Living the good life in Kansas just reached a new milestone with the New York Times report of new census data showing the percentage of income needed to pay rent in Olathe was higher than in New York City. Olathe also had the biggest jump in the percentage of people paying at least 30 percent of their income on rent, as well as in those paying at least 50 percent on rent, the paper reported.
The population of Olathe is growing at a rate of 4,000 per year, which has driven up housing prices. Housing has doubled in the past five years, with the average home now selling at $350,000. Builders also aren’t building enough apartments and duplexes, which is keeping rental prices sky-high.
Posted by Angie Holladay
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19 Comments
How about thatIsn’t that somethingDo tell
Note that Olathe nor Johnson County is building a taxpayer-financed ice hockey arena. Even Johnson County can’t afford that kind of luxury.
Fools and their money are soon parted.
jeff, you play one mean guitar.When can we expect a new album?
people are moving out of KC in droves.
“people are moving out of KC in droves.” Oh? Are they?
One big difference between KC and Wichita is that Wichita can annex territory faster than people move out so they recapture them.
The Beagle thought this was front page news – yet we were told in an editorial blog by Theresa that the front page will be used to promote local news and events. Wichitans through their taxes are financing the war and they deserve better news and discussion of it — and not on page 6… Seems to me they are bowing to the administrations desire to minimize media exposure (especially at the local level) of the war.
Five more serviceman died yesterday in Iraq and there is no mention of it anywhere??? A Kansans was killed in Iraq this week and I don’t see anything about it.
Maybe the Patriot Guard, as noble an effort as theres is, can add doing something about the Beagle’s ignoring the war.
They are moving out of KC in droves. And they are all moving into Lawrence. AHHH!!!
I dont know why people move to JOCO, when every house looks the same and there is absolutely no entertainment options there. You have to drive 30 minutes and go to Missouri for that.
Another thing you can’t do in JOCO is park your car outside, even if the weather is 65 and clear, its considered taboo. Eventually this so called “paradise” will start catching up with everywhere else with higher crime rates, and other common city problems.
I for one love KC, but can’t stand JOCO and I am a KANSAN.
Olathe is the epitome of suburban sprawl. It is the most bland, uniform ‘city’ I have ever seen. And its politics? To call them reactionary would be putting it too far left.
What sucks is that when many of these JoCo-ites decide that they’re still not far enough out, even in Olathe, they move to the western suburbs here in Lawrence, bringing their cookie cutter homes and culture with them. They, along with the local Chamber of Commerce, are trying to turn Lawrence into an annex of JoCo, with unending sprawl and unchecked development. Unfortunately for them, here the people still have a semblance of power and are fighting like hell against this shit. Case in point the battle over the proposed new Wal-Mart on the west side.
KC’s cool. It’s got NFL football, and major league baseball. It’s one of the legendary cities of American jazz. Arthur Bryant’s Barbecue is listed in “1000 Places to See Before You Die.” The Nelson-Atkins Museum, endowed by the KC Star’s founding publisher, is world-class. The Star, BTW, has a gorgeous new glass-walled building, an architectural gem.
If you want to experience “big city” Christmas shopping, with beautiful lights and throngs of shoppers go to the Country Club Plaza. (When you’re pooped out, there are about a dozen great restaurants to enjoy.)
KC is not dying. I’d say that it probably has twice the per capita population-adjusted family-owned retail businesses as Wichita. A lot of people who live in suburban JoCo WORK in KC, although JoCo also has a thriving business sector.
ddub, I hate cookie-cutter homes. Every home in my neighborhood is different from it’s neighbor. We have a mix of single-story ranches and two-story homes ( a few three-story homes), and large (half-acre to acre) lots, built over a three-decade period by one-at-a-time local small-scale builders.
But, cookie-cutter builders can give homebuyers more square footage per buck. I can understand why people buy them. I wouldn’t choose this, but I recognize it’s a personal choice.
little boxes on the hillsidelittle boxes filled with ticky tackylittle boxes on the hillsideand they all look just the same
I live in Olathe. 9 out of 10 families are living paycheck to paycheck. So many people are living above the means that it makes me feel sorry for their kids. Very material based community.
it’s no different anywhere else. Unless you go to some of the dying farm communities.
Cupcake land.
Some paychecks are bigger than others, but people somehow manage to live from paycheck to paycheck throwing common sense to the wind.
Standard fare for the affluent American complaining about how tough things are:
- lives in a house 100K+ or more- has cable TV and all the options- eats out 20 times a month(includes mcdonalds, etc.)- closet is full of clothes no long worn because they are not in style- has 2.1 computers per household- never turns off lights or leaves things running constantly like TV’s, stereos, etc.- complains about high cost of food, but passes the fresh produce which is cheaper and goes for the pre-packaged convenience/comfort foods.- drives a SUV or crewcab pickup as their second car.- consistenly drives 20 miles per hour over the speed limit and complains about gas mileage.- will take vacations that put them in debt- spend so much at xmas time, their credit cards go into meltdown
I understand the comments about cookie cutter homes but there’s a lot to be said for volume discounts and developers who give as much as they take. We moved to Wichita from Olathe and found that two local builders each wanted 100K more to build a certain floor plan than it would cost in Olathe. The Johnson County leadership knows what to do with taxes. They have beautiful schools and parks, tree lined boulevards and nice libraries for about 2/3 the property taxes. This is a great place to live and people are friendly but taxes are high compared to the five other places I’ve lived.
Hey, at least it’s not Brazos County. Trust me.