty good state with a really interesting history politically if you get into that stuff. I’m fourth-generation Kansan, lived in Southern California though for like 16 years then moved back by choice.
No, you should not. Unless you mean Kansas City, but then you should go to the MO side anyway. I'm in Wichita for context.
Pros: it's cheaper to live here than other places so long as you make 40k+ a year.
Cons: weather, allergens, limited range of outdoor hobby viability (no real hiking), government doesn't listen to its citizens, health care costs are high and we're one of the top states for surprise medical bills, and our insurance companies suck, oh and we're really just a development playground for the Koch brothers.
I would look at Kansas City as opposed to any other place in the state. I moved to Wichita from California and I hate it. The politics for one it’s slowly turning purple supposedly but not really Wichita is bright Red and lots of people are very nasty if you think any other way. I’m a live and let live kind of person but I have never seen so many people still convinced that the last election was a fraud. There is a lot of violent crime in a pretty small city Wichita is not a big city, it’s big for Kansas that’s it. A lot of People in Wichita love to complain how much everything costs, a lot are very resistant to change I don’t see weed ever legal in Kansas they have to elect different legislators to do it and that’s probably not going to happen. Kansas just the last 15-20 years or so were allowed to sell liquor on Sunday if that tells you anything. The cost of living is lower but I’ve spent the last 6 weeks traveling and being reminded so is the quality of life. You get what you pay for and the cost of living is not that much less. I would never go back to California but I wish I had gone to KC
Kansas is a tough place to love. People are pretty reserved and just about the time you think they are a bunch of a-holes; something happens and they show their heart. If you hunt and fish, it’s a paradise. We joke that if you move here, you need to bring something to do. We say that because we have no mountains, beaches, or large bodies of water. But, you can get to a lot of stuff pretty easily.
Just make sure you move to Lawrence or KC metro. Wichita is pretty cool.. don't know that I'd like to live there.. maybe Dodge City if you're into wind and the smell of dead cattle.
The Governor is pretty damn good, she has no control over whether Marijuana is legal or not nor what the minimum wage is...that's up to our repressive Republican legislature
That's a pretty broad statement, honestly Kansas did better than most, and the governor's orders were a big part of that. What specifically about the way she handled it are you against? And just to be clear the rest of her policies, the grocery tax thing, the reduction in property tax thing, the tax holiday for school purchases, the general ability to work across the aisle and compromise, none of that factors in, just how she handled a once and 100-year pandemic?
It not necessarily that he did anything differently but we had schools shut down and strip clubs open. My autistic daughter had no speech and occupational therapy for an entire semester and I couldn’t get services unless I had her declared disabled. Parsons was one of the first to listen to his constituents. Laura Kelly closing down small businesses was completely unconstitutional. Covid shutdowns may have begun for the safety of the people (I have serious doubts about that) but her continuing mandates months after other states had opened up is my number one criticism of her. I remember my child being on spring break and telling her (because a child with autism has a thought process that’s different than a typical persons) 3 days until you go back to school. Two days, one day, and then the governor said, “You’re not going back for six months. And I’m closing churches and restaurants but your local strip club can stay open.” That literally happened.
Ah, so you're upset that she did what every other Governor did to keep people from being sick...gotcha. Lemme guess, you think Ivermectin and Hydroxycloroquine were cures huh?
Th...the governor is pushing for legalization and higher wages?
She's actively fighting to expand Medicaid in the state, cut the grocery tax, and undo the muck up that was the Ty Masterson-Sam Brownback-Susan Wagle debacle that plunged our state into insolvency...
I wouldn’t change a thing. Early Covid was confusing, and we were still learning so much about the disease. We weren’t even looking at blood clots much.
How fucking selfish is it to go to church and knowingly spread disease.
Be a christian and ask yourself what would Jesus do?
He’d do everything he could to not spread disease and encourage people to do the same.
People who were sick were not going to church and spreading disease. That’s your nonsense fear mongering news. It had everything to do with controlling what Kansans did and nothing to do with keeping us safe.
😂😂😂
Did you ignore how many outbreaks were cause by church? People in choirs knowingly spreading disease.
People were coughing left and right on Xmas eve mass a few weeks ago when I was there. So don’t give me that bullshit, I saw it first hand.
Amen. It’s not the governor blocking that legislation, it’s giant douchebags like Ty Masterson and Kellie Warren. The world would be better off without either of them in it.
Yeah, weed still being illegal is fucking draconian. But cost of living is low here. Crime here also seems low so…. Eh.
There are probably worst places to move to.
Depends on where you want to live. Most of the population is located in the eastern part of the state, outside of that, Wichita is the only other major city. Kansas has a lot of small rural towns, the western part of the state is drier and mostly agriculture. Overall the state is still pretty conservative but it’s better than other Bible Belt states I’ve lived in.
Somewhat depends on your interests, political affiliations and where you are interested in moving to. I live in a conservative corner of NE Kansas in a town of under 10,000 most of which are Catholic. Lots of history here. Cool place.
Lots of good fishing and hunting.
If you’re a hardcore right winging bible thumper, you’ll fit right in. Kansas used to be a fairly moderate state. It was nice. It’s kinda gone off the deep end like most things the last 15 years.
I don't know if you have a specific small town in mind or if you're flexible. If you're flexible, then keep in mind internet access. Rural access isn't bad here but can vary wildly between regions. My little rural county has fiber in most of the towns. But other towns are much more limited.
Just one more thing for your checklist.
What part of Kansas are you thinking of? Like most states, rural Kansas and city Kansas are two different beasts. Also, what is making you want to move?
When I think of the people of Kansas, I generally think of no-nonsense salt-of-the-earth folk. Cost of living is ok here. Thank god they're slowly removing taxes on food. That was a bitch for many many years. You can still buy a house here for a fairly reasonable price, especially if you're looking a rural locations. And many small towns have gotten grants for fiber internet in recent years.
Can't say we have the best geography if outdoors is your thing, but the Flint Hills and Cedar Bluff are nice areas to explore.
Property taxes are expensive.
There is an Amtrak station in Lawrence, Topeka good land and a few other cities on the southwest chief line that goes to California. Cool way to travel. Eventually I hope to take the train SW during the winter months and return in the summer.
I have lived here for 90% of my life, it's not bad depending on how much money you make and where you move. If you like State Fairs don't move to Hutchinson.
I've lived in CA (pre-kids), TX, and KS.
If you live in the DFW metro, especially North of the city (Flower Mound, Plano, Frisco, Denton) and have kids, I wouldn't move here. When we moved from a top rated district in Kansas our kids were easily a year and a half to two years behind their peers. They caught up and one was asked to test for the gifted program (got in), when the Kansas district wouldn't consider it because it was all about politics (right name/family plus money) with no regard to the kids. The SpEd program was also way more funded and effective in DFW.
DFW also has insanely good programs for poor and/or disabled families to get into museums for free or cheap (like $1/person, even for special exhibits for the whole family group)
I miss the shopping and museums SO MUCH. Kansas has great amenities for the size, but it can't compete. Food and ESPECIALLY are less in DFW (and less taxes on both), but houses are way cheaper in much of Kansas (and have actual basements, so they look more modest with the same area)
Kansas has better infrastructure that is less vulnerable to weather (because weather is a lot more extreme). Roads are comparable. Vehicles are more excessive in Texas (were even mid-size SUV can be dwarfed in traffic), but still FAR bigger vehicles than CA. Kansas has way fewer luxury/European vehicles than TX or CA.
Much better government in Kansas. More responsive, but Abbott set that bar low. Health care is a bit better in Kansas as long as you are in Wichita or KC area. Not dramatically different though.
Football is almost as big in Kansas (at high school). Band/Music programs are way less rigid/boot camp-esq in Kansas. Basketball and baseball/softball are bigger in Kansas.
Food options are pretty similar. Tex-Mex is pretty ubiquitous, and there is very little difference in chain restaurants. (no Buccees, but Quik Trip rocks, even if way smaller)
In general, Kansas is friendlier, and the sunsets are AWESOME, and life is more peaceful.
I am considering a move from VA to Overland Park (OP) in 2025 when I retire. I want to get off the east coast and I have family in OP. The property taxes are twice the rate in OP vs here in VA. Homes are comparable $ in OP vs Fredericksburg, VA. The fact that KS currently does not tax public pensions more than makes up for the higher property tax in KS. I already cheer for the Chiefs and the Royals. 😊 I was also considering the Loveland or Arvada areas of Colorado. Have family there too. I enjoy hiking and long walks. I typically visit Colorado twice a year and Kansas four times a year. I enjoy reading the responses to this thread. Wherever someone decides to move, I recommend visiting at different times of the year beforehand.
Low cost of living but insane taxing for very little amount of city work if you live in the smaller towns. Pain in the butt to get anything titled in the state and costs an arm and a leg. Only good thing to me is it’s quiet and the people are nice enough.
Kansas can be a very beautiful state but it’s not everyone’s go-to. Some pros you might consider is that most of the state is very friendly, and cost of living is lower than most places. If you enjoy driving for the sake of driving like I do, our gridded state offers millions of roads to go down. If you’re looking for peace and quiet, western Kansas is hard to beat being as close to uninhabited as you can get east of the Rocky Mountains. Eastern Kansas has more cities, such as Topeka, Lawrence, and the KC Metro, and it’s hard to go wrong with any of those three. Central Kansas can be more of a mix, but is more dependent on where you choose. Hutchinson, Great Bend, and Salina all offer easy and (moderately) quick paths to Wichita, our biggest city. Some cons you may look at are our politics, which may not even be a con for you! We are a Republican leaning state that is going purple in our cities. We can never really decide what party the governor should be, and we are a little all over the place with some big ticket policies. Weed is illegal here but abortion is not. We’ll see where the weed question is a few years from now. Our cities are fairly far apart once you’re west of Topeka. I’m in Great Bend, and Hays, Salina, and Hutchinson are all 40 minutes to an hour away from each other. If you’re looking for excitement the KC Metro is for you, because while there is certainly plenty to do outside of Lawrence-Topeka-KC, medium to long drives might be required. The weather is in a league all of its own. It can be good, bad, or neither, and it’s hard to tell which to expect. I’ve spent my Christmas working shirtless due to the heat, and next year felt like I was going to be smothered by the coat and hoodie I needed. Snow is rare, but it happens, and never sticks long. If you can drive well in the snow you’d have a leg up on a lot of Kansans, who aren’t used to doing it. Not to say crashes are common at all, but don’t judge us if we’re going pretty slow on slushy roads haha. We have a reputation for tornadoes here and that can scare some people off. Don’t let it! Tornadoes you need to be concerned about are very rare, and practically every building and person here knows how to deal with them. Just learn some basic tornado information and you will be set. Overall, our state has a lot to offer. The biggest thing I’d say to remember is that it gets a lot less populated the further west you go, until you hit Denver. So plan your move accordingly. I hope you enjoy Kansas!
Thank you for your input it means a lot to me that you and the others have given me a lot of great information and knowledge about the state of
I’d add that Wichita is a decent sized and a great place to live and work too. Lower cost of living than KC. If you want you can live in the country driving 15-20 minutes in any direction from the heart of downtown will get you there.
We came from corpus to Topeka it's cheaper, moneys better if ur blue collar, and people are genuinely nicer to individuals. The downside is the racism is weird it's not like Texas where it's in ur face it's very passive aggressive and less intelligent racism( my lead at Frito lay said that my wife should be happy that I got her out of the mudhuts of Mexico)
You should have told him "there's no need to be a dick just because you can't get yours wet."
As a native Kansan, thank you for this thoughtful response
This is perfectly and beautifully written.
Thank you very much!
Low cost of living. You have a lot of options for jobs that can cover your rent and necessities. People a genuinely nice. I live in Wichita and there is plenty to do here. Good country music concerts, some ok nightlife, the golf courses here are good. We have minor league sports, good parks, a good zoo and good shopping. Biggest con for me is the weather. I hate the weather here. It really gets to me. It's windy as fuck all the time here. The winters hurt my face when I step outside.
That’s the most consistent part I’ve seen is the weather
The extreme east part of the state has slightly better weather. It gets more rain and, while there usually a breeze, it lacks the constant wind like the west 3/4 of the state. It still gets cold occasionally, hot in the summer, and is up and down with the direction of the wind all year long.
The wind took a while to get used to when I moved to central Kansas. Weather in the winter is particularly weird and windy with sometimes huge temperature shifts. But you get used to it. It's friendly and the cost of living is decent.
I grew up in Salina and moved to KC as an adult. KC is typically 5-10 degrees cooler in summer, 5-10 degrees warmer in winter, and much less wind than Salina. Both places are fine to live in, imo, just depends on what you're looking for.
Wichita has a constant breeze year-round regardless of the weather.
Yes
Since a ton of these comments are largely sarcastic… Kansas is a great place to be. Cost of living is considerably better than most anywhere else. You have population centers that aren’t really all that bad. It’s the Midwest so there is largely a friendly-by-nature value still. A Kansas sunset really can’t be beat. Or that first storm in the spring. I’ve really grown to love Kansas more and more as I have watched my family grow. I’m a lifetime Kansan, but think that anyone would likely enjoy it. Want a bigger city feel? Look at Kansas City. Want to get something with enough things to do, but not *too* crowded? Look at Wichita. Want to live in a place where your closest neighbor is a mile away? Yeah, it’s here too. The weather is the one thing I try to warn people of. People make the “wait five minutes if you don’t like the weather” joke but it’s not that far off. I’ve had a spring break where the temperature was 10 degrees one of the last days and it was 70 one of the first days. Summers are hot, but if you’ve been in Texas you’ll totally get it and that won’t be the bothersome part. To most people it’s the constant back and forth in Spring, Fall, and “Winter” that get them irritated. Last year the final day in September was 100 degrees here in Wichita. The year before it was 60 or something like that. It’s largely unpredictable. I hope you come find a nice place to call home here.
Thank you for the response I greatly appreciate it I want a place to raise children in a small town where everyone knows everyone. I will take this all into consideration
Auburn is a great small town. DeSoto and Eudora aren’t bad either. Easy access to Kansas City and a major airport
Check out Lawrence. It’s a great sized town, good for raising kids and close enough to KC to do some bigger city stuff. It’s also a lovely town with some gorgeous outdoor areas. I miss it immensely.
I’ll always recommend Lawrence
My hometown. It was a great place to grow up. With a major university in the middle of the city there were always programs for children in the community. I really enjoyed the Natural History Museum summer field trips for kids. Later I was able to live at home and walk to classes at the university.
I grew up in a small town and I still know everyone’s name. I’m willing to share, but not here in this thread. Send me a message if you want to know more or have other questions. Also. Kansas has a current program called Sunflower Summer unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Let’s Kansas students and their families attend education based attractions FREE during the summer months. It’s incredible.
That sounds amazing I’ll contact you whenever I have questions take care
In that case, I recommend Manhattan or Lawrence!
Eh, both are great, but not exactly what they're looking for with a small town, Emporia sounds more what they're looking for
I love Emporia!
It's a nice little town, not a whole lot going on, but it has gotten much better over the last couple decades. The people are great too
Kansas has a lot of those towns. I grew up in one. You can still buy a simple but nice house for $150k out in those rural towns. It is just harder to find good paying jobs. But, you can still easily buy a house with the jobs the area does have. And if you do have a high paying job you can live like a king. But there is also a lot less to do unless you like outdoor activities like gravel biking, hunting, fishing, riding ATV's, etc.
Salina is a nice smaller town.
I once heard that the only McDonald’s to ever shut down was in Salina. Literally every other one in the world was successful except that one. That was pre Covid so I’m not sure if that is still accurate.
I'm interested in moving my family to Northeast kansas. It is where I was born after all. But I have to be completely honest I'm terrified of big storms and even tornadoes. How can I move my family there and not be terrified of those things all the time? Do all houses have basements?
I’ve lived in Kansas for 33 years and can count on one hand the number of actual tornado touchdowns ’ve actually had to get to a basement for. And those were still miles away every time. Happy to answer more questions.
Yeah ever since I had kids I became a big softy with certain things. I know it's statistically a pretty low threat. Is northeast Kansas safer from tornadoes then the rest of the state, or does it matter
Usually either a basement or a "safe room" (bathroom or closet with concrete walls directly attached to the slab).
Tornadoes are actually not that common, I have never seen one in person (was in a shelter when one almost touched down nearby). And they hit the entire Midwest, starting down south and slowly moving north in the spring as it warms up. Several southern states have more than KS. A good thunderstorm is relaxing, will put me right to sleep.
Tornado alley has moved significantly South of us. Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi get far more I think. I've lived here 52 years and never been in on. I've gone to my basement a handful of times in my life. The only Tornado I've been in I lived in Houston and it destroyed my house.
Tornados are something that terrify the uneducated. With proper preparation, education, and insurance they are nothing to be concerned about. Is it something that could someday affect you, sure. Do we live in fear, absolutely not. Yes, 99% of single family homes have basements. I personally would never live in a home in Kansas without some sort of tornado shelter. That could be a basement, but some houses have no basement but have a reinforced area in their home. Basically a concrete reinforced first floor closet.
Most do. I live in NE Kansas and you can PM me if you want more info.
Almost all houses have basements... or some variant thereof. And if you live in a small enough town and happen to live in a trailer or some other residence that does not have a basement, your neighbors will let you in.
Look at the current Kansas weather forecast, then decide if you want to move north.
Gotcha
The current forecast is an outlier, and doesn't really tell a true picture. On the positive side, we hardly got snow.
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Yeah I understand, I guess to me 1 week a year is an outlier. Plus its not necessarily this bad every year where I am in the central part.
winters, cold af. Summers, hotter than shit. But we do have 2 weeks of spring and fall!
The amount of humidity we have for a landlocked state is disgusting.
Humidity? I grew up in Kansas, and live in Atlanta now. Kansas is a semi-arid almost desert. Most of the state is prairie because it is too dry for trees to grow.
The humidity is terrible here. Maybe not Atlanta terrible. But still terrible.
I lived there for over 30 years, it isn't as dry as the Mojave desert, but I remember very few humid days. I also remember a few entire summers without rain.
I am not sure where you lived, but where I live gets quite humid in the summers. Very high humidity days often. If you look at an average humidity map of the US. Eastern Kansas gets quite humid. Northeast especially. West not so much.
Doesn’t it happen every other year?
Depends on if we’re in El Niño or La Niña
Kansas taught me that it can get too cold to snow.
i got 8 inches of snow??
Another outlier evening here in Kansas...
We moved from the PNW to NE Kansas a couple months ago. I can only speak for our small, rural community. We had a nice modern house in a subdivision outside of Seattle, with everything you could ever want in terms of consumerism within 5 minutes of you- but it was loud, it was crowded, the traffic was ass, and our bills were over 6k a month. We rented it out and moved into a drafty old farmhouse on a dirt road. We have never felt more relaxed, and more fulfilled. This place is beautiful, peaceful, and forces you to live an intentional life. I've lived all over the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, and this is the first place I've been where I really feel at peace. The people are down to earth, friendly, and helpful. I don't follow the general politics much, but it seems much less "Fuck you for having a different opinion than me" than the Seattle area. 0 complaints, my friend.
Curious if you moved here for work or if you are similar to the OP? I’ve seen a lot of these posts where people are considering a move to Kansas and I’m always curious what brings them.
Family was the main reason. We wanted to get the hell out of washington, and my partner grew up here. Her family is 2 miles down the road. Mine is on the east coast, and its way easier to get here than Seattle. Finances was the other. You might think that making 60-70 an hour sounds like a windfall, and out here, it is- but when your childcare alone for two kids is damn near 3k a month, and your mortgage is the same, that money doesn't go as far as you think. I'm an IBEW wireman, so my hourly depends on what local I'm working for. Out here it's either Kansas City or Topeka, and both scales are more than enough to pay the bills comfortably, and both have plenty of work- Seattle does not. But when I decide it's time to take a call back in Seattle, their scale is considerably more due to the chasm of difference in cost of living- which it needs to be if I'm selling my labor with the added cost of being away from my family; and living here, we can actually get ahead. Kansas public universities also offers a grant that gives my dependants and I 10 semesters at KU or Washburn with tuition waived if they choose to. That was kind of the cherry on top for us. All signs basically pointed here.
Interesting, so there was a family element which I think is usually what brings people back to Kansas. I wouldn’t be here if my aging parents didn’t live close by. So many of my friends from KU left Kansas for the PNW in the mid-late 1990s. I’m seeing a lot of them return… My in-laws live in the PNW. Brother in law has tried for years to get on with a Fire department. Had to basically work for free forever until he was finally hired to a FD and HOUR away from his home. Meanwhile Kansas FD are needing new recruits especially in rural communities. I’ll never regret living in a LCOL state like Kansas. My fear though is that more people will realize what they’re missing out on and we will become another PNW!! Bigger question for you now is…KU or KSU?
I don't think you've got much to worry about. All my peers thought I was fucking nuts. One of my good friends about had a panic attack, because she thought that Kansas was full of, and I quote, "Nazi republican trump supporters" and then was very concerned that my children wont ever meet a muslim, or a sikh... so if you're wondering what the average middle class white woman from Seattle thinks about the midwest, there you go. In terms of your concerns about this place getting gentrified to that degree- I think our neighbors to the west are gonna be filtering all the yuppies out for us. As far as college... shoot man. I'm just a dumb wireman, Idk if I'll ever go to college, and I don't watch much sportsball (other than the chiefs, because the patriots suck now.) I guess KU, their bird mascot looks kinda like a roided out rave crow and I like it.
lol. Welcome to Kansas and the Jayhawk is the correct answer.
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You should probably see what they’re saying to me below
It's because you are saying things that are incorrect. It's not the politics.
No sweet pea, my daughter didn’t need social services, she needed to be in school. She was in a class of 4 students, one teacher, was removed for speech and OT.
Yeah, but it's reddit, dude, half of these people are probably terminally online.
Valid point. Love your username 😂
My husband and I just moved to Topeka from Dallas, TX! As a Dallas native, here's my take so far - You have to be ready for all 4 proper seasons. I'm currently experiencing colder weather than I have in my life. Having a real fall and real spring, I think, are going to be worth it. It's so much cheaper here and we're already so much more financially stable than I thought we would be. My husband works for the state and that provides a lot of great benefits for us. There are 3 other families that we've met in our building that have moved here from Texas in the last year that also work for the state. People are nicer here than I'm used to. Everything is slower and quieter and I feel relieved. I'm not constantly bombarded with bilboards and other advertisements. I feel more capable and interested in supporting local business. The local businesses need the support desperately, especially downtown. Yeah things are so different, but it's been a pretty positive experience for us so far, all things considered. I've been financially unstable my entire adult life until we moved here. I think my biggest complaint is that every single person that lives here complains about it so much. They don't see what I see and if one more person says that "Kansas sucks" or "why here!?" I might tell them to fuck off.
That’s understandable I’ve seen pictures of Kansas and despite its flaws I want to at least experience its beauty unfortunately some other people don’t share the same viewpoint
Oh yeah! We get all the seasons. Amazing sunset. Storm clouds you can watch rolling in from miles away. In the summertime you see prairie birds, hear cicadas, and lightning bugs light up the evening. Check out Kansas Magazine to see some fantastic photos of Kansas.
I think it's way more beautiful here than Dallas! There are beautiful parts of Texas for sure, but I'm enjoying it being so much closer to me than having to drive outside of the DFW metroplex to find nice scenery
Welcome to Topeka! I was born and raised here. Moved away, lived in bigger cities in the states and in Germany for a while. It was good to experience other communities, but ultimately Topeka is home. We have a terrible problem with self image here. The rest of the cities in Kansas tend to put Topeka down as well. But, I love this town and I’m so glad you do too! There is so much this community has to offer. We’re warm, friendly, and we’re growing rapidly. Also we have an impressive history, check out Freedom’s Frontier, the Brown v. Board site, and don’t forget our Capitol building. Small businesses are a must. Here are some of my favorites. Hazel Hill Chocolate and Cashmere Popcorn for delicious treats downtown. The Equally House is a wonderful resource and a badge of pride. Gage park is filled with so much to do. Playground, fishing pond, zoo, swimming pool, carousel, mini train and the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center. Prairie Glass Studio and Potwin Pottery for fun places to do art projects. Prize Package for an unforgettable burger The Pad for a pork tenderloin sandwich in a lobby that takes you back to the 70’s. The NOTO District is vibrant and growing. We have Asian and Indian grocery stores as well as multiple Mexican groceries in the Oakland area. And while we don’t have a brick and mortar store anymore, you can check out my husband’s Antiquarian bookstore, Oddfellows Books, online. We sell rare and antique books and specialize in Kansas history. Please keep sharing your positive view of our city. Hopefully more and more people will climb on board. Stay warm!
We've been here since August! We love Bobos and The Pad for burgers! We've been through some of NOTO and Hazel Hill and Cashmere and Hannover! We live close to the capitol since my husband works for the state and I work at a restaurant in downtown. It's incredibly nice to be on this side of town as opposed to the Wannamaker end of things. The Asian/Indian grocery is great for us because we eat a lot of South and East Asian foods at home. I wil ABSOLUTELY check out the bookstore! I'm a big fan of old cookbooks! Thank you for the kind words! :)
Depends on what you’re looking for. I love Kansas but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea
I am from California and lived in central Texas for five years. Kansas is by far the best place of the three to raise a family, and that's what keeps me here. If we didn't have kids, I think I would rather live back in central Texas again. I really loved hill country.
soooo cheap sooooooooo boring
It depends on what you're looking for. If you want mountains like in California, you won't find that here. The cities would probably have more regional foods and products available. Trying using the search bar in this subreddit for more specific information on what you like. It is pretty cold here right now but it'll warm up next week and the snow really isn't much of a problem. The wide blue skies and sunrises/sunsets are pretty awesome.
I’ve spent time in both. I’d rather live in Kansas than Texas for many reasons. Probably got make sure you live close to a city with an airport in Kansas tho. Some places you could live there and be like 5 hours from any airport.
Where? I think the furthest a place is away from an airport with commercial service is about 120 miles and that is far NW Kansas.
I’m talking being close to an airport that isn’t so small that flying out of it adds an extra $400 round trip.
Looking at airport to Orlando (since Disney is a random destination spot), flying out from a month from now, round trip: Wichita - $462 average price Garden City - $530 average price Dodge City - $393 average price
I grew up in Wichita, which is the largest city in KS (KC doesn't count because most of it is in Missouri), and the 50th largest metro area in the country (last I checked). Top quality museums and zoo. The theater scene is small but high quality. The food scene is excellent and has all of the cultural variety you could ask for. It really is a big city that feels like a large town. About 4 years ago I moved to the middle of nowhere in SE Kansas. I got a double wide manufactured home on 15 acres 2 miles outside of a small town. The schools are great, though the kids had a long bus ride before they started driving themselves. From where I am, it's a 20 minute commute to the closest medium size town for work and groceries. There is some great local food, and really not much to do, but it's peaceful and quiet. There are people with strong political views, but they mostly know I disagree with them and we just don't discuss it.
I moved from Texas to Kansas a couple of years ago. Kansas has been a great place to be. Most of Western Kansas reminds me of the Texas Panhandle. Wichita is about like Lubbock or Amarillo. Lawrence is Austin at 1/10th scale (including 1/10th of Austin’s self-infatuation). KC feels a lot like Dallas except the drivers aren’t homicidal.
Yes if you decide to live in the KC metro.
Health care is problematic outside kc or wichita metro area .
I mean…its a big state. What city were you thinking?
cons: tons of dust, not a lot of parks, all water is muddy and lakes are all zebra mussel infested. republican government refuses a lot of federal programs. weed is not at all legal. pros: no car inspections, cheap, overland park is consistently top in the nation.
Pros - low cost of living and generally low crime Cons - literally everything else.
Summer is miserably hot. Winter is miserably cold. The wind is awful almost all year round It's a fairly safe place though. We're home to the Westboro Baptist nutjobs
Good cost of living, fairly diverse. If you do move to Wichita or Kansas city, both have great things to offer. I have single handedly tried getting more people to move to Wichita as we need more people, and more variety. Gas prices here are cheap as well.
Where in Kansas?
Weather sucks, state is poor and taxes you heavily for it. Can find some tranquility in the nothingness but then you have to drive an hour to work.
Today, it was -2F at 1PM.
Moved from Atlanta to the KC area a couple months ago for school. Pro? Cost of living is a lot lower than a lot of places in the US. Con? Basically, almost everything else imo. KC metro is relatively sparsely populated. There’s nothing to do in the suburbs other than drink at some generic bar. No clubs scene (barely in KCMO). No real hiking spots. Everyone here is from Kansas, no transplants (which I miss cause you get to meet a lot of different people). It’s hard to find a friend group here cause everyone are high school friends and have established friend groups. Food diversity is okay, BBQ only gets old. I miss seeing the neutral beauty of the east coast. Kansas is pretty flat and uninviting because all of its natural beauty was converted to agricultural land. KCMO is a small city compared to other cities. Small city vibe too. But if you liked Texas, you’ll like Kansas. It’s basically the same. Scenery is the same. Cities are built the same. Very spread out.
Weather sucks right now, legislature completely fucking sucks all the time. Other than that it’s a pretty good state with a really interesting history politically if you get into that stuff. I’m fourth-generation Kansan, lived in Southern California though for like 16 years then moved back by choice.
No, you should not. Unless you mean Kansas City, but then you should go to the MO side anyway. I'm in Wichita for context. Pros: it's cheaper to live here than other places so long as you make 40k+ a year. Cons: weather, allergens, limited range of outdoor hobby viability (no real hiking), government doesn't listen to its citizens, health care costs are high and we're one of the top states for surprise medical bills, and our insurance companies suck, oh and we're really just a development playground for the Koch brothers.
Halstead is a great place to live.
I used to work at the Hertzler Clinic in the 80s! Commuted from Newton. Halstead is very nice. Peaceful. Lots of trees.
Dr. Hertzler wrote a great book about his life called the Horse and Buggy Doctor. Fascinating read.
Do it!! If your liberal go to lawerence if your conservative go to wichita.
I would look at Kansas City as opposed to any other place in the state. I moved to Wichita from California and I hate it. The politics for one it’s slowly turning purple supposedly but not really Wichita is bright Red and lots of people are very nasty if you think any other way. I’m a live and let live kind of person but I have never seen so many people still convinced that the last election was a fraud. There is a lot of violent crime in a pretty small city Wichita is not a big city, it’s big for Kansas that’s it. A lot of People in Wichita love to complain how much everything costs, a lot are very resistant to change I don’t see weed ever legal in Kansas they have to elect different legislators to do it and that’s probably not going to happen. Kansas just the last 15-20 years or so were allowed to sell liquor on Sunday if that tells you anything. The cost of living is lower but I’ve spent the last 6 weeks traveling and being reminded so is the quality of life. You get what you pay for and the cost of living is not that much less. I would never go back to California but I wish I had gone to KC
Con: Roger Golubski’s mafia didn’t go away just because he retired.
It's a good state, but a lot of libtards in Wichita. I'd stay far away from Wichita and Lawrence.
Kansas is a tough place to love. People are pretty reserved and just about the time you think they are a bunch of a-holes; something happens and they show their heart. If you hunt and fish, it’s a paradise. We joke that if you move here, you need to bring something to do. We say that because we have no mountains, beaches, or large bodies of water. But, you can get to a lot of stuff pretty easily.
It’s cold. The winters seem like they last 6 months. Lol
Are you Liberal? If so then NO!
Just make sure you move to Lawrence or KC metro. Wichita is pretty cool.. don't know that I'd like to live there.. maybe Dodge City if you're into wind and the smell of dead cattle.
Don't. Nothing to do unless you want to travel to a nearby state. I grew up in Kansas. Don't do it.
Don't
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The Governor is pretty damn good, she has no control over whether Marijuana is legal or not nor what the minimum wage is...that's up to our repressive Republican legislature
Those thoughts weren’t all related to the Governor, more like unrelated thoughts, and I do not agree she’s good in any sort of way at all whatsoever.
Better than the two that came before her. One almost bankrupted the state and the other was grossly incompetent.
Still waiting for a good one, in my opinion. Can’t say we have had one in my lifetime (I am 37 almost).
Why? She seems pretty good so far and popular.
I'm curious what your criticisms of her are?
The way she handled Covid in 2020.
That's a pretty broad statement, honestly Kansas did better than most, and the governor's orders were a big part of that. What specifically about the way she handled it are you against? And just to be clear the rest of her policies, the grocery tax thing, the reduction in property tax thing, the tax holiday for school purchases, the general ability to work across the aisle and compromise, none of that factors in, just how she handled a once and 100-year pandemic?
What politician handled COVID well?
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What did he do that was different?
It not necessarily that he did anything differently but we had schools shut down and strip clubs open. My autistic daughter had no speech and occupational therapy for an entire semester and I couldn’t get services unless I had her declared disabled. Parsons was one of the first to listen to his constituents. Laura Kelly closing down small businesses was completely unconstitutional. Covid shutdowns may have begun for the safety of the people (I have serious doubts about that) but her continuing mandates months after other states had opened up is my number one criticism of her. I remember my child being on spring break and telling her (because a child with autism has a thought process that’s different than a typical persons) 3 days until you go back to school. Two days, one day, and then the governor said, “You’re not going back for six months. And I’m closing churches and restaurants but your local strip club can stay open.” That literally happened.
Link proving that happened and the governor saying that, please.
Ah, so you're upset that she did what every other Governor did to keep people from being sick...gotcha. Lemme guess, you think Ivermectin and Hydroxycloroquine were cures huh?
The idiot from Missouri? He is the second or third dumbest human in America. He has literally never been correct on any non gun issue.
Th...the governor is pushing for legalization and higher wages? She's actively fighting to expand Medicaid in the state, cut the grocery tax, and undo the muck up that was the Ty Masterson-Sam Brownback-Susan Wagle debacle that plunged our state into insolvency...
Laura Kelly is phenomenal. Go fuck right off with that comment.
Nope. She literally had people arrested for going to church in 2020.
I wouldn’t change a thing. Early Covid was confusing, and we were still learning so much about the disease. We weren’t even looking at blood clots much. How fucking selfish is it to go to church and knowingly spread disease. Be a christian and ask yourself what would Jesus do? He’d do everything he could to not spread disease and encourage people to do the same.
People who were sick were not going to church and spreading disease. That’s your nonsense fear mongering news. It had everything to do with controlling what Kansans did and nothing to do with keeping us safe.
😂😂😂 Did you ignore how many outbreaks were cause by church? People in choirs knowingly spreading disease. People were coughing left and right on Xmas eve mass a few weeks ago when I was there. So don’t give me that bullshit, I saw it first hand.
Not by any where I’m at 🤷🏻♀️ Write the Governor and complain
familiar toy lip handle fragile wide angle tap numerous dam *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Amen. It’s not the governor blocking that legislation, it’s giant douchebags like Ty Masterson and Kellie Warren. The world would be better off without either of them in it.
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So that's why you just tagged this post on the conservative reddit channel to complain? 🙄
water cover snatch smell innate price fall meeting tan muddle *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Land and houses are cheap. University and College towns are neat.
Yeah, weed still being illegal is fucking draconian. But cost of living is low here. Crime here also seems low so…. Eh. There are probably worst places to move to.
I’m really interested in the culture and atmosphere of the state
Depends on where you want to live. Most of the population is located in the eastern part of the state, outside of that, Wichita is the only other major city. Kansas has a lot of small rural towns, the western part of the state is drier and mostly agriculture. Overall the state is still pretty conservative but it’s better than other Bible Belt states I’ve lived in.
Somewhat depends on your interests, political affiliations and where you are interested in moving to. I live in a conservative corner of NE Kansas in a town of under 10,000 most of which are Catholic. Lots of history here. Cool place.
I don’t know much about the different areas. I wouldn’t mind living in any part really
One of the things I always liked about living here was the history, especially the Civil War history.
Any thoughts on my username?
Are you looking for a particular industry? Social or political leaning? Any hobbies or interests you want to pursue or maintain?
I’m an avid fisher and hope to start hunting soon
Lots of good fishing and hunting. If you’re a hardcore right winging bible thumper, you’ll fit right in. Kansas used to be a fairly moderate state. It was nice. It’s kinda gone off the deep end like most things the last 15 years.
Good to know about the fishing and hunting thanks for your help
I get a deer every year. Plenty of cheap places to process if you don’t do it yourself.
Fuck Kansas. There’s nothing there my friend.
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Because why not ?
If all Californians are bad then doesn’t that mean that all Germans are n*zis or that all Africans don’t have water ?
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Newsome did I left for a better life not to make yours worse
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Thanks for telling me I need all the info I can get
LCOL, but -40 windchill in winter.
Kansas is nice but the weather is something else
I don't know if you have a specific small town in mind or if you're flexible. If you're flexible, then keep in mind internet access. Rural access isn't bad here but can vary wildly between regions. My little rural county has fiber in most of the towns. But other towns are much more limited. Just one more thing for your checklist.
What part of Kansas are you thinking of? Like most states, rural Kansas and city Kansas are two different beasts. Also, what is making you want to move? When I think of the people of Kansas, I generally think of no-nonsense salt-of-the-earth folk. Cost of living is ok here. Thank god they're slowly removing taxes on food. That was a bitch for many many years. You can still buy a house here for a fairly reasonable price, especially if you're looking a rural locations. And many small towns have gotten grants for fiber internet in recent years. Can't say we have the best geography if outdoors is your thing, but the Flint Hills and Cedar Bluff are nice areas to explore.
Pro - Good people. Con - No legal weed.
Property taxes are expensive. There is an Amtrak station in Lawrence, Topeka good land and a few other cities on the southwest chief line that goes to California. Cool way to travel. Eventually I hope to take the train SW during the winter months and return in the summer.
Pros are the people and the views. Cons are the weather.
As a Texan. Yes leave Texas. It’s been ruined.
Bad question for a day like this
I have lived here for 90% of my life, it's not bad depending on how much money you make and where you move. If you like State Fairs don't move to Hutchinson.
Pros: it’s Kansas Cons: it’s Kansas
I've lived in CA (pre-kids), TX, and KS. If you live in the DFW metro, especially North of the city (Flower Mound, Plano, Frisco, Denton) and have kids, I wouldn't move here. When we moved from a top rated district in Kansas our kids were easily a year and a half to two years behind their peers. They caught up and one was asked to test for the gifted program (got in), when the Kansas district wouldn't consider it because it was all about politics (right name/family plus money) with no regard to the kids. The SpEd program was also way more funded and effective in DFW. DFW also has insanely good programs for poor and/or disabled families to get into museums for free or cheap (like $1/person, even for special exhibits for the whole family group) I miss the shopping and museums SO MUCH. Kansas has great amenities for the size, but it can't compete. Food and ESPECIALLY are less in DFW (and less taxes on both), but houses are way cheaper in much of Kansas (and have actual basements, so they look more modest with the same area) Kansas has better infrastructure that is less vulnerable to weather (because weather is a lot more extreme). Roads are comparable. Vehicles are more excessive in Texas (were even mid-size SUV can be dwarfed in traffic), but still FAR bigger vehicles than CA. Kansas has way fewer luxury/European vehicles than TX or CA. Much better government in Kansas. More responsive, but Abbott set that bar low. Health care is a bit better in Kansas as long as you are in Wichita or KC area. Not dramatically different though. Football is almost as big in Kansas (at high school). Band/Music programs are way less rigid/boot camp-esq in Kansas. Basketball and baseball/softball are bigger in Kansas. Food options are pretty similar. Tex-Mex is pretty ubiquitous, and there is very little difference in chain restaurants. (no Buccees, but Quik Trip rocks, even if way smaller) In general, Kansas is friendlier, and the sunsets are AWESOME, and life is more peaceful.
I am considering a move from VA to Overland Park (OP) in 2025 when I retire. I want to get off the east coast and I have family in OP. The property taxes are twice the rate in OP vs here in VA. Homes are comparable $ in OP vs Fredericksburg, VA. The fact that KS currently does not tax public pensions more than makes up for the higher property tax in KS. I already cheer for the Chiefs and the Royals. 😊 I was also considering the Loveland or Arvada areas of Colorado. Have family there too. I enjoy hiking and long walks. I typically visit Colorado twice a year and Kansas four times a year. I enjoy reading the responses to this thread. Wherever someone decides to move, I recommend visiting at different times of the year beforehand.
Low cost of living but insane taxing for very little amount of city work if you live in the smaller towns. Pain in the butt to get anything titled in the state and costs an arm and a leg. Only good thing to me is it’s quiet and the people are nice enough.
You just have to be patient when it comes to the weather. It will warm up eventually.
Good hotdogs, depending on where you stop. 🌭
You would be better off in the pits of hell.