Best Major City in Kansas (Wichita, Overland Park: dorm, safe area, schools)

[KCcollegestudent95]

To start, of course when I say "major" I speak in relative terms. I want to know which cities in Kansas you think have the largest statewide/regional influence, the best infrastructure, the best statewide reputation, the best amenities/attractions, and anything else you would like to compare. I'll start with a general list of major cities in Kansas

- Wichita
- KCK
- Olathe
- Topeka
- Lawrence
- Manhattan
- any other Kansas City suburbs on the KS side

This is just a list to get the conversation started and is by no means comprehensive. I want this to be an open dialogue for all my Midwest people, not necessarily a "one city wins and the rest lose" type of forum.

[luzianne]

Overland Park/Leawood

[Mattks]

My personal favorite is Manhattan followed by some KC and Wichita suburbs.

My list

1. Manhattan
2. KC suburbs like OP, Olathe, and Leawood
3. Some Wichita suburbs and parts of Wichita itself are nice like Riverside
4. Topeka
5. Salina
6. Hutchinson
7. Emporia

Other towns not on the ranking or too small that I like are Hays and McPherson. Lots of neat towns under 5000 population.

[cattalk1]

Olathe offers HUGE amount of new tech start ups plus Google Fiber internet. Excellent schools, nice housing and safe area. All kinds of culture, outdoors, shopping, night life and sporting events really close.

Manhattan - safest college in the state and most positive town in the state.

Ft. Hays U - best online education in state.

[KCcollegestudent95]

Personally I always root for Topeka as that is where I'm originally from. I'm hoping the work they're doing on downtown (Kansas Ave.) will lead to more long-term revitalization because Topeka is definitely lacking even compared to smaller cities like Lawrence and Manhattan.

[Mattks]

Originally Posted by KCcollegestudent95

Personally I always root for Topeka as that is where I'm originally from. I'm hoping the work they're doing on downtown (Kansas Ave.) will lead to more long-term revitalization because Topeka is definitely lacking even compared to smaller cities like Lawrence and Manhattan.

I'm from and live in Topeka. There are a bunch of new local restaurants and the city has done a good job updating infrastructure the last few years. Our restaurant scene is still mediocre, but there a lot more choices then just a couple years ago. At least a dozen new local GOOD restaurants of various types, plus a couple 24 hour restaurants that have all opened recently. The zoo has seen significant improvement under its new management, and the new Children's Center is neat. The city has $8 million left over in its budget it didn't account for, so it's going to use that to update infrastructure in the poorer old downtown residential areas. Topeka has a lot going for it right now, even with the state constantly moving jobs away, we still seem to be growing or at least staying stable. The West side of town has a few developments going on right now. A new city water park is supposed to be finished by memorial days and they are widening a few streets to 4 lanes. The Mars factory just finished last year, and a few other small companies have moved to Topeka recently. Oh, and Washburn University is adding 3 new buildings this year, I think 1 dorm building and not sure what the other 2 are being used for.

But yes, Topeka lags behind Manhattan and Lawrence, which is especially sad since Topeka is larger then the 2 combined. I lived in Lawrence for a while, and just realized I forgot it in my listing ( I'd rank it as #3 probably after KC suburbs), and I won't lie, I started to hate living their after about a year. Commuting sucks, the traffic gridlock is just ridiculous. Only having 1 street that goes through the entire city is incredibly stupid. Iowa and 23rd st are a nightmare to drive on.

[Mathguy]

I'd have to go with the KC Burbs.

The schools are one of the best public highschool areas in the country and frankly you can get to just about anything in the metro in under 30 minutes.

With that said, I actually prefer Lenexa to Olathe, (south) OP because it doesn't have the traffic congestion and it's generally another 10-15 minutes closer to the airport, downtown and so forth.

[HTY483]

I know it's early but there's no way Manhattan is nicer then Lawrence or the Overland Park/Leawood/Prairie Village area.

[denverian]

Lawrence. The only tolerable city in Kansas!

Well, maybe the far NE JoCo 'burbs like Fairway, Westwood, Mission Hills. They're nice (if not beautiful) and near the Plaza, Midtown and Downtown KCMO.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by cattalk1

Olathe offers HUGE amount of new tech start ups plus Google Fiber internet. Excellent schools, nice housing and safe area. All kinds of culture, outdoors, shopping, night life and sporting events really close.

Eastern JOCO is far nicer than most of Olathe. The only redeeming area is by K-10 due to the much nicer scenery by Cedar Creek. That is not to even mention the built environment of Olathe and the horrid traffic/layout.