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Mar 21, 2025
9:58:26am
LeonMarek All-American
I live in Wichita. Here is an in depth analysis.
First off, Hutch is around 45min outside of Wichita. So its even more of a smaller-town feel. But in general for Wichita

Pros:
-Very family friendly. Lots of kid and youth activities (museums,
recreation centers, sports leagues etc)
-Its a common test market for new restaurant chains, so cuisine is actually
pretty diverse. Still a lot of bbq joints.
-Church is pretty decent sized given the midwest. New Temple is set be
finished next year.
-Wichita is 2-3 hours from 3 different B12 schools (Kstate, KU, OK State).
6ish hours from 3 more (TCU, Baylor, Iowa State).
-Traffic is practically non-existent. At least compared to Utah. There's
a few busier areas, but they move pretty easily.
-Cost of living. Its pretty cheap here.
-People are, in general, pretty chill here.
-Kansas City is relatively close (3hr), and if Wichita doesnt have
something, KC will.
-Farmers Markets are huge, and have some really good food. Farm-to-table
stuff everywhere

Cons:
-Summers will get to 105, Winters will get below 0. Not a lot of snow to
compensate
-Wind storms. We are barely in tornado alley, but the big cities seldom
get hit. We've had 1 tornado hit the far outskirts of the city limits in 5
years.
-If you are in to outdoorsy stuff, the only real option is camping or
hunting. No mountains, hiking isnt the best, not a lot of offroading
options, etc. Theres a few lakes that are pretty close, but its not super
impressive
-Bugs. Mosquitos, moths, spiders. You pretty much need to budget in for
at minimum quarterly pest control services
-City is split economically. You're either in a developed area with good
resources, farmland, or a dump. Not a lot of middle ground. Its there,
but there are definitely areas you dont want to live.
-Really only 2, maybe 3 good school districts in the area. Wichita USD is
absolute garbage. Goddard, Maize, and Circle school districts are the only
good ones, Maize being pretty widely established as the best (where my kids
go).
-Airport sucks. Its one of the biggest manufacturing areas for aviation,
but the airport is difficult to fly out of. We've flown out of Kansas
City, OKC and Dallas to get better flights/prices before. With every
airport, theres plenty of areas that it'll fly just fine, but that list
isnt as plentiful. (Airport is small, and easy to navigate though)

YMMV:
-Midwest Thunderstorms. This might be a con for some people, but I love
them.
-Chiefs fans everywhere. its a big Chiefs market, and its a big TSwift
market too, so its a double whammy
-Big Trump support state
-Pro Football, College basketball are king. No one really cares about NBA
here. MLB is the Royals and are generally well liked. A bunch of minor
league play here too.


These are the ones off the top of my head, but if you have specific
questions I could elaborate more.
This message has been modified
Originally posted on Mar 21, 2025 at 9:58:26am
Message modified by LeonMarek on Mar 21, 2025 at 10:00:05am
LeonMarek
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LeonMarek
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