How does Kansas differentiate itself from Nebraska or Iowa? (Overland Park: how much, tax)

[Gunluvver2]

Originally Posted by Rubi3

Even I know the chiefs and the broncos are not college teams.

Sorry Rubi. I should have made a separate paragraph out of the second sentence. Of course 99% of Nebrasans root for the Cornhuskers and Kansans have KU & KSU. Nebraskans are probably evenly divided between the Broncos and the Chiefs. And I would venture a guess that the farther West you go in Kansas the number of Bronco fans increases dramatically.

GL2

[RadioSilence]

Originally Posted by Gunluvver2

Sorry Rubi. I should have made a separate paragraph out of the second sentence. Of course 99% of Nebrasans root for the Cornhuskers and Kansans have KU & KSU. Nebraskans are probably evenly divided between the Broncos and the Chiefs. And I would venture a guess that the farther West you go in Kansas the number of Bronco fans increases dramatically.

GL2

You're more likely to find Dallas Cowboy fans than Denver Broncos fans in Kansas. That has been my experience, anyway.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by RadioSilence

You're more likely to find Dallas Cowboy fans than Denver Broncos fans in Kansas. That has been my experience, anyway.

You might also find some Minnesota Viking fans in Nebraska, esp NE Nebraska..

[itsMeFred]

You're more likely to find Dallas Cowboy fans than Denver Broncos fans in Kansas. That has been my experience, anyway.

Not mine. I've met very few Cowboys fans in Kansas...

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by matzoman

Kansas has a band named after it.

true, love the Jayhawks tho in actuality they are from Minneapolis.

[intelfan11315]

Iowa is a lot colder than Kansas

[Ithuvanian]

Regional boundaries in the US are hard to define exactly. I see Nebraska as basically transitioning from the Midwest to Western, but Kansas is a little more complicated. The northeastern part of KS is definitely akin to the Midwest, while the southwestern part takes on more qualities of the American Southwest (all the more with the increase in Latinos now), and southeastern Kansas gets in to the Ozark, sort of Appalaichian-like culture. Fitting for a state in the geographic center of the country. The Wichita area would be a combination of all of the above.

As for natural scenery... This is a painful subject to me because I love many things about my home state of Kansas, but I get the feeling that the borders of Kansas were laid strategically to keep the interesting landscapes out. Yes there are some nice areas here and there, but overall Kansas really does deserve its reputation for flat monotony. I have travelled all over the state (and looked at plenty of photos on Google Earth) and I think its safe to say nothing in Kansas approaches the grandeur of Nebraska's Chimney Rock or the pine-covered bluffs on its western flank, which could be considered Rocky Mountain foothills. I haven't seen much of Nebraska, so maybe most of it is just as boring as others have claimed. Seen even less of Iowa, but they do have a few downhill ski slopes and lovely bluffs near the Mississippi R. BTW if anyone thinks I'm wrong about the terrain in KS, please post a picture proving so; I would sincerely love to see it.

As for weather, my ideal climate would be something like Nebraska summers and Kansas winters. With a little less wind.

[hoooka]

All three are like 90 year old women, everyone knows where they are and no one wants to visit.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

I don't know about "Wild West" but SW Kansas is definitely the West. They have very little in common with the Midwest overall.

I agree. Although I tend to think "Wild West" is quite the marketing spin lol!

[thefallensrvnge]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Kansas depends (sucks, freeloads, poaches,whatever) off Missouri more than just about any other state leans on another state. I can only think of a few states that are even in the same ballpark. Virginia maybe with DC. But VA has other vibrant metro areas, beaches and even in the DC area, they work with DC and MD and fund regional transit etc. Quite different from the situation in Kansas where even in the KC area, there is almost zero cooperation and the entire state's economy is hinged on the KS suburbs of KCMO. Kentucky in the Cincinnati area or Illinois in the St Louis area are different as well because KY has other major cities and has many destination tourist areas plus the KY side respects and works with the Ohio side of Cincy. Illinois has Chicago, but metro east in StL again works with metro StL more than against.

New Jersey is the other state that might be similar to Kansas, but in the Philly and NYC areas, Jersey at least shares in regional transit, heck Jersey even host many of New York's pro teams. While many people commute from Jersey, they don't poach companies from NYC and Philly like KS does to MO. Sure, they move, but you never see the kind of incentives used that you see in Kansas.

The bottom line is that Kansas is not only connected to Missouri, it's extremely dependent on Missouri. Not only has Missouri been the primary pool of jobs that Kansas has been able to poach from to create and build their own economy in Johnson County, but the state of Kansas relies on MO for nearly all its cultural, pro sports, and even recreational entertainment (such as the mid Missouri lakes). Western KS does the same with Colorado.

Kansas does not even have a major urban center located within the state, yet is able to claim KCMO because most people outside of KC don't know that the primary urban and cultural portion of KC is in Missouri, not Kansas.

As far as KS vs NE. Culturally, they are nearly identical. Having spent years at my previous job visiting about 80% of the counties in both states, they are the same outside of metro KC and Omaha. College sports and farming and very little else. Although Kansas seems to have far more of the crazy "GOD" and "JESUS LOVES YOU" billboards and other home made signs etc all over the state so rural KS seems far more extreme than NE from a religious standpoint. People in KS are obsessed with KU and Kstate, just like NE people are obsessed with the University of Nebraska. College pride is everywhere you look, even on most cars and people in nearly every place in the state. It's a huge part of peoples lives.

Kansas has more people and small towns across it vs Nebraska, but from what I have seen, Kansas also has a lot more decay and abandonment. It just seems like Kansas towns and cities (outside of JoCo, Manhattan and Lawrence) are in some sort of decline and seem to be worse than NE from my experience, especially when comparing places like KCK and Topeka and even Wichita to Omaha. But small town Kansas is no better with a lot of little drug towns etc.

Driving across both states sucks, but Kansas is much prettier and has more interesting terrain than Nebraska.

Overall, they are the same, but take away JoCo and all the poaching/freeloading and national recognition Kansas falsely gets via KCMO's name and Nebraska is in a different league with their own identity, their own major city and their own home grown companies that didn't just move there from Iowa.

I think comparing Lincoln and Lawrence would be a good way to compare the two states, or better yet Warren Buffett to the Kochs Family

Other than agribusiness and being in midwest (eastern half of KS is midwest anyway), Iowa is pretty different from Kansas in most other ways, especially culturally and politically and Des Moines is a much nicer place than Wichita. Kansas just does not know how to build or maintain quality urban areas, but they are experts in publicly subsidized suburban sprawl.

You know I never really think of KC as being so divided. Sure, my mother is from KCMO & my father is from KCK. We love teasing both sides of the family, but at the end of the day, we get along just fine. That is Kansas City to me.

And then I read posts like yours.

Maybe it's better that you left Kansas City. And maybe it's better that you don't return. People don't need you looking down on the city just because it doesn't work the way you want it to. Are there problems? Yes. But the sheer differences between Kansas and Missouri are what make KC a very interesting city even if it leads to problems. Kansans have helped shape the city whether you want to recognize it or not. It sssooo strange because you post things like this: http://www.city-data.com/forum/kansa...-why-does.html and then you write crap like above. I love both KCK and KCMO. It's a shame you'll never be able to appreciate KC in the same way.

FYI - Kansas's claim to "fame" is not through Kansas City. It was the Wizard of Oz , Superman and the place in history is gained from its struggle to statehood (the one it fought against Missouri to be a Free State).