Kansas City Vs. Nashville (live, best, cost, better)

[mterr11]

My family has the choice between Kansas City and Nashville for our relocation in a few months. Can anyone give any input on the suburbs outside of these cities as far as schools, crime, parks, things to do. We are looking at Overland Park, KS and Hendersonville, TN. We currently live a few hours away from KC so the transition might be a little easier. The population difference between the two is huge which makes me nervous. I just want a family friendly place where we can put roots down. Thanks in advance!

[BuffaloHome]

Originally Posted by mterr11

My family has the choice between Kansas City and Nashville for our relocation in a few months. Can anyone give any input on the suburbs outside of these cities as far as schools, crime, parks, things to do. We are looking at Overland Park, KS and Hendersonville, TN. We currently live a few hours away from KC so the transition might be a little easier. The population difference between the two is huge which makes me nervous. I just want a family friendly place where we can put roots down. Thanks in advance!

Both KC and Nashville are among my favorites cities. Overland Park is a very nice suburb, as is Hendersonville. Hendersonville has the added benefit of being on a very large lake; boating and watersports are very popular there. Hendersonville is also known to be a great place to raise a family. Several country music stars live in the area, and one of them (Taylor Swift, alumna of Hendersonville High School) just donated $75k to HHS so it can renovate its auditorium.

Great Cities to Raise Kids: 10 Best Towns for Families in 2009 | Family Circle

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[kcmo]

Originally Posted by mterr11

My family has the choice between Kansas City and Nashville for our relocation in a few months. Can anyone give any input on the suburbs outside of these cities as far as schools, crime, parks, things to do. We are looking at Overland Park, KS and Hendersonville, TN. We currently live a few hours away from KC so the transition might be a little easier. The population difference between the two is huge which makes me nervous. I just want a family friendly place where we can put roots down. Thanks in advance!

Lee's Summit, MO will be much more like Hendersonville, TN if you like that area. If you want sense of community, walkable areas, outdoor recreation such as boating, skiing etc and great suburban schools, Lee's Summit will be a better fit. If you want just strictly suburbia and prefer to have more upscale shopping nearby and just having a few bike trails around is enough recreation for you then Overland Park would fit.

As far as Kansas City vs Nashville. I think both are great towns, but KC has more to do as far as a metropolitan area goes (culture, arts, sports, amusement parks, museums etc) while Nashville has a bit more recreation closer by. Missouri and Tennessee both have some great places to spend the weekend within a few hours of both cities. It's nice to be within driving distance of Colorado in KC, but Nashville is closer to the beach and eastern cities.

I think overall, they both offer a pretty similar quality of life. Both are mid sized major metros that offer most of what you want or need out of a city in a lower cost, less hassle environment.

For me a city has to have Major League Baseball or it's generally not an option. I just like spending time at pro games in the summer and KC has some nice amusement and water parks and more urban districts. So I would pick KC for those reasons, but I like Nashville and see why people would like it there.