Best Big Cities? KC Didn’t Crack the Top 30

Today WalletHub released its ranking of the Top Big Cities to Live in for 2018, and Kansas City, Missouri didn’t even crack the top 30. The City of Fountains instead came in at number 40 on this list, more than 20 spots behind Omaha, Nebraska and just four spots ahead of Wichita, Kansas. 

The study was comprised of 62 of the largest cities in the United States which were then compared by the company’s 56 “indicators of attractiveness” which include quality of public schools, life expectancy, job opportunities and property taxes.

Seattle took the top spot followed by Virginia Beach, Austin, San Francisco, San Diego, Honolulu, Portland, San Jose, Colorado Springs and New York, New York.  

While Kansas City ranked highly on the affordability factor at 13, the city was ranked 30th for education and health, 43rd for quality of life, 46th for economy and 53rd for safety.

Wichita was the number one city when ranked by housing affordability and third in highest home ownership rate.  Kansas City showed up in the bottom of the metrics for bike score and was otherwise absent from the top and bottom five for notable categories.  

One of the experts on WalletHub’s panel was Clara E. Irazabal-Zurita, a professor of urban planning and design at UMKC.