Growing up, I constantly heard phrases like “I can’t wait to leave Kansas” and “When I turn 18, I’m getting out of Kansas City.” , However, living in Kansas City for 17 years made me realize that I want to live here for the rest of my life.

With a population of about 2.1 million, we truly have the best of both worlds. The multitude of highways connecting various suburbs makes it easy to get from one place to the other, giving it a smaller city feel while having many big city experiences. Other cities, for example, Austin, TX, have close to the same population but not as many things to do.

Even though Kansas City isn’t considered a large city, it has so many things to offer that other cities our size don’t. From the Plaza to Union Station to the Crossroads, there are so many different places to go. Also, we have three professional sports teams, Royals, Chiefs and Sporting KC, all in one city.

In addition to the benefit of having so many different things to do, another pro is having options for people of any age. Adults can experience the downtown city life or go to the Nelson, teenagers can go to theme parks and water parks, like Schlitterbahn and Worlds of Fun, and parents can take their kids to children’s museums like Science City.

In most large cities, people constantly complain about traffic. However, because of how spread out Kansas City is, there isn’t near the amount of traffic as bigger cities because adults work all over the city rather than mostly downtown. Connect back to idea of: giving that city feel but still has the benefits of a small town/suburb.

After living in both Overland Park and Shawnee, two different suburbs of Kansas City, I have realized that experiencing different areas of the city gives me more reason to love it even more. The up and coming Shawnee is very different from the established Overland Park. The difference in the feels of those two suburbs makes Kansas City unique because people can choose where they want to live with the option of making a quick drive to visit a “new” city.

When visiting other cities, I always feel grateful for living in a city that people love. Everywhere in Kansas City, people are wearing shirts that have things on them representing passion for their city, which also builds relationships between Kansas City residents because of what they have in common.

Being in the middle of the country also has geographical benefits. It makes it easy to go travel to different places across the country because Kansas City is so central. In addition to traveling purposes, Kansas City has the benefit of having four seasons throughout the year. We get to experience having snow days at school and 100 degree weather in the summertime.

Before kids make the decision to move out of Kansas City, they need to realize what it has to offer and rethink their reasoning.