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Wichita has its share of problems as does every city, taxes could be lower, and the cities infrastructure needs improvement, crime, urban blight, urban sprawl, a lack of good public transportation, over reliance on aircraft jobs and so-on but the biggest problem in our city is what many here call the “CAVE” man syndrome…….or Citizens Against Nearly Everything. I am sure that Wichita is not the only home for these very negative kind of people; I read these negative comments about other cities and states and even our country all over the internet. I am not suggesting that negative comments are always wrong but I would like to share another viewpoint about Wichita.
The following is a list of Wichita’s ranking in National studies done over the last 12 months by NATIONAL PUBLICATIONS not the Wichita Chamber of Commerce.
CNN MONEY.COM: 10 Best Cities to Live In-300,000 or more. Wichita ranked #9
FORBES MAGAZINE: Least expensive places to live the good life. Wichita ranked #1
KIPLINGER: The Top 50 places to live-100,000 or more. Wichita ranked # 46
PROGRESSIVE FARMER: The best rural counties to live in. McPherson County Kansas, (A County next to the Wichita metro area) ranked #3
ACBJ BUSJOURNALS: 10 most affordable markets to own a home. 95 metros of 500,000 or more. Wichita ranked # 2
CNN MONEY.COM: Biggest gainers in 100 largest markets for growth in home values in year 2007. Wichita ranked # 16
CNN MONEY.COM: City taxes of 51 listed cities. Wichita ranked # 36. Some of the cities with higher taxes included New York City (2nd highest taxes), Atlanta, Indianapolis, Omaha, Charlotte, Salt Lake City, Des Moines, Boise, Little Rock, Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Oklahoma City. Our CAVE people like to twist this study to say Wichita has the 36th highest taxes in the United States. This is not true; the study only lists 51 of the larger cities of which Wichita ranked #36 out of the 51 listed. 15 of the cities on the list had lower taxes and 35 cities had higher taxes...I have no idea where Wichita would rank in taxes out of the thousands of cities in the U S.
FAMILY CIRCLE MAGAZINE: Americas 10 best towns for families (cities of 15,000 to 150,000) ranked Derby Kansas, a Wichita suburb as one of the top 10 cities to live in.
BEST PLACES TO LIVE STUDY by WORDWIDE ERC: 2007 Best Cities for Relocating Families. Medium Market Cities 575,000 to 1,250,000. Wichita ranked #2
BEST CITIES FOR RELOCATING SINGLES by WORLDWIDE ERC: Ranked #51
AAA, AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCATION: Least expensive cities to visit in 2007. Wichita ranked #2
TOP 100 LABOR MARKETS by BUREAU of LABOR STATISTICS: Raw growth in Private Sector Jobs 2006-2007. Wichita ranked #20 with a 12,400 increase in private jobs in one year
BUREAU of LABOR STATISTICS REPORT on COUNTY WAGE GROWTH: The last released statistics was for the last quarter of 2006. Sedgwick County “Wichita” ranked #2 out of the 326 largest counties with a 14% increase over the last quarter of 2005...
Wichita is a growing and friendly community with family values and a strong work ethic. About 86% of our residents live in an urban setting. We have a relatively young population with a median age of 35.5 years. We are relatively affluent, with a median household income of $ 46,932 and 88% of our residents 25 years and over are high school graduates. More than 7% hold associate degrees, 17% hold bachelors degrees and 8% have advanced degrees. Another 24% have some college credit. Metro population grew by about 44,000 or 8% from 1995 to 2005, this in spite of large job losses in our aircraft industry and some population lost due to the 911 World Trade Center terrorist acts. Wichita manufacturing employment is roughly twice the national manufacturing percentage of 11%. Wichita ranks #1 in manufacturing among metro areas with populations under one million, and 13th overall among manufacturing U S cities...
I could quote more statistics but I think you get the point, and I don’t what to sound like a representative of our local Chamber of Commerce
Last edited by GLI; 09-18-2007 at 01:44 AM..
Reason: Error corrections
I have to agree that the taxes are outrageous!! It makes me angry every time I think about it. I just moved from Texas, from a BRAND NEW HOUSE, and my taxes were $1,300 a YEAR. We didn't owe any "special" taxes. If a developer wanted to develop, they pay for all of the expenses, including the electric, paving, etc. That is absurd to charge for those fees. And, I may also say, that for the same price I paid for my 2,200 sq. foot house, BRAND NEW, in a nice neighborhood, with schools ranked 8 to 9 on the bestschool.com website, (they rank by test scores), we would be paying $250,000 PLUS a year, for schools that rank 5 to 6. Plus, they tax you on food here.......there was NO sales tax on Food in Texas. No personal property taxes......plus it was all around CLEANER. I just don't like Wichita, or Kansas for that matter. I don't understand why anyone would want to live here. We moved here because of a forced move (my dh was transferred, and I was 8 months pregnant....we needed the insurance!), but we are leaving just as quickly!!!!!!
I have to agree that the taxes are outrageous!! It makes me angry every time I think about it. I just moved from Texas, from a BRAND NEW HOUSE, and my taxes were $1,300 a YEAR. We didn't owe any "special" taxes. If a developer wanted to develop, they pay for all of the expenses, including the electric, paving, etc. That is absurd to charge for those fees. And, I may also say, that for the same price I paid for my 2,200 sq. foot house, BRAND NEW, in a nice neighborhood, with schools ranked 8 to 9 on the bestschool.com website, (they rank by test scores), we would be paying $250,000 PLUS a year, for schools that rank 5 to 6. Plus, they tax you on food here.......there was NO sales tax on Food in Texas. No personal property taxes......plus it was all around CLEANER. I just don't like Wichita, or Kansas for that matter. I don't understand why anyone would want to live here. We moved here because of a forced move (my dh was transferred, and I was 8 months pregnant....we needed the insurance!), but we are leaving just as quickly!!!!!!
Welcome to the rest of the United States. Texas and Alaska for example have significant mineral resources and as such raise enough revenue for the state that the general tax burden is lower. Kansas, in total has a tax burden that is fairly average in the US but Witchita is supposed to be an aberration in Kansas.
I live in Kansas and my kids school district is considered one of the top in the nation....my 250k+ house is 3700 sq. ft and I have a basement (unlike most homes in Texas). I also don't have to put up with drive through liquor stores and (I'm sure it's a coincidence) one of the highest accident fatality rates in that nation.
Seriously though, how would you feel if someone moved to say....Laredo....and trashed the whole state of Texas over their experience there?
Good luck on your move, you should look at the West coast for some home price and tax cost perspective.
House for house, I'll bet they are cheaper her than there! My home is 5 bedroom, approx 3,000 sq. ft. 2 1/2 baths, with remolding going on. The lot is alrge, not sur how large, but I've got a trampoline, triple swhin, separate fort w/slide, small garden, shed, 18 x 36 foot deck and teather pole, and still have too much yard to mow and water! By the way, two bedrooms are about 13 x 30 feet. If totally fixed up, I could sell it between $185k and 230 k. Can you touch that? HOA dues used to be $38 per year, think they went up to $50, I don't pay, my wife does, so I really don't know. I have a friend who moved here from Seattle, says she got 3 times the house cheaper and cannot sell her house.
House for house, I'll bet they are cheaper her than there! My home is 5 bedroom, approx 3,000 sq. ft. 2 1/2 baths, with remolding going on. The lot is alrge, not sur how large, but I've got a trampoline, triple swhin, separate fort w/slide, small garden, shed, 18 x 36 foot deck and teather pole, and still have too much yard to mow and water! By the way, two bedrooms are about 13 x 30 feet. If totally fixed up, I could sell it between $185k and 230 k. Can you touch that? HOA dues used to be $38 per year, think they went up to $50, I don't pay, my wife does, so I really don't know. I have a friend who moved here from Seattle, says she got 3 times the house cheaper and cannot sell her house.
Say what?
You might want to clean that up and go easy on the pro-nouns.
yeah im not sure what state youre coming from but theyre just as expensive as that in ohio and even more in illinois. that doesnt really sound that bad. here in illinois if you buy a 115,000 dollar home taxes are 1500. if you buy a 150,000 dollar house theyre well over 2,000. and screw it, if my kids are going to excellent schools ill pay whatever taxes they want. as long as they have music, sports and buses. im all for paying more taxes because in many suburbs of dayton the taxes are so cheap that kids walk or ride bikes to school because they cant afford buses. kids' parents have to pay $500 just for them to play football or any other sport. plus music classes and foreign language classes are diminishing. there are no parks etc... but in other places where taxes are outrageous (like my hometown) we had tons of foreign language from 6th grade on, free sports, free buses, music programs from elementary school up etc...
ETinius (above) seems to be enamored with TX home prices vs KS. I just did a quick compare to my home and a comparable suburb in Texas. Here's the "unscientific" results. Comparing homes that were within 200 sf (plus/minus) of mine, I found: The FIRST home to reach that S.F. was $25,000 higher in price; the LAST home was $140,000 higher in price. Now, comparing taxes. I considered retiring to San Antonio some years back; I was pleasantly surprised that the home prices were not too much more than the same home in Wichita. THEN, I emailed a realtor, and got a SHOCK! Apparently the lack of state income taxes is more than offset by high property taxes. For equivalent home price, I found their property taxes at least 50% higher than mine. This is but a single example. Here's the bottom line; if it's so dang nice elsewhere...don't let the turnpike gate hit you in the rear. One day you may come to your senses; I'm a non-native and my thoughts are the fewer that realize what a good quality of life we have in the Wichita metro area...the better. It's best we keep the riffraff out!
yeah im not sure what state youre coming from but theyre just as expensive as that in ohio and even more in illinois. that doesnt really sound that bad. here in illinois if you buy a 115,000 dollar home taxes are 1500. if you buy a 150,000 dollar house theyre well over 2,000. and screw it, if my kids are going to excellent schools ill pay whatever taxes they want. as long as they have music, sports and buses. im all for paying more taxes because in many suburbs of dayton the taxes are so cheap that kids walk or ride bikes to school because they cant afford buses. kids' parents have to pay $500 just for them to play football or any other sport. plus music classes and foreign language classes are diminishing. there are no parks etc... but in other places where taxes are outrageous (like my hometown) we had tons of foreign language from 6th grade on, free sports, free buses, music programs from elementary school up etc...
You aren't even close to correct on Taxes here in Illinois, at least up by St. Louis you aren't.
I live 50 miles from St. Louis. I have a house taxed at $105,000. Last year I paid 2,489 in property taxes and this year I paid $2,200.
You go in to O'Fallon and Fairview Heights (about 15 miles from STL) and you are paying around 4000 to 4500 in property taxes on a $200,000.
It's absurd AND the Governor is trying to pass all these health insurance proposals which are only going to lead to taxes going even higher.
I am out of here, thank you god, in January as I sold my house and am now moving to Manhattan, KS!!
From what I saw, I can buy a house taxed at a value about 50,000 more than my current house and I will still be paying about $400-$500 less in property taxes.
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Taxes
Good schools / universities
Your are correct - not a lot of tourism - that is a good thing
