Gay Couple considering relocation Kansas City Metro (Overland, Jackson: apartment, low crime)

[GHM]

We are a married gay couple in our early 40s. We live in New York City, and have been together for over 15 years. My job has offered an excellent career promotion in Topeka, Kansas. We are considering this opportunity as it is potentially life changing. We have relocated for my job once before.

We want to know what would be best areas to live in the Kansas City Metro area. We are open to live either on the MO or KS sides of the city. I will be commuting to Topeka daily. We simply want a neighborhood that is accepting and welcoming (what everybody wants) with low crime and a good standard of living. We are looking for an area with single family homes. We are tired of apartment living, so we want a home with yard (for our dog), garage, large enough to have our families visit (minimally 3 bedrooms).

I am willing to have an hour commute each way to Topeka. My husband would be looking for a new job if we make the move.

We would really appreciate any suggestions on areas to avoid and/or consider and your reasoning behind the suggestion if possible.

Thanks!

[TabulaRasa]

I wouldn't love the commute, but I agree that you'll likely prefer KC living to Topeka. The KC neighborhood of Brookside would likely be an appealing one to you, if you prefer city to suburbs.

[lovekcmo]

Welcome, pretty much any area of the KC Metro will be accepting, as long as you aren't sporting Hillary bumper stickers. It will be a good hour commute to Topeka from the KS suburbs. I would look at Overland Park, Prairie Village, Leawood, or any of the towns in Johnson County KS. Living in KC MO you will find wonderful old neighborhoods, but you're going to be paying a earnings tax to the city of KC MO for living in it's boundaries and Missouri state tax. Probably if you are going to be working in the state of Kansas you will want to live in one of the suburbs and avoid the hassle of paying a earnings tax and Missouri state tax. You will find a large gay community and will be fine living pretty much anywhere.

[kalisti]

It's a smaller community but very open and liberal, have you considered Lawrence? It's right in between Topeka and KC, has a large university and all of the bells and whistles that go along with it. It's only about 25 minutes to Topeka and 45 to the urban core of KC.

EDIT: I disagree about the Hillary stickers, I had an Obama sticker on my car and never experienced any problems, although I mostly keep to the urban core. Even when in JoCo for any reason I was fine.

[soapboxist]

Originally Posted by lovekcmo

but you're going to be paying a earnings tax to the city of KC MO for living in it's boundaries

Wrong! Only people who WORK in KCMO pay the 1% earnings tax. You are not charged the tax just by living there.

[kalisti]

You pay KCMO income tax if you live here and work elsewhere. My neighbor across the street when I lived in Waldo got hit with several years' worth of back-taxes from KCMO because her job in Johnson County didn't withhold. I also had it deducted from my paycheck when I worked in Leawood and lived in Waldo by my employer.

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

Ignore the comment about the Hillary bumper stickers (really ignore anything the poster lovekcmo says about politics, or life in general). The city of KCMO (particularly south of the river) is heavily Democratic. Hillary won Jackson county by a wide margin, even though the county includes some suburbs that are rather conservative. Really, the metro area of KC doesn't generally turn aggressively/hostile Republican until you get on the very outskirts of the metro (a friend of mine did have a Hillary bumper sticker ripped off her car in St. Joeseph).

Do you have any idea where your husband might find a job?

Just based on your job in Topeka, I might second the recommendation of living in Lawrence. It will make your commute much better and it is the most liberal city in Kansas. It is definitely a college town dominated by the University, but it's not 100% college students. If I had to live in the state of Kansas, it might be my top choice.

If you do stay directly in the KC metro, I would also agree that Brookside might be your ideal neighborhood. However, that would probably put your commute over 1 hour, depending on where in Topeka your job is. You might be able to make it to the eastern edge of Topeka in an hour if there is no traffic (but traffic is usually not bad in KC).

The Volker, Westside, and Union Hill neighborhoods in KC, or city of Westwood, KS could also be options and they would shave a few minutes off your commute.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by kalisti

EDIT: I disagree about the Hillary stickers, I had an Obama sticker on my car and never experienced any problems, although I mostly keep to the urban core. Even when in JoCo for any reason I was fine.

Never an issue for me, either, and I've lived in the Plaza, Waldo, Lee's Summit, and Mission. Democrat bumper stickers, rainbow stickers, military spouse magnets, Christian fish, whatever.

That admonition is basically nonsense.

[TabulaRasa]

And, yeah, Lawrence would generally make more sense from a commute perspective (I'd stab myself commuting from KC to Topeka, personally, but it's also true that I have categorically no tolerance for commutes of any kind), but may not necessarily appeal if anything resembling city life is sought (which may or may not be the case).

[nycrite]

I'll 3rd (4th?) the Lawrence recommendation. Like Tabula, I am anti-commute, but with that aside, Lawrence would meet most, if not all of the criteria you originally laid out. When I read your original post, I immediately thought of Lawrence, not anywhere in KC.