Move to Oregon or Kansas City? (Denver: homes, neighborhood, college)

[GraniteStater]

Kansas City is certainly more affordable from a housing standpoint to go along with lower COL. However, it is VERY FAR from scenic areas within a reasonable drive, unless you constantly want to fly different places using the glorified bus station known as KCI airport. Heat and humidity are brutal in KC compared to anywhere in CO- you might never get used to it if you prefer less humidity. Oh, and the locals can't drive at all in any type of winter weather for the most part, and they close the schools down for a few inches of snowfall. Regarding winter, KC behaves much more like a southern city overall. With that being said, it is a very "livable" city with lower stress levels. Just expect a lot of "status quo" ways of thinking and doing things, and less in the way of "how can we improve things and make it better."

[jcm23]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Kansas City is certainly more affordable from a housing standpoint to go along with lower COL. However, it is VERY FAR from scenic areas within a reasonable drive, unless you constantly want to fly different places using the glorified bus station known as KCI airport. Heat and humidity are brutal in KC compared to anywhere in CO- you might never get used to it if you prefer less humidity. Oh, and the locals can't drive at all in any type of winter weather for the most part, and they close the schools down for a few inches of snowfall. Regarding winter, KC behaves much more like a southern city overall. With that being said, it is a very "livable" city with lower stress levels. Just expect a lot of "status quo" ways of thinking and doing things, and less in the way of "how can we improve things and make it better."

That's really good insight, thank you!
How would you rate the KC airport? Is it a hub, or more of a regional airport? I don't do much travel, so it's a lower consideration.

[Count David]

Not to Oregon unless you want to live in the Aurora's (Gresham) and Commerce City's (NE Portland) of Portland.

Or Salem, which is their version of Pueblo.

Or Eugene, which is like Boulder (but 2 hours from Portland).

Or Corvallis, which is a poor man's Fort Collins, and similarly unaffordable.

Or even Medford, which is like a prettier Grand Junction.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by jcm23

That's really good insight, thank you!
How would you rate the KC airport? Is it a hub, or more of a regional airport? I don't do much travel, so it's a lower consideration.

KCI is not an airport hub, it has been bypassed by Denver and other cities, and the terminal is nearly 50 years old without a chance of an upgrade in the short to medium range horizon. Southwest airlines has a decent selection of flights, but is one of the worst cities to have a layover in due to obsolete design, and one has to check back in when leaving the secured area when purchasing food or drinks (obsolete pre-9/11 era design). Flight times from KC to Denver are small as well as KC to Chicago if that means anything. Driving anywhere from KC is inconvenient as the nearest large city is four hours away, STL. I would go over to the Kansas City sub-forum and ask more questions or look at prior threads that discuss the city, though.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Not to Oregon unless you want to live in the Aurora's (Gresham) and Commerce City's (NE Portland) of Portland.

Or Salem, which is their version of Pueblo.

Or Eugene, which is like Boulder (but 2 hours from Portland).

Or Corvallis, which is a poor man's Fort Collins, and similarly unaffordable.

Or even Medford, which is like a prettier Grand Junction.

Popular cities are expensive. I found a reasonable COL area to live in when I resided in Madison, WI for a few years, and it wasn't an easy search at the time.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Popular cities are expensive. I found a reasonable COL area to live in when I resided in Madison, WI for a few years, and it wasn't an easy search at the time.

Yep, it can be done, but at what cost?

[jcm23]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Not to Oregon unless you want to live in the Aurora's (Gresham) and Commerce City's (NE Portland) of Portland.

Or Salem, which is their version of Pueblo.

Or Eugene, which is like Boulder (but 2 hours from Portland).

Or Corvallis, which is a poor man's Fort Collins, and similarly unaffordable.

Or even Medford, which is like a prettier Grand Junction.

Ah, you translated the cities perfectly Salem or Corvallis would both be appealing, but having browsed their subforums, it sounds like they are also limited in what I would consider affordable. Thanks!

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

KCI is not an airport hub, it has been bypassed by Denver and other cities, and the terminal is nearly 50 years old without a chance of an upgrade in the short to medium range horizon. Southwest airlines has a decent selection of flights, but is one of the worst cities to have a layover in due to obsolete design, and one has to check back in when leaving the secured area when purchasing food or drinks (obsolete pre-9/11 era design). Flight times from KC to Denver are small as well as KC to Chicago if that means anything. Driving anywhere from KC is inconvenient as the nearest large city is four hours away, STL. I would go over to the Kansas City sub-forum and ask more questions or look at prior threads that discuss the city, though.

You gave me everything I needed to know Like I said, don't travel much and work from home so a minor/moderate inconvenience isn't as big a deal. Thanks again.

[SkyDog77]

I lived outside of KC for 5 years but grew up here.

I never got used to the humidity. Nothing ever dries in the summer. Everything gets mildew. It's cold and gray in the winter. It's the damp, biting cold that we had on Friday, but worse and more frequent. People don't go outside nearly as much as they do here because of the weather. The biggest summer recreation activity is BBQing and drinking followed by "going to the lake" and drinking. It doesn't matter which lake, people always "go to the lake".

Spring is very nice and fall was my favorite. Spring does bring tornadoes.

Downtown KC is much better than when I lived there and some pretty good restaurants have opened in the past couple years. The revitalization of the Power and Light District is cool. There is some beautiful architecture near Country Club Plaza.

The airport is very small compared to DIA. It's very easy to get in and out of, but flight options are fairly limited, meaning you will likely be catching a connection if you are flying to smaller market cities.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

I lived outside of KC for 5 years but grew up here.

I never got used to the humidity. Nothing ever dries in the summer. Everything gets mildew. It's cold and gray in the winter. It's the damp, biting cold that we had on Friday, but worse and more frequent. People don't go outside nearly as much as they do here because of the weather. The biggest summer recreation activity is BBQing and drinking followed by "going to the lake" and drinking. It doesn't matter which lake, people always "go to the lake".

Spring is very nice and fall was my favorite. Spring does bring tornadoes.

Downtown KC is much better than when I lived there and some pretty good restaurants have opened in the past couple years. The revitalization of the Power and Light District is cool. There is some beautiful architecture near Country Club Plaza.

The airport is very small compared to DIA. It's very easy to get in and out of, but flight options are fairly limited, meaning you will likely be catching a connection if you are flying to smaller market cities.

Just about any "lake" in KC region southward is actually a man-made reservoir, most are very muddy and not would I would ever prefer to go out on when I lived there. Many KC people have no idea that most of the nice naturally occurring lakes are in the Upper Midwest. Now, those are very nice lakes, but they are too far removed from KC to be an easy trip, unfortunately. No, I certainly do not like the Lake of the Ozarks or any reservoir in southern Missouri. Definitely not my cup of tea, and way to hot and humid in the summer as well.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by jcm23

Ah, you translated the cities perfectly Salem or Corvallis would both be appealing, but having browsed their subforums, it sounds like they are also limited in what I would consider affordable. Thanks!


You gave me everything I needed to know Like I said, don't travel much and work from home so a minor/moderate inconvenience isn't as big a deal. Thanks again.

Well, it appears you are leaning toward KC. As mentioned it is a very livable city with a reasonable COL, just don't have very high expectations of the metro compared to more "popular" metro areas. Also, Missouri and Kansas state governments are notoriously backward thinking in many ways, so I wouldn't expect much in the way of population growth or widespread in-migration in the short-term horizon. That impacts real estate in terms of investment, but there are certainly urban neighborhoods in KC that do have some gentrification and better real estate appreciation. The suburbs will likely be very slow and steady on the RE appreciation front as KC is very sprawly and spread out with almost too much supply relative to demand, the opposite of many metros presently.. So, deals can be found if you're looking for value for sure.