Moving from Houston to Kansas City or Indianapolis (job market, neighborhoods)

[dtimm28]

My wife and I want to eventually move to a smaller city in the Midwest to raise our family. We are currently looking into Kansas City or Indianapolis. I would appreciate any suggestions if you are knowledgeable about these cities.

[WILWRadio]

I've lived in both. I prefer Indianapolis for several reasons. The economy is stronger in Indy. The people are actually nicer and in most cases friendlier than the Kansas City area as well as less pretentious. The cost of living is also lower in the central Indiana region though I'd hardly say the Kansas City area is expensive.

Kansas City probably has a bit more culture and entertainment facilities than Indy. But the KC area is also about 25% larger than Indy. My favorite things about KC are the BBQ, steaks and Mexican restaurants.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Personally, I'd go right in the middle, St. Louis.

But Kansas City is a fine place to live. About 1.9 million metro. MLB, NFL, and MLS teams. The Missouri side (from my understanding) tends to have more culture and urban areas, and the Kansas side is mostly suburbs.

I'd say both KC and Indianapolis are similar in cost.

[Hivebee]

They both are probably the same in cost of living, things to do, and size.

[MetroBTR]

I would go for KC simply for that BBQ lol

[northbound74]

Kansas City has a lot of suburbs that people flock to for raising kids. Overland Park, Kansas, was just named 6th or 7th best place in America to live. I prefer the Missouri side, though. Lee's Summit is really nice. The schools are great in most suburbs, and there's an incredible amount of stuff to keep kids entertained.
World's of Fun, Missouri Town, Union Station, which has Science City, lot's of water parks big and small... If you're into going to "the lake", there's plenty of them right inside the metro area. For culture, there's a youth symphony and the Coterie Theater, which is a live theater that is geared towards youth. There's a lot more stuff if you look into it.
If you want to live in the city, Brookside is one of the better neighborhoods. The KC school district isn't good, but there's good private schools close by.
The economy in Kansas City is diverse and stable. It's not fantastic and booming at the current moment, but it's certainly not horrible, by any means. Not sure how it compares to Indianapolis in that respect.
Everybody has different experiences, I guess, but I've found that KC has very pleasant and friendly people. Much less snobbish than what I've experienced in other places.

[roserbaum]

I would definitely choose KC hands down! Kansas City has the entertainment, culture, history, and charm. They also have great schools and a good economy. Great pro sports tradition and very nice people. One of the best places to live in the country if you ask me.

[Chicago60614]

I'd go for KC as well

[Mr. Answers]

Both are great cities and I've found them to be almost identical in culture, size, look, crime, etc.

One of the great things about Indy is that it's not far from Chicago, Louisville, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and other major cities. KC is close to....Omaha. lol. And St. Louis which IS cool. But that's about it.

I think Indy might be just a little cheaper, too. But Kansas City's job market is entirely better and the economy in the KC area is much more sound.

[WILWRadio]

Kansas City's current job market is anything but sound. The unemployment rate jumped dramatically in recent months and layoffs have been announced by at least a couple of large companies. Sprint is in tough financial shape and the automotive plants in the area are just about holding their own but little else.