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Poised on the western borderline of Missouri and sharing its border with Kansas, Kansas City is one vibrant place to be. Its jazz heritage is impressive, as are the fountains that greet you around practically every corner. And of course, who can miss out on the barbeque! Kansas City Missouri has over 200 neighborhoods and each has a life and a charm of its own. The biggest state of Missouri has loads to offer to all kinds of people. Naturally, moving to Kansas City needs some researching so you get a good idea of the lay of the land. Read on for a guide on moving to Kansas City Missouri.
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Kansas City has a great network of well-maintained streets that makes it easy for car owners to get around. Apart from that, the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) is the public transit agency for metropolitan Kansas City. KCATA has RideKC, a bus system that is reliable and runs across a number of routes. Passengers have the option of availing passes, and the RideKC app is the best way to stay abreast with schedules and changes.
KC StreetCar is a free to ride north-south line that runs mostly along Main Street in Kansas City. This 2-mile streetcar stretch is accessible for wheelchairs, strollers as well as bicycles! Conscious of your carbon footprint or just like to hit the pedals occasionally? RideKC Bike is a 24/7 public bike share system in Kansas City. You can find the bikes at hubs and stations around the KCity metro, and it runs 24/7. You can also rely on taxis in KC, as well as services like Lyft and Uber.
Apart from inter-city transport, Kansas City is easy to reach via roads and highways. Additionally, the Kansas City International Airport ensures great connectivity options, both national and international.
Kansas City faces a humid climate and experiences a range of temperatures throughout the duration of the year. Summer season can get quite hot, and the humidity makes it fairly sweaty and muggy. On the rare occasion, temperatures can go as high as 100°F. Winter season does see a significant drop in the weather, and is mostly dry and quite chilly. This extreme difference in the temperatures of summer and winter may deter some, but overall, it is quite bearable.
Leisure, hospitality and healthcare are three big sectors that provide employment in Kansas City. Ford Motor Co. and Hallmark Cards are two prominent manufacturing employers in the area, and joining manufacturing as another successful industry in Kansas City is trade and transportation. Lastly, those in the education sector can certainly find jobs here, as the Kansas City Public Schools System and Kansas University provide employment for this sector. According to a study done by the Wall Street Journal with data from Moody’s Analytics earlier in 2020, Kansas City has a hot, up-and-coming job market. It jumped up a few spots to land at No. 20 out of a total of 381 metro areas in the US.
Kansas City may be small in size when compared to the bigger cities of the United States, but nonetheless, it has several neighborhoods, almost too many to pick from. We’ve listed out some of the neighborhoods in Kansas City along with certain statistics about them from AreaVibes.com, so you get an understanding of what awaits.
With an exceptionally low crime rate and a bunch of high-quality schools, Stanford Gardens is a top-notch neighborhood in Kansas City for families. Unfortunately, the cost of living here is much higher than the average in Kansas City.
If Stanford Gardens is great for families, then Crown Center is the ideal location for the young guns. With a range of department stores to fulfill daily needs and premium boutiques for that occasional indulgence, it also enjoys a decently low crime rate. Eyeing Crown Center with a family in tow? The aquarium and LEGOLAND Discovery Center make for a great way to spend those weekends.
A laid-back area with a campus over a 100 years old and a gorgeous garden, South Plaza boasts some fantastic historic homes. This is beautifully complemented with a buzzing culture, enjoyed to a large extent by the students in attendance at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC). Theatre aficionados will be particularly attracted to South Plaza, as not only does UMKC boast of the internationally recognized UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, but they can also drop in to the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, a renowned regional theatre.
Downtown Kansas City has been featured in Forbes as one of America’s 10 best Downtowns, and it's easy to see why. Art-deco buildings share space and skyline with skyscrapers, and it boasts of an 8-block entertainment district called Power & Light District, jammed with bars and restaurants, and great places to shop. The nightlife here is throbbing and vibrant, and you can choose from a night out bar-hopping to a fine dine experience. Naturally the cost of living is higher, but it sure is worth it.
Kansas City boasts of tons to do, so anyone living here will rarely have to deal with a dull weekend. Its involvement with jazz and its musical history are captured in the American Jazz Museum. Right next door is the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, another great place to drop by. Both of these are located in the 18th & Vine district, a district that itself is historic for many reasons. Finally, art lovers can swoon at the nearly 40,000 works of art housed in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The food scene is explosive, and the streetcar network connects you to several great joints to enjoy a meal or appreciate some art. In Kansas City, everyone gets to live out some of its fantastic experiences.
The approximate middle price range value of homes in Kansas City is $169,241. According to Zillow.com, the home values in Kansas City are predicted to rise by 5.5% in the upcoming year. This follows an already significant increase of 7.0% seen over the past year. Kansas City is indeed a great place to live, and coupled with fantastic transportation and tons of liveability options, its market value seems to be headed for a sure rise.
Your budget will eventually help decide where in Kansas City is best for you to move to. Always chalk out a budget before all else.
The best way for you to decide where to live is to narrow down on a few neighborhoods and make a trip to walk around and take it all in. Keep in mind things like commute time and routes to your workplace, surrounding amenities etc.
The USPS has a great way for people to update their addresses on their website. Make sure you remember to do this in advance.
See also: Change of Address Checklist
Owning a car and a license brings about additional responsibility. Apart from having your car transported over, look into the necessary process to apply for an address change at the Kansas City DMV office.
Remember to disconnect all your current services and do your research on providers in the new neighborhood of Kansas City. Order your services and schedule appointments to knock these tasks out of the ballpark within the first week of moving in.
Packing and moving is a mammoth of a task that must not be shrugged off or procrastinated at any cost. Create a moving timeline and get things organised accordingly to avoid stress and confusion leading up to the move.
Everything from groceries, utilities, housing to transportation in Kansas City, is priced either below the national average or at par. With an overall cost of living index of 86.2, most of us will not find it very expensive to live in Kansas City. Zillow estimates the typical home value in Kansas City to be around $187,000, while a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk would cost around $3.34 and $1.94 respectively, as estimated by PayScale.
To elaborate further, your monthly energy bill would average around $180, and a doctor’s visit would cost you around $110. These estimates suggest that living in Kansas City will probably not be an expensive affair for many.
With the overall cost of living fairly below the national average, you could also manage to live a comfortable life in Kansas City with an average salary between $41,000 to $58,000. To give you a price perspective, the monthly expenses excluding rent, for a single individual would be around $900, while the same for a family of four would be around $3,162, as per estimates by Numbeo.
On an average, Kansas City, MO experiences around 15 inches of snowfall every year, as per Bestplaces.
Bestplaces calculates the average cost of living index in Kansas to be around 83.1. This means that the overall living expenses in Kansas is lower than the US average. While utilities and healthcare are a little on the higher side, you can expect the median home prices in Kansas to be around $158,000. The median household income in Kansas is around $60,000 and your average monthly bills for water and electricity would be around $185.
The two states of Missouri and Kansas have a lot more in common than just Kansas City. And, one of those things is their cost of living. Yes, both the states have an affordable cost of living that’s lower than the national average. According to Bestplaces, Missouri has a cost of living index of 85.9, while Kansas has an index of 83.1. This is compared against the US national cost of living index of 100.
While most expenses are common to both, it is the housing costs that account for the slight difference. The median home price in Missouri is around $175,000 and the same in Kansas is around $158,000. Overall, you will find the living costs similar in both states, but it may just be a little cheaper to live in Kansas.
Currently, $1.94 is the cost of a gallon of milk in Kansas City, as estimated by PayScale.
As per the Department of Labor, currently the minimum wage in Kansas City, Missouri is $10.30. With the passage of Proposition B, reports have suggested that the minimum wages in Missouri would rise up to $12 by 2023.
Yes, with its location pretty close to the Tornado Alley, Kansas City does experience tornadoes more frequently than the other regions of Missouri. Reports have shown that most of these tornadoes peak between April to June.
Missouri is among the few affordable states which have a cost of living that is lower than the national average. Yes, from housing costs to utilities and transportation, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to save a few bucks in Missouri. Keeping that in mind, an average salary between $32,000 to $48,000 should be good enough for you to live comfortably in Missouri. To elaborate, the median home value in the Show-Me State is around $170,000, while your monthly bills for water and electricity would average around $180.
With a good mix of both urban and suburban communities, Kansas City has a variety of neighborhoods to make you feel at home. If you’re looking for a place to settle with family, then Overland Park could be a good choice for you. It has a family friendly vibe with good schools and reasonable cost of living.
Looking for a more diverse neighborhood that caters to the vibes of young professionals? Then, River Market and Crown Center could be a good fit for you. Downtown Kansas City and South Plaza are also popular places in the city that many people would like to move to. Depending on what it is that you’re looking for, you could easily find a place to live in Kansas City.
The largest city in the Sunflower State, Wichita, has been ranked as the most dangerous city in Kansas by RoadSnacks. With 11.41% of violent crimes and 53.24% of property crimes, the total crime rate of Wichita is around 64.65% per 1,000 residents. Independence, Topeka and Coffeyville are some other cities falling under the same category.
As per Areavibes, Marlborough Heights – Marlborough Pride has been ranked as the most dangerous part of Kansas City. Violent crimes in this part of the city are 5,425 per 100,000 people. Some other neighborhoods that fall under this category are Knoches Park, Oak Park Southeast, Saritt Point and Blue Hills.
Valley Center has been ranked as the safest city in Kansas by Safewise. The small city has a violent crime rate of 0.8% and property crime rate of 5.2%, taking the total crime rate to around 7%. Some other safe cities of Kansas include Leawood, Basehor, Prairie Village, Gardener and Lenexa.
Conclusion
Kansas City is certainly a great place to move to, but how good a fit is it for you would be for you to decide. So do consider all these factors if you’re thinking of moving to Kansas City, Missouri. Finally, make sure you pick the right movers when moving to Kansas City. If you’re moving across the state, your movers should be equipped with everything for a big move. Luckily, that's where we can lend an experienced hand. Contact us to know more.
See also: 7 Best Moving Companies in Kansas City
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