Family moving to KC from CA. Lee's Summit vs Johnson County? (Blue Springs: best neighborhood, how much)

[sdmikev]

We are a family of 4 relocating to the KC area from San Diego, CA. I'll be working in the Crossroads District downtown. We're researching places to live and have narrowed it down to either Lee's Summit, MO or Overland Park/Olathe/Shawnee (maybe Spring Hill) in Johnson County, KS. Pros and cons to each? From our research, it seems the MO side is a little more rural and the KS side more developed and urban. Both offer amazing schools. It also seems a comparable house with great schools on the MO side is $30K-$50K cheaper than on the KS side. Is that mainly due to the popularity of Johnson County? How's traffic to downtown from each area? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

[rwiksell]

I'm sure others will chime in with more substantive advice. But I think you should look seriously at both. It just comes down to whichever offers the best house in the best neighborhood for the best price. Overall quality of life, education, shopping, culture, etc, are really a toss-up as far as I'm concerned.

[James Bond 007]

I've commuted from Lee's Summit to downtown KC in the morning. Once you get past I-470, the traffic on NB US-71 isn't all that bad. I suspect it would be better than taking I-35 from JoCo in the morning.

[sdmikev]

Thank you for the reply. At this point, I think we're leaning more towards Lee's Summit/Blue Springs but that's strictly based on research online and talking with friends who live there. I plan on coming out before my wife and kids so I can get a lay of the land and explore both areas firsthand and make the best calculated decision from there.

[James Bond 007]

One other minor consideration ... at tax time, it's much easier doing your taxes when you both live in, and work in, the same state. That is, if you ever do your taxes yourself. So if you're working in MO, at tax time you might get a bit PO'd at yourself if you moved to the KS side.

[James Bond 007]

Originally Posted by sdmikev

Thank you for the reply. At this point, I think we're leaning more towards Lee's Summit/Blue Springs but that's strictly based on research online and talking with friends who live there. I plan on coming out before my wife and kids so I can get a lay of the land and explore both areas firsthand and make the best calculated decision from there.

I would avoid Blue Springs if you're working in or near downtown KC. Traffic on I-70 eastbound can really be a pain sometimes (I've done *that* commute as well). 70% of the time it's not that bad, but if there's a storm, or a wreck, and sometimes randomly, it gets really backed up and you'll get to work 15 minutes late.

A few times I ran into that problem on US-71 coming in from Lee's Summit, but it didn't seem to happen as often as bad traffic on I-70. I think that might be because speed limits are slower.

If you want a guided tour I'd be happy to give you one!

[olyp]

OP, what is your family situation? How old are the kids? Not sure where you've lived in San Diego, but both places you've mentioned are suburbia environment with JoCo having a little bit more urban feel/parks/playgrounds/things to-do with kids. Depending on what are you looking for (public school, private, charter) with a job in Crossroads you might also look at Westsise area (little of housing inventory but can walk to work), Brookside, or parts of Midtown. Parkhill school district in MO is amazing, in some ways much better then BV schools. They are building new elementary and high schools with a new project-based model school too.

Downtown area is changing with many families are moving in, however public KCPS schools are not doing well besides magnet. Check this website for more details on school choice https://showmekcschools.org/ There is Lincoln Prep High school with great scores and experience, they are opening new Middle school too. Academy Lafayette is a French immersion K-8 with expanding to High school. There is a Spanish immersion and Mandarin immersion in Foreign Language Academy in Midtown. Crossroads Charter schools K-12 is one of the leading and innovative schools in downtown area too. Check all the options - we used to live in JoCO South Overland Park and has moved to Westside - my son walks to downtown, go to museums as a playground, we walk to bakery and restaurants and simply enjoying a very different experience. Yes, you can hear gun shots in Westside, Midtown or Brookside.....but again, it is a city living.
PM if you have any questions,

[sdmikev]

We live in San Marcos, CA which is 30-40min north of San Diego. It's definitely suburbia too which is what we're kind of looking for. Kids are 11 and 4 with the oldest just finishing 5th grade so ideally will start middle school with everyone else.

I checked out the Parkville area and I like how much closer to downtown it is but the schools are rated slightly lower than the other areas we're looking at, 6s and 7s on greatschools.org. However our realtor did mention that since the schools in the metro area will overall be better than the schools we're used to here in SoCal so those 7s are more like 9s here. I'll have to add that area to the list to scope out when I get over there in a few weeks.

Thank you for the input!

[TabulaRasa]

I've lived in both Lee's Summit and Johnson Co. Both are lovely. Both have excellent schools. Depending on where you look in Johnson Co., it might represent the better commute, though other parts of Johnson Co won't be much different than a commute from Lee's Summit.

[TabulaRasa]

Also, "traffic" here will feel nonexistent to you.