Where to live; Kansas City or St. Louis? (St. Charles, Washington: appointed, to rent)

[tylerkyler]

My boyfriend and I are considering moving closer to our families; mine in Indianapolis and his in Nashville. Naturally, Kansas City and St. Louis are on our list of cities to look in to. We are in our 30's with no kids and no plans to have any. We enjoy a bigger city culture with an active food and wine scene as he will be looking for employment as a sommelier. We would love to rent in an area where we would have access to many grocery, dining, drinking and entertainment options as well as public transportation if available. We've never visited either city and would appreciate any input.

[flynavyj]

Hmmmmmm. Having lived in both cities i think your boyfriend COULD find work in either city. I would assume that a sommelier is only going to be employed at high dollar restaurants, and even at those it might be few and far between that are looking for one, basically it would appear to be a very limited field, so it's not as if either city will be overflowing with either jobs, or applicants.

If he's done any research on different restaurants or businesses in either city who would be looking for someone to fill a position that he finds of interest, that would be the first place i'd start looking.

As far as cities are concerned, St. Louis would be the "larger" of the two (as far as a metropolitan area) and have more public transport options (bus + metro-rail). Both cities have an active nightlife, but i would typically say St. Louis would pull ahead with more areas to be sociable, bar scene, etc. When i lived in Kansas City people would typically go to the Westport area, or the Power and Lights District for their "Bar Hopping". In St. Louis, especially downtown there would be numerous areas for you to look at, the Central West End, Washington Ave, Soulard, The Loop, all of which have an incredibly vibrant and urban feeling. St. Louis has numerous different food types, from all ethnicity's around the world, even though some are better represented than others. And while i'm not very up on the "wine lifestyle" around here, we do have a lovely wine country that's on the outskirts of town. South of St. Charles, MO and stretching to Washington, MO there are numerous wineries, bed and breakfasts, and simply put gorgeous land worthy of a spring, summer, fall trip to the country to soak it all in.

So, while i do love Kansas City, i'd have to say St. Louis wins.

[smellykat]

While I much prefer living in KC to living in STL, I would not even consider KC in your situation. Residing in STL will put you four hours closer to your families. The STL forum will be happy to help you.

[kcmo]

I don' know why you would even look at KC in this case unless a job come up that made the city more attractive.

StL is much closer to Indy and Nashville and offers just as much, if not more, urban lifestyle options. The city seems to be turning around economically and getting a second wind after being somewhat dormant for a couple of decades. The metro also has a stronger sense of community and a somewhat healthier urban core (including Clayton) and has a far better transit system. Plus StL just "feels" like a more "metropolitan" city than KC as it's more dense and less fragmented or "chopped up" as an ex girlfriend from StL used to describe metro KC.

Kansas City flirted with the urban revival that has taken hold of most cities across the US and even though it still has a ton going for it and lots to look forward too, when you look at the stats, KC has been loosing ground recently and that revival has struggled to remain consistent and sustainable. (it's not just the economy). Once again, most of the positive growth in KC is occurring in JoCo (and now rural WyCo) while the central city hemorrhages its economy. So when you look at metro stats it looks "ok", not great, but not terrible. But when you drill down, what you see is a continued migration of the corporate community to the KS side of the metro which is eroding the city as a whole.

A while back, KCMO was told in the Sasaki study that Downtown should have 2-3 times as many employees and be a much larger percent of the regional employment base to be comparable to most of its more lively peer cities. Well after 5 billion has been poured into downtown, companies are still leaving downtown when they should be investing in the central city to be a part of the revival like you seen in so many other towns right now.

I mean, look at OKC. A sixty story office building is going up for a local HQ. Why are they not going to the NW side of the city like everybody was doing in the 80's? Because their corporate community is just as excited about Downtown as the city of OKC is. Same with Omaha. The city did what KC did and spent hundreds of millions on downtown and now the corporate community is stepping up and their downtown skyline has been transformed rather than more office parks in West Omaha.

As Granitestater points out. Jackson County is still getting hammered by its own suburbs and in the end, that produces a less desirable metroplex when compared to other cities that tend to be more on the same page, cooperate more and where the entire metro sees the urban core as an important asset to the entire metro and an exciting place to live and work rather than a place to avoid.

Sorry for the rant. KC is a nice city. But when it comes to urban vibrancy, the city has a lot to learn and much work to do. The city has set the table and the performing arts center and convention hotel should round out the investment. But now its time for the corporate community to step up and so far, I'm terribly disappointed in that important piece of the puzzle.

[brewcrew1000]

I would say KC has the a much better Fine Dining scene and we have some nationally recognized chefs. Doug Frost, a independent contractor from KC hosts a show on PBS called Check Please KC that rates restaurants and this man is one of the like the 3 in the world who is Master of Wine and Master Sommelier and he lives here in KC, Doug Frost - wine consultant and writer

I would pick KC, the fine dining just seems more vibrant.

Also, Southwest flies non stop to both Indy and Nashville and flights are usually dirt cheap, the prices are consistently 100 dollars roundtrip plus tax

[kcmo]

I think KC has a great dining scene. But StL might be better.

This list Shows StL with four 4diamond restaurants and KC with none. I thought the American was a four diamond?

City vs City Dining Scene! 2010 4 Diamond Restaurant City Rankings(North America)

Not sure how accurate that list is though.

[brewcrew1000]

I don't know if i would use a AAA list, maybe in the 80's but it's a different dining world today. Plus i don't understand why a place like Ailnea isn't on the list, a restaurant in Chicago, which some claim is the best in the world.

[MOKAN]

tylerkyler's answer is simple. St. Louis! For all of the reasons already mentioned and the fact that if she and her boyfriend have no attachment to either city, it's wise to choose the city that offers more. STL is a quite a big bigger and like a century older. That translates into more of everything. Better architecture, better transit, better shopping, and I assume a better or at least larger restaurant scene. Not to mention closer proximity to Chicago.

[aragx6]

I really like both cities, and you could find about a million threads comparing the two (often heatedly) but the bottom line is St. Louis would put you closer to both families and its urban living scene is far and beyond KC's. There are some cool neighborhoods in KC (I live in one of them!) but St. Louis has bigger, better, stronger and more vibrant 'hoods.

[TabulaRasa]

I agree. I grew up in Illinois, traveling to STL often, and moved as an adult to KC, nearly sight unseen. Just due to personal preference, as well as sentimentality, I rate KC higher, for myself (even though STL is closer to my fam), but they're fairly comparable, IMO, overall, despite each retaining its own individual feel. If STL puts you closer to family, that may well be the clincher. Though I'll be the voice of dissent and say that I enjoy the food scene in KC more than ST'Ls...just a personal preference.

I hope you make a visit to each, and get a feel for them.