KC ranked #2 on "redneck city" list (Kansas City, Hazelwood: unemployment rate, neighborhoods)

[MidWestCityNative]

Originally Posted by MOKAN

^I'm pretty sure Kansas City's always been like that, even back into the 1800's. There are some photos and relation information floating around out there somewhere of drag queens/cross dressers having some sort of event in the late 1800's.

I wonder if that's where the "Kansas City F***ots" line from the movie Blazing Saddles came from.

[MOKAN]

Originally Posted by Techwired

Half Catholic...that's my people! The local supermarkets and Red Lobsters must make a killing in Omaha on Good Friday!

KCK at 39%? KCK has a 27% Hispanic population, and 71% of Hispanics in the U.S. are Catholic, so maybe with some fuzzy math it's doable.

I get most of the info on religion from ARDA, The Association of Religious Data Archives -- very detailed.

The Association of Religion Data Archives - U.S. and World Religion Statistics and Data - ARDA
The Association of Religion Data Archives | Maps & Reports

A large and original base of KCK's population are white (eastern European) Catholics. KCK has always been a largely Catholic city, going back a century before the Hispanic population exploded. The original neighborhoods were built around Catholic churches and parochial schools. If it weren't for the Catholics, urban KCK and much of the rest of KCK would be completely devoid of a middle class (it's amazing how little of a middle class KCK has). They've remained very loyal to KCK. The city government and local companies and organizations are infused with them. However, many had and have moved to the suburbs (Johnson County) which, in turn, was a part of the original base population of northern Johnson County.

http://www.strawberryhillmuseum.org/

[SPonteKC]

Originally Posted by Techwired

The regions may have some similarities, but the two cities are pretty different IMO, especially when you look at the numbers. Kansas City MO (city), is wealthier, has much higher homeownership rates, a more diverse population, less poverty, and the people of Kansas City MO seem to enjoy consumer spending much more per capita than the people of Southern Ohio -- not exactly redneck traits.

I think a lot of that disparity disappears if you take the Northland out of the equation, which makes the population and density of both places about equal (300K people, 4K ppsm), so you get a more apples to apples comparison. They are also both about 45% African American cities if you compare KCMO's core to Cincy. The exception of course is the Hispanic population, which is nearly entirely south of the river in KCMO, and would thus be about 15% of the population.

[Alpha_Dog]

Originally Posted by MOKAN

A large and original base of KCK's population are white (eastern European) Catholics. KCK has always been a largely Catholic city, going back a century before the Hispanic population exploded. The original neighborhoods were built around Catholic churches and parochial schools. If it weren't for the Catholics, urban KCK and much of the rest of KCK would be completely devoid of a middle class (it's amazing how little of a middle class KCK has). They've remained very loyal to KCK. The city government and local companies and organizations are infused with them. However, many had and have moved to the suburbs (Johnson County) which, in turn, was a part of the original base population of northern Johnson County.

Strawberry Hill Museum Kansas City Tours Culture Society

Good stuff on the Strawberry Hill Museum & Cultural Center. It appears that it was a Catholic orphanage at one time, many years ago. My entire family is originally from Western Europe and the UK, but this place looks like it needs to be on our list of places to definitely check when we come back out to K.C. this summer.

JOHN'S ORPHANAGE (STRAWBERRY HILL MUSEUM), 1887
http://www3.wycokck.org/assets/34410...1561428781.pdf


These sites have customized data on demographics / human development and quality of life in K.C. and other U.S. metros.

Kansas City, MO-KS - Profiles - Diversity Data - Metropolitan Quality of Life Data

HDI Map

[alphajet]

Originally Posted by Techwired

Interesting that you mentioned Lawrence, it's always been one of my favorite places in Kansas. Great culture and atmosphere on Mount Oread -- and it definitely has some of the best looking women in the Big 12 conference, next to UT.


Here's the info on Leawood using the same criteria as before.


Closest matched Cities and Towns to Leawood, KS

1. Germantown, Tennessee 91.9%
2. Solon, Ohio 91.2%
3. Chesterfield, Missouri 88.5%
4. Scarborough, Maine 87.9%
5. Mentor, Ohio 86.3%
6. Shelton, Connecticut 86%
7. Wilbraham, Massachusetts 85.9%
8. Gahanna, Ohio 85.9%
9. Portsmouth, Rhode Island 85.1%
10.Burlington, Massachusetts 84%

Interesting that Leawood is somewhat New England-esque?

* note - These models/algorithms were developed in 2010, so when comparing KCMO specifically to other large cities like Indy, Columbus, etc, remember that there has been a good amount of commercial development in the past 3 years, along with steady population growth in those metros effecting the metrics on GDP, revenues, in/out migration trends, demographics and household income. I would say it's 85-90% accurate on KCMO, on the smaller cities and towns under 100k closer to 90-95%.

Thanks so much for the info on Leawood, very helpful. I'm just glad you got us in before last call, bcuz my Missouri side wife would have drunk us all under the table.

[MOKAN]

Originally Posted by Techwired

Good stuff on the Strawberry Hill Museum & Cultural Center. It appears that it was a Catholic orphanage at one time, many years ago. My entire family is originally from Western Europe and the UK, but this place looks like it needs to be on our list of places to definitely check when we come back out to K.C. this summer.

JOHN'S ORPHANAGE (STRAWBERRY HILL MUSEUM), 1887
http://www3.wycokck.org/assets/34410...1561428781.pdf


These sites have customized data on demographics / human development and quality of life in K.C. and other U.S. metros.

Kansas City, MO-KS - Profiles - Diversity Data - Metropolitan Quality of Life Data

HDI Map

Thanks for the info. According to the link to ARDA you gave a few posts back KCK (Wyandotte Co) is only about 16% Catholic. That's a big difference from City Data's 39%.

[ram2]

Originally Posted by Techwired

They're currently 152 parishes in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha, almost one-third of Omaha's population is Catholic, definitely the most Catholic city on the Plains per capita by far. They're also four times as many Lutherans in Omaha (Douglas County) than there is Southern Baptists -- very different from the Missouri side of Kansas City. Omaha has a much lower violent crime rate than K.C. as you've previously mentioned.

I think Independence is a bit of an anomaly because it's pretty rare to find such a large, fairly non diverse Blue-Collar suburb of this size -- 117k. After looking at all this info, it appears that Independence is kinda Redneck.

Independence, MO
Independance has High Homeownership Rates / Low College Graduation Rates / High Military Veteran Rates.

Independance MO, Compared to the rest of the state

Well-Paid Single Women
(vs. State) Top 19% Independence MO, Well-Paid Single Women
Public Transportation Use
(vs. State) Top 11% Independence MO, Public Transportation Use


Top 10 closest matched Cities and Towns to Independence, MO.

1. Middletown, Ohio 90.8%
2. Fort Wayne, Indiana 87.3%
3. Mishawaka, Indiana 87.3%
4. Gastonia, North Carolina 87%
5. Brooklyn Center, Minnesota 86.8%
6. Fridley, Minnesota, 85.9%
7. Eastpointe, Michigan 85.9%
8. Wheat Ridge, Colorado 83.6%
9. Burien, Washington 83.1%
10. Salem, Oregon, 81.9%

Middletown, Ohio is hicksville.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Techwired

Interesting that you mentioned Lawrence, it's always been one of my favorite places in Kansas. Great culture and atmosphere on Mount Oread -- and it definitely has some of the best looking women in the Big 12 conference, next to UT.


Here's the info on Leawood using the same criteria as before.


Closest matched Cities and Towns to Leawood, KS

1. Germantown, Tennessee 91.9%
2. Solon, Ohio 91.2%
3. Chesterfield, Missouri 88.5%
4. Scarborough, Maine 87.9%
5. Mentor, Ohio 86.3%
6. Shelton, Connecticut 86%
7. Wilbraham, Massachusetts 85.9%
8. Gahanna, Ohio 85.9%
9. Portsmouth, Rhode Island 85.1%
10.Burlington, Massachusetts 84%

Interesting that Leawood is somewhat New England-esque?

* note - These models/algorithms were developed in 2010, so when comparing KCMO specifically to other large cities like Indy, Columbus, etc, remember that there has been a good amount of commercial development in the past 3 years, along with steady population growth in those metros effecting the metrics on GDP, revenues, in/out migration trends, demographics and household income. I would say it's 85-90% accurate on KCMO, on the smaller cities and towns under 100k closer to 90-95%.

Yes, Leawood would be one of the best matches for anyone moving to the Kansas City metro area from New England. The built environment, architecture in many of the established neighborhoods, lot sizes, median household income, educational attainment are all criteria that match up well. It is just amazing that Johnson County can feature cities so completely opposite from one another like Leawood and Gardner. NOTHING at all in common between them just like Prairie Village has next to nothing in common with Olathe.

[Alpha_Dog]

Originally Posted by MOKAN Thanks for the info. According to the link to ARDA you gave a few posts back KCK (Wyandotte Co) is only about 16% Catholic. That's a big difference from City Data's 39%



Wyandotte County, Kansas -- Religious Traditions, 2010, Congregational adherents include all full members, their children, and others who regularly attend services.

24,572, Evangelical Protestant
15,670, Black Protestant
8,426, Mainline Protestant
237, Orthodox
24,812, Catholic
3,532, Other
80,256 Unclaimed

I think you will find a large amount of of Americans over the past 20 years have steadily become "Cafeteria Catholics" (including myself) who attend church 4-5 times a year, many Cafeteria Catholics are probably listed under Unclaimed. A large number of Catholics today just do not accept 100% of the Catholic doctrine, it's also the American way in our country for many to be free thinkers, question everything, and decide on issues of faith within our own judgment-- this is probably even more prevalent in the larger metro areas of the U.S.

I estimate the actual percentage of Catholics is closer to the ARDA numbers. ARDA counts members who only regularly attend weekly services as opposed to what someone may mark down on a census form, relocation sampling or a school registration/enrollment form. ARDA analyzes the number of churches, full members, adherents, and attendees for each county, it also confirms only 11 Catholic Churches in Wyandotte County, while the Catholic directory lists 15? Since you're from the area, and seem to have a wealth of knowledge on KCK, you would probably have a better read on this than I ever will.



The Catholic Directory - Catholic Churches in Kansas City (Wyandotte County), Kansas, United States


Largest Religious Groups 2010 Map

http://www.rcms2010.org/images/002.jpg

[MOKAN]

I have to admit I'm losing interest. KCK has a large Catholic population, but from the looks of it what's more telling is the size of the Evangelical population, which is indicative of the redneck and Southern traits KCK has been mentioned to have in this thread.

I always like the "largest religious group by county" type maps because Missouri's Southern influence really shows! However, the maps reflecting largest ethnicity by county are a more accurate showing of that. It's interesting Missouri and Oklahoma are anomalies when it comes to largest ancestry and religion match up. Northern Missouri and Western Oklahoma report their largest ancestry as German, yet their largest religion as Southern Baptist. Most of the South, which reports itself as such, reports "American" (or Scots-Irish) as their ancestry, yet north MO and western OK report German.