Relocating to Fort Riley area...Advice? (Manhattan, Junction City: for rent, mover, houses)

[scmover]

My husband and I (Mid 40's) will be relocating to the Fort Riley area (from NY) soon to assist our daughter-in-law while our son serves in Iraq. What is the job market like? I am a recent Medical Assistant graduate and my husband has 30 years experience in residential construction. We need to secure jobs and locate a nice area to live. We have been to Abilene but would like to be closer to the base. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[KSUgrad]

Hi,

Here's information on Manhattan, the largest city in the area (51,000): www.manhattan.org. Here's info on jobs in Manhattan: Manhattan Jobs - NationJob.com Careers, Work & Employment opportunities in Manhattan, Kansas.

Best wishes!

[scmover]

Thank you KSUgrad. What do you know about the Junction City area? What about the weather? I understand it gets very cold. What about the liklihood of tornadoes?

[KSUgrad]

Junction City has about 22,000 people. City of Junction City link: City of Junction City, Kansas. Junction City Convention & Visitor's Buearu site: Geary County CVB - Official Website. Weather.com Manhattan weather averages: Average Weather for Manhattan, KS - Temperature and Precipitation

Best wishes!

[CavwifeyCarly]

Hi, I have lived on In the fort riley area for 5.5 years now. My husband is in the Army and currently deployed for the 2nd time. But a lot of people joke that junction city is junk city or the junk. There are a lot of great places to stay in junction city it all depends on what your looking for, there are a lot of beautiful houses for rent in the "spring valley" area its across from highway 77. If you have a nursing degree or anything dealing with the medical field then I think you could easily find a job there are always jobs openings on Fort Riley as well as off base hospitals in the local community. Manhattan is also a great place it has more restaurants and things to do but it also has a lot of college kids there. Manhattan is about a 15-20 mins drive to Fort Riley depending on where you are in Manhattan.

Also the construction off post has slowed a little but it is still booming there are a lot of soldiers coming back from deployment right now but as soon as a big group comes home a big group leaves. Fort Riley area is expected to grow and the demand for houses are really high and there is also a lot of construction on fort Riley there building new housing communities as well as keeping the houses that they have now in decent shape. Picerne is the company that handles the houses being built on post. I would say the job market is really great and anything dealing with medical your shouldnt have a hard time. Also construction off post and in the local areas are doing really well and Im sure there always hiring good luck

[CavwifeyCarly]

Originally Posted by scmover

Thank you KSUgrad. What do you know about the Junction City area? What about the weather? I understand it gets very cold. What about the liklihood of tornadoes?

Well Im orginally from Maryland my husband joining the army has moved us to Kansas but the weather is no difffernt then in Maryland. I would say that NY is colder then JC during the winter. We do get a good amount of snow but it varies from winter to winter just like summer. Some summers we will have a heat wave and others we wont. During tornado season which I think the main month is May is when I find myself and my family having to get into the tornado shelter about every other day. But this year I think we only had to get into the shelter maybe 5 times and yes its scarey when it happens but I just remain calm and pray. Thats all we can do but out of the 5 years that I have been here we only got hit by a tornado once on Fort Riley. Manhattan got hit by a tornado May 2007 I think and a couple of years ago a tornado whipped out a whole town. Hopefully Im not scaring you Kansas is a beautiful place and I really like it here it took about 2 years for me to like it. We did have a ice storm in 2007 it did a lot of damage but within a week or two the town was up and running just fine. The weather and the threat of tornadoes isn't that bad. Its scarey to think about but once your hear and you see how slim the chances are you sort of settle down and not think about it. HOpefully that makes sense.

[scmover]

Thank you CavwifeyCarly. You provided a lot of information in your posts. I appreciate you taking the time. My son left for his 2nd tour in Iraq also this past June from Fort Riley. He is not expected back until next June but my daughter-in-law wants to move back to Kansas and get set up before he comes home for his 2 week R&R I think in February. We are looking to relocate before the winter as it will be easier. Once again, thank you and maybe we will meet when we arrive and get settled.

[SpunkyToo]

There appears to be several construction and medical positions available on the Kansas State website.
www.kansasworks.com