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One of my dad's friends moved to Topeka for a job, and I remember he has always complained that city is meh in his opinion. I do hope Topeka does improve as a city down the road, since I once remember reading some stats(including on its City Data profile page) that showed the crime was higher than you'd think it'd be at. I have no doubt that for many people, that they'd probably pick Lincoln over Topeka. Although for Topeka, that could be an asset to its future that it's located within that Manhattan(KS) to KC corridor of cities and towns in eastern Kansas.
I wouldn't nitpick the politics too much between these two.
Lincoln is just the nicer town. Topeka has been less than desirable for a long time, long before anyone ever heard of Brownback.
I concur that Kansas City is nice to be close to, but I'd much rather live directly in the metro area rather than any place just outside of it. Lawrence isn't impressive unless you want to go to college there or are of a certain political persuasion. The best largely-populated parts of Kansas are the Kansas City suburbs.
Lincoln holds its own, I've always been impressed with it, and having Omaha nearby is a plus. Nebraska in general seems like a pretty good state.
The best area of Kansas being the Kansas City suburbs is correct on an economic level as well as educational attainment level, but I find the quality of life there to be lacking. The cost of living in Johnson County along with house prices and taxes have dramatically increased. That's not to mention that the area is overcrowded with heavy traffic and few large-scale parks. Lawrence is just fine, but needs more overall job growth in addition to the university.
One of my dad's friends moved to Topeka for a job, and I remember he has always complained that city is meh in his opinion. I do hope Topeka does improve as a city down the road, since I once remember reading some stats(including on its City Data profile page) that showed the crime was higher than you'd think it'd be at. I have no doubt that for many people, that they'd probably pick Lincoln over Topeka. Although for Topeka, that could be an asset to its future that it's located within that Manhattan(KS) to KC corridor of cities and towns in eastern Kansas.
Manhattan to Topeka will never be a "corridor." There is a good amount of distance separating the two metro areas, and Wabaunsee County to the west of Topeka is in the Flint Hills geographic region with around 8 people per square mile. Both Topeka and Lawrence have not seen a decent percentage of new job growth in decades, nearly all of the high paying jobs in the entire state of Kansas are in Johnson County by a huge margin.
Manhattan to Topeka will never be a "corridor." There is a good amount of distance separating the two metro areas, and Wabaunsee County to the west of Topeka is in the Flint Hills geographic region with around 8 people per square mile. Both Topeka and Lawrence have not seen a decent percentage of new job growth in decades, nearly all of the high paying jobs in the entire state of Kansas are in Johnson County by a huge margin.
I'd thought to a lesser extent, that a few good paying jobs would be near Lawrence as well considering University of Kansas being there. That said I don't dispute you(as I recall in a past post, you said you once lived in this region), that most higher paying jobs in eastern Kansas are in Johnson County.
As for what I was saying, I was more saying IF by any chance one had to live in Topeka, that there are other cities and towns one could take a short trip to, if they get bored of doing things within Topeka. Yes I do know the Flint Hills region does break up the line of more populated places near I-70, though there are a few sizable small towns like Wamego. And after Manhattan, Abilene and Salina aren't too much further west. And of course, there are some state parks not too far away west and south, of Topeka. Not to forget some small Missouri River towns aren't too far east, like Leavenworth and Atchison.
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