Moving back to KS for Retirement

[AK-Cathy]

Getting away from the arguements above, we looked at lots of towns in KS, NE, CO and chose Lawrence for retirement (and to be near aging family) because it fit us best. We live outside of the city itself in a rural area but we love that it still has a functioning and lively downtown, it's clean and well kept and has plenty of access to things that we enjoy. In 10 minutes we can get to grocery stores and the like, in 45 to anything KCMO has to offer.

I'm not going to get into the cultural diversity issue as far as intent or meaning by the OP but IMO after living in AK for all these years, KS in general outside of perhaps a few neighborhoods in the larger towns, looks pretty homogenously white bread to me. Admittedly that was not a factor in our selection or a criteria. We were interested in healthy economy, clean well kept environs, and some diversity in thought if not cultural so that we might fit in after all these years away.

[soanchorless]

You can use Sperling's best places compare cities tool online (google it) to see the demographics of cities/towns. You can even do lists by certain features you are looking for in a town. I personally use it to find towns with the least Republicans and highest population density, but do what you like.

[thriftylefty]

Originally Posted by kc chris

Some people like being surrounded by people they have a lot in common with, like people who speak the same language and share the same culture. I don't understand why this is considered a bad thing?

I traveled over seas once and met some people who's language I didn't understand and culture I was unfamiliar with. After we overcame those two differences we had a great time eating ,drinking and and partying all night long. Turns out we had a lot in common .. but that's just me.

I had a similar experience in the US. I had a temporary job for six weeks with three guys. I don't think you could of found four people who from our appearance would have less in common. After we got beyond our differences we wound up eating all of our meals together and hanging out in each others hotel rooms after work. After about the first week we were kidding around with each other like we grew up in the same neighborhood.
Some people will make up lots of excuses just to keep from admitting they don't like minorities. Its not against the law.

Back to the subject at hand I doubt that you are going to find many places in Kansas that are devoid of some ethnic minorities. There is a town in Arkansas that people relocate to if they don't want to live around blacks. The reason I mention this town is you have to remember just because a place has no minorities doesn't mean they are not tolerant. Some of the most tolerant people I have met live in small hamlets the North East where there are no minorities. So you might wind up being an outsider if you bring intolerant attitudes to place and think because its all white you can say what you want.