The climate is so-so, there’s no nearby ocean or mountain range, and the metro area population has climbed only modestly over the past 3½ decades. But Kansas City appears to be better positioned than other comparably sized U.S. cities for future growth and prosperity.
Urban policy expert Wendell Cox counts the ways. Housing is affordable – in part, he says, because land-use restrictions are minimal – and the overall cost of living is low. With an extensive freeway and arterial system and relatively uncongested traffic, people can get around. KC consequently attracts more “domestic migrants” than it loses. Cox details all of this in his essay Kansas City—Genuinely World Class.
Cox, the principal of Demographia, a St. Louis-area public policy and demographics firm, walks through the advantages and what Kansas City needs to do to preserve them in this presentation.
