When a person refers to Kansas City, they can be speaking of Kansas City, MO, Kansas City, KS, or they can be speaking of the metro area which combines both of these, plus the dozens of smaller surrounding cities and townships. The entire metro area comprises of 4 counties in Missouri and two counties in Kansas. However, some statistical reports expand that area to 10 counties. The Kansas City area is a great place to live, as well as invest. In 2010, Money magazine ranked 4 of the metro area’s cities in the top 40 places to live. The Kansas City metro area also ranked #10 for economic strength compared to 361 statistical areas in the United States, according to POLICOM.
Business/Kansas City Economy:
The Kansas City economy is based upon multiple industries including financial, manufacturing, energy, agriculture, telecommunications, science, biotechnology and healthcare. This has kept Kansas City from huge real estate booms, but it has also prevented large bubbles in the market. Over the past ten years, there has been an increase in property values, followed by a small decrease. This has been seen all across the country. However, Kansas City did not see the large upswing and downturn as was seen in places like California, Florida, the Northeast, or Arizona and parts of Nevada.
Expansion Management magazine ranks Kansas City as #2 on the list of Best Places to Relocate a Company, and #3 on the list of hottest cities for expansion and relocations.
For more detailed information on businesses headquartered in Kansas City and major employers in the area, click here.
Cost of living is low in Kansas City. The December 2009 cost of living index for Johnson County, KS was 80.2 (The US index = 100).
Transportation & Logistics:
The Kansas City Metro area has more limited access highway miles per capita than any other metro area by far. It has 50% more access than the average US metropolitan area, and more than 27% more than the second place Dallas/Fort Worth metro area. This makes for less congestion on the freeways and also makes Kansas City a natural distribution and logistics center.
Three major interstate highways (I-70, I-35, and I-29) run through Kansas City. A fourth interstate, I-435 completes a loop around the city. A fifth interstate highway, I-49 will be built soon, and will connect Kansas City to New Orleans.
Kansas City is the #1 rail hub in terms of tonnage in the nation. In terms of volume (units), it is the second largest rail hub center in the US, behind Chicago. Burlington Northern Sante Fe has a proposed new 500 acre rail hub to be built in the southwest corner of the metro area.
The Kansas City area is also home to YRC worldwide, the largest trucking company in the US.
Kansas City has more Foreign Trade Zone space than any other metro area in the country. Within the designated Foreign Trade Zone space, foreign goods may be stored, assembled or exibited for sale, and may be subjected to a lower duty (tax) rate. Taxes are not assessed on the domestic labor used to manufacture or assemble goods within the FTZ. Finally, these goods may then be exported without having to pay US customs taxes.
Population:
Metro Area: ~2.4 million (estimated) It is the 29th largest metro area by population in the US.
