I may be moving up to KC late this year or early next year with the GF moving up in the next month or so. I have only visited twice, which means I don't know much about the area.

We are both around 30 with good jobs/salary. We are looking for some neighborhoods with good restaurants and bars where we can walk or easily ride the street car. I know of River Market and Westport. We don't have kids, so schools are important on our initial move up there. We figure we would rent a house for a year or two. Does anyone have any recommendations on places to check up while looking up there? Is there a difference between living in KS or MO (taxes, etc.)?

I looked into moving not to long ago actually. I got some feedback from friends and others.

Gladstone, Liberty, Lee's Summit, Parkville are good areas. I was told to avoid Sugar Creek.

Worth mentioning, her office will be near Grandview. Probably will need a 2 car garage as well.

Probably before your time but the old KJ103 morning team of Ronnie Rocket and Teresa Maxwell have the morning show on MIX 93 in KC

If you are looking for suburban areas and your wife works in Grandview, I would recommend Lee's Summit on the Missouri side. The Kansas suburbs in Johnson County, such as Leawood, Overland Park and Prairie Village are nice. The farther south and west you go, the newer it gets.

Slightly more urban would be the Brookside neighborhood, which is maybe 20 blocks south of the Plaza. Very walkable, lots of little shops and is a popular neighborhood for young professionals.

Getting more urban from there would be anything on the North-South axis from the Plaza to downtown - probably hard to find a 2 car garage in those neighborhoods. Westport, Crossroads, Power and Light etc.

The big dividing line in urban KC is Troost Avenue. Generally areas to the east are rougher and not gentrified, areas to the west are more expensive and trendy.

You might check out KC's version of OKC Talk: which is www.kcrag.com.

North Kansas City is a fun little part of KC. Just north of the river, mostly former industrial moving to a more diverse population. Great park, fun bars and breweries popping up continually.

Correction, her office will be in Overland Park near 435 & 69.

Correction, her office will be in Overland Park near 435 & 69.

That's an easy choice then. Overland Park is a lovely place to live.

Edmond Hausfrau, I admit that Overland Park is a nice town, no question about that. Whether it's lovely or not depends on where you are in life. The original poster mentioned that he was 30 without kids, unmarried with a girlfriend. That does not scream Overland Park to me, much like it doesn't scream Edmond. There are many urban neighborhoods in KC that might seem to fit someone with interests in "good restaurants and bars where we can walk or easily ride the street car."

To the original poster: if you want to consider a house in Overland Park, at your stage in life, I might think about the northern edge, closer to Prarie Village, Shawnee Mission, State Line Road, etc. Just my personal opinion, of course.

I appreciate everyone's comments. THe plan now is for her to get an apartment for a while to see how she/we like the city, then after the beginning of the year, I will find a job up there. We will then move into a house.

We both enjoy more of the Urban feel. I live in NW OKC now in Deer Creek. While it is nice, it is a pain to drive to everything. We will be going up there in the next few weeks to find an apartment. We will start looking at Mission and Brookside.

You can always live from there in LFK.

Lawrence is one of the great college towns in America. Just 30 minutes from that spot in OP.