Kansas City, MO versus Lawrence, KS (Columbia, Liberty: apartments, rent, lofts) - Missouri - City-Data Forum

usamathman · 06-17-2014, 08:19 AM

Hello all,

32 year old single male.
Currently living on the east coast.
Expecting to relocate in the next two months to take a position in Lawrence.
Max rent budget of $1100 per month.

I am not a big fan of the suburbs. Need to be in an area with plenty of people and activities going. Live Jazz, movies, and watching professional sports are my favorite activities.

Want to see if you all get offer suggestions on the most ideal place to live. I have narrowed my search to Lawrence and Kansas City, MO.

Thanks.

shindig · 06-17-2014, 08:58 AM

I would live in Kansas City, MO. I love Lawrence and lived there for 5 years while going to KU, but I don't think I would want to live there now at this stage in my life (I'm a little older than you). Most of the single girls in Lawrence are going to be 18-24 year old college students and while the bar scene is great in Lawrence, once you get past 30, you start to feel like an old timer in the bars. I have several friends that live in Lawrence, but they live on the western fringes in the newer suburbs.

If you like pro sports and jazz, Kansas City is the place to live. You have MLB, NFL and MLS in Kansas City. I would look in the Rivermarket area. It's full of old warehouses that have been converted to lofts. Lots of younger professionals live there. They are also building some new infill apartments in the Rivermarket, so the area is becoming quite concentrated with younger professionals. It wouldn't be a bad drive to Lawrence since you are right off I-70. It would probably take 35-45 minutes each way, depending on how fast you drive

.

xenokc · 06-17-2014, 08:59 AM

Lawrence is a college town with an OK town center and above average college life. Not many jobs there compared to KC and many outgrow it. There is not a train to take to KC like you'd find in smaller E Coast towns. Is about a 40min drive to downtown KC. KC obviously has pro sports but in the burbs. Live jazz is picking back up in KC but not like the golden years (I used to write about jazz history for NYC rag about 10+ years ago - really miss Tonic on LES - is not the same here but KC has its own thing). Have you ever visited either or other Midwest cities? Will be a significant change in pace and vibe.

If you decide on KC, sounds like you'll want to be in the city. Here's a city guide of the city core along MAX bus line...
http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1...bus/maxmwk.gif

kcmo · 06-17-2014, 09:04 AM

Yea, college town vs large city. I like Lawrence. It's the one place in Kansas that offers something other than suburban sprawl (rest is rural or urban decay for most part). It's a typical liberal collage town though. Pretty active, decent nightlife etc, but mostly revolving around KU.

KCMO is a large city. Very different vibe, but it offers just about anything any large city would. I couldn't live in a college town. They are fun while you are in college, but after college I prefer the more mature lifestyle of a larger city. Others like college towns though and Lawrence is nice because it's basically part of the KC area rather than in the middle of nowhere. So while it maintains a unique identity, it's a quick hop to the "city".

usamathman · 06-17-2014, 09:49 AM

Thanks for the suggestions all.

denverian · 06-17-2014, 11:02 AM

If your job is in Lawrence, I'd probably live there. IIRC, it's about a 45 min. drive from Lawrence to downtown KCMO. Lawrence is a fun town, and has a more urban feel than you'd expect in Kansas. Plus all the cultural activities a large university has, a lot of bands play in Lawrence, good beer, etc.

xenokc · 06-17-2014, 11:09 AM

Ah, I just noticed the job is actually in Lawrence. Yeah, that may put more favor for Lawrence.

littlemonkeys · 06-17-2014, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by usamathman

Hello all,

32 year old single male.
Currently living on the east coast.
Expecting to relocate in the next two months to take a position in Lawrence.
Max rent budget of $1100 per month.

I am not a big fan of the suburbs. Need to be in an area with plenty of people and activities going. Live Jazz, movies, and watching professional sports are my favorite activities.

Want to see if you all get offer suggestions on the most ideal place to live. I have narrowed my search to Lawrence and Kansas City, MO.

Thanks.

Personally, I would pick Lawrence. It would be much easier to drive to kc for sporting events and nightlife on the weekends than to commute every day to KC. Plus Lawrence is a great town on its own.

Its kind of a laid-back hippie college town. The music scene has always been good and 30 somethings still go to plenty of the bars. A lot of people do go to kc for fun too.

Kansas77 · 06-18-2014, 12:56 PM

I grew up in Kansas City area, currently live in Lawrence. If I was in your predicament, I would stay in KC and commute to Lawrence. You can get to Lawrence in about 35 minutes on I-70 (toll road, K-tags are available) or if you are further south in KC you can use take Highway 10 which is free.

The traffic in Lawrence is horrible. It is usually bad but in the past 2 years they have started numerous road construction projects and it is now almost unbearable to drive around town. These projects will not be done anytime soon, expect it to be 2016 at the earliest. It would be much better for your sanity if you didnt have to drive around Lawrence constantly and only did it 5 days a week.

Everything you listed as your hobbies are things that are better done in KC. All pro sports are out in KC but Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas. If you like college sports then obviously Lawrence has that going. IMHO the best NCAA basketball program there ever was or will be. Thats just me though and I still wouldnt live in Lawrence for it. Much bigger fan of the Chiefs.

Lawrence has two movie theaters. One of them is a sub-par 12 screen on the south side of town. The other is at Liberty Hall and it is always showing independent movies and cool stuff like that. Plus it is right on Mass Street, a very classic downtown area for a college town. Kansas City has tons of theatres all over the place, you shouldnt have a problem finding one there. In fact, the world headquarters for AMC is located downtown.

You sound like a guy who would prefer a city, go for KC.

xenokc · 06-18-2014, 02:10 PM

Would be nice if there were a Megabus type service between downtown KC and Lawrence - they only service KC to Columbia/STL/Chicago even though there is already train service. Lawrence seems to be a natural expansion. I imagine it would do very well but even better would be a local weekend type service for KU students to come into the city and not have to worry about DWI.