Topeka KS - consider of relocating (Kansas City, Lawrence: house, school district, college)

[herreman74]

Hello. My husband and I have lived in Topeka for 5 years now and moved here from another state for a career opportunity. We have a young child now and have worked hard to make ourselves a part of this community. While I am definitely NOT in love with Topeka, I think some postees on this site make some huge generalizations about the city. Topeka has a lot of rough neighborhoods however the entire city is not a ghetto. We live in an older neighborhood in the west-central part of the city. The neighborhood is not perfect but it's certainly not the 'hood. The 501 school district has serious problems and that is a real concern for us and one reason we would consider moving outside of the city. My husband even taught for 501 for a year and our assessment is that there are many internal problems within that school district that may never be corrected. Crime is higher than other places but the city isn't exactly being run by vigilantes and our few brief dealings with law enforcement (calling on loud neighbors and a few suspicious looking characters in our neighborhood) have all been positive. I'll be honest, Topeka isn't the easiest place to live and you have to look deeper than you might in other places to find your niche, however here are some positive things about this place too. Here's a few:

1. Outstanding Public Library. It has great programs for kids & adults and all the latest books & movies. It is a gem of the city and definitely a place you'd be visiting with your young child. (I can't believe more people don't include it as a good thing about Topeka). It is a good place to network with other parents too and just a nice place to hang out.
2. Decent parks and great parks and rec programming. We live within walking distance to 3 parks with nice, new play equipment. Our child isn't yet old enough to partipate in the programs parks and rec puts on but they have some wonderful stuff for kids and adults. Like the library, it's another big positive with us.
3. Farmer's Market: it may seem like a small thing but the farmer's market is GREAT! It runs from April-October each year and just gets better all the time. It's held right across the street from the State Capitol building.
4. Low cost of living. Topeka is a reasonably-priced place to live. Housing is relatively inexpensive (certainly cheaper than KC or Lawrence) and it doesn't take very long to drive anywhere so you won't burn a lot in gas money.
5. Social organization/volunteer stuff. I don't know if you are into volunteering or networking with agencies in the community but we've found Topeka to have lots of opportunities. This is the main way we've connected with other people and made friends here. For example, we've gotten involved with Parents as Teachers which is a wonderful program for families with small children. 501 may suck as a school district, but Parents as Teachers is wonderful! You definitely have to work a little harder to find stuff you're interested in but if you're willing to put some effort into it, you can find cool people and places here.

Long term, I don't know if we will make Topeka our home but I do want to assure you if you move here, you will survive and hopefully thrive. Topeka needs all the young, progressively-minded folks it can get. Good luck on your decision.

[Bulldog Dan]

Topeka is not some third world country as some have implied. We lived there for 8 years and enjoyed it. The people are wonderfully friendly. It is a family friendly place, even if it doesn't have a great amount of "cultural activities." We like the Topeka Civic Theatre and miss attending. It is a very enjoyable evening.

We lived in the Seaman district, north of town. It provides an excellent education with great teachers. And commercial development was picking up when we moved three years ago. If it hadn't been for a job change, we would still be there. And they just built a new pool/water park at the county park up there. Since it is north of the river, it didn't seem to get the respect as other parts of town did. But I would recommend you look into it.

The state government provides some stability to the local economy, while also keeping growth from happening rapidly. The city is easy to learn to get around and you can get anywhere fairly quickly.

The cost of living is very low, specifically housing. And you can get some decent property with a bit of land thats not too expensive nor too far out of town.

And with Lawrence so close, there are "cultural" things to do there. And the crime statistics seem to be misleading. It not like New York City's Times Square was in the 70's.

It is a great place to live for us. And if the right job came along, we would probably move back.

Best Wishes.

[topks]

I've lived in Topeka all my life, and I think some of these comments are funny. Sure, there are areas I wouldn't want to live, but I lived in a neighborhood that was considered rough for almost 20 years and never had any criminal problems.

I would suggest if you do move here that you concentrate more on the perimeters of the city until you get to know it better. I think there are some great areas in the central areas though. I'd definitely avoid the eastern areas. I think southwest Topeka, the area around Lake Shawnee, and areas north of the river would be great.

If you've been too scared off of Topeka from the posters here, there are some smaller towns nearby like Silver Lake, Auburn, or Tecumseh, that are close-knit communities that aren't too far from everything. I also like a small town about 20 minutes west of Topeka called Maple Hill. It's a small town filled with young families in a great setting.

Good luck and go where you feel most comfortable. I hate to see you give up a good opportunity based on some comments here.

[fishbowl]

There are all sorts of small, pretty towns around Topeka.

As for culture, you have to look for it, it's here. Did you know the Brown vs Board of Education building is in Topeka?

Also, there's a new, multi-cultural art group in Topeka. It's a grassroots movement.

You can drive over to Lawrence and see the Spencer Museum on the campus of KU. They have concerts in Lawrence too.

There are things to do and see and get involved in. YOu just have to look.

[KsHmLok8r]

Congrats on the baby girl! 2 big events- a baby and a possible move. I am guessing Topeka is out of the question, although as a Real Estate Agent in the Greater Kansas City area I would like to shed some light on a few outlying areas that you could commute from. Obviously Lawrence is a neighbor and would be an easy commute, and it is more than a college town. It has good schools, good shopping, good restaurants and really good people. I have friends raising their kids there and they love it. It is a smaller town, although with the University located there it is filled with all the benefits of a bigger city, AND It is only a 35 minute commute to Kansas City
Another area of interest might be Bonner Springs- it is a growing community although the housing is still affordable!
If you are not taking the job in Topeka, but you still want to move to Kansas, I woud suggest looking in Johnson County. Ranked in the top 10 of Money Magazine's Best Places to Live in 2006 (specifically Overland Park and Olathe), it is really a nice, clean and safe place to live and raise a family. Visit Welcome to Ceri Online and you can order a $5 booklet that gives you the ins and outs of Johnson County. It is really terrific, in fact, I include it as part of my relocation package when I work with people moving from out of state.
Long winded..sorry. Kansas is a great place to live and with time you will figure out the right place for you and your young family I am happy to help or answer any questions.
Take care,
Keri

[hhurla]

Wow, nobody who wrote back was very positive were they? I've lived in Topeka for 7 years. I bought a house here while I was in college. THe real estate you will find extremely affordable and not because it's that bad of a town. If you are looking for a suburban lifestyle with the ability to work in a decent sized town, topeka is great. I'm from a community 20 miles east, my husband is from a community 20 miles west. We both went to nice schools and lived in small town while our parents commuted. I actually wouldn't recommend moving to Lawrence. It's a much "cooler" town but coming from someone who lived smack dab in between the two, the gangs and drugs I saw in high school wre from lawrence. Topeka is just an older town with a bad rap most of the time. I think that if I was tolive in the city, it's just right. A big enough town to have employment and theperks, but small enough you can be driving through open fields in 10 or 15 minutes. I'd look into communities like Maple Hill, Silver Lake, Rossville, St. Marys (only if you're okay with "fruity catholics"), Alma, Carbondale, Auburn. They are all small communities with virtually no crime and under 30 minutes from Topeka. We may not have that much culture, but that's mostly because there are different priorities for alot of people. And the culture thing, Kansas City is 45 minutes away and Lawrence is 20 minutes away. There is just alot more wide open space available for other pursuits here.

Honestly, I moved her when I was young and thought it was the state from hell for various personal reasons but I've warmed up to it quite a bit. I know people that moved here from all over that just wanted some acreage of there own and here is one of the few places one could afford it and it still be beautiful and natural. If you choseto live in Topeka, choose the west side or there is a kind aneat neighborhood just north of washburn university that they are revitalizing. I live one block south of washburn and I love the mature trees and neighborly atmosphere that living in an older town provides. And one more thing...I leave my doors unlocked every night.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by hhurla

Wow, nobody who wrote back was very positive were they? I've lived in Topeka for 7 years. I bought a house here while I was in college. THe real estate you will find extremely affordable and not because it's that bad of a town. If you are looking for a suburban lifestyle with the ability to work in a decent sized town, topeka is great. I'm from a community 20 miles east, my husband is from a community 20 miles west. We both went to nice schools and lived in small town while our parents commuted. I actually wouldn't recommend moving to Lawrence. It's a much "cooler" town but coming from someone who lived smack dab in between the two, the gangs and drugs I saw in high school wre from lawrence. Topeka is just an older town with a bad rap most of the time. I think that if I was tolive in the city, it's just right. A big enough town to have employment and theperks, but small enough you can be driving through open fields in 10 or 15 minutes. I'd look into communities like Maple Hill, Silver Lake, Rossville, St. Marys (only if you're okay with "fruity catholics"), Alma, Carbondale, Auburn. They are all small communities with virtually no crime and under 30 minutes from Topeka. We may not have that much culture, but that's mostly because there are different priorities for alot of people. And the culture thing, Kansas City is 45 minutes away and Lawrence is 20 minutes away. There is just alot more wide open space available for other pursuits here.

Honestly, I moved her when I was young and thought it was the state from hell for various personal reasons but I've warmed up to it quite a bit. I know people that moved here from all over that just wanted some acreage of there own and here is one of the few places one could afford it and it still be beautiful and natural. If you choseto live in Topeka, choose the west side or there is a kind aneat neighborhood just north of washburn university that they are revitalizing. I live one block south of washburn and I love the mature trees and neighborly atmosphere that living in an older town provides. And one more thing...I leave my doors unlocked every night.

I would not recommend St. Marys either, unless you want to live right on top of a huge coal power plant, that is one of the most polluting in the entire US.

Their are many good towns that are near Topeka as well. Osage County, south of Topeka does not have many non-farm jobs. Quite a few people who live in that county commute to Topeka as well.

Topeka is a town that is fairly high density near Downtown and the capitol area. Some of the older buildings and houses in town give the area a somewhat "rust belt" flavor.

Topeka real estate is definitely much more affordable compared with almost any smaller metro in the US. The median housing prices in Lawrence are typically much higher than Topeka and other towns in Shawnee county.

[sobeit19]

I haven't been in Kansas in about fifteen years, but I grew up in Missouri and spent a few years in Lawrence going to school. I then moved to Topeka and lived there for about six years. This was in the late 70's early 80's. I will say there have been many changes as a trip in 89 showed, however we always called Topeka the pimple on the azz, kansas was the azz of the USA. I'm sure there are other places worse but at the time it fit. I would suggest before you relocate your family that you read some online papers, research, research, research, and finally take a week and go in person.

[silverhaired51]

You could look at Silver Lake, it is about 20 or 25 minutes from Topeka, it has a great school district, homes that are affordable, you can walk there in town. As for outdoor things in the area. You have the state lakes, there is a lot of history in the state to see.

You have Kansas City to go to for culture, or you have Whichta. But take a look at Silver Lake, I have friends there and they love it.

[GraniteStater]

Silver Lake will become a suburb of Topeka one day...
However, it is still a nice small community north of Topeka.
Many areas of northern Shawnee County are still quite rural with a number of farms.
Many people work in Topeka and live in Lawrence...
If price is not a huge factor I would take a look at Lawrence if you do not mind the commute.