Kansas City Metropolitan Area

Infobox Metropolitan Area
MSA_name = Kansas City, MO-KS
name = Kansas City Metropolitan Area
nickname = City of Fountains

---

largest_city = Kansas City, Missouri
other_cities = - Overland Park - Kansas City, KS - Independence - Shawnee - Olathe - Lee's Summit
- Liberty - Gladstone
rank_us = 29 [http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metro_general/2006/CBSA-EST2006-01.csv] ^th
population = 1,985,429
density_mi2 = 252.8
density_km2 = 97.6
area_mi2 = 7,952
area_km2 = 20,596
states = - Missouri - Kansas
highest_ft = 1160¹
highest_m = 353.5¹
lowest_ft = 690¹
lowest_m = 210.3¹

The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen county metropolitan area straddling the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. In 2007, it was estimated to have a population of 1,985,429. [http://www.census.gov/popest/counties/ County Population Estimates-U.S. Census Bureau ] ] The metro is the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri and largest with territory in Kansas, though the Wichita Metropolitan Area is the largest metro anchored in Kansas. Satellite cities over 100,000 population in the metropolitan area include Independence, Missouri, Kansas City, Kansas, Olathe, Kansas, and Overland Park, Kansas.

In 2007, Worldwide ERC and Primary Relocation recognized Kansas City third overall as one of the "Best Cities for Relocating Families" in the United States. Also in May 2008, "Money" rated Overland Park, Kansas, 9th best city to live in the United States. Neighboring city Olathe, Kansas, was rated 11th and Shawnee, Kansas, 39th best. Kansas City is one of 2 metro areas to have 2 cities in the top fifteen. [ [http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/index.html Best Places to Live 2006 - "Money"]

Geographic overview

"See Also: The Districts of Downtown (Kansas City, Missouri)"

The core of the "Kansas City Metropolitan Area" can be visualized roughly by the following divisions:

The Northland is locally referred to as "north of the river" (Missouri River) or "Kansas City North". (Often confused with Northtown, a nickname for North Kansas City) Contained wholly within Missouri, it encompasses portions of Clay County and Platte County including the northern half of Kansas City, Missouri, and the cities of Liberty, North Kansas City and Gladstone. The sharpest part of the river bend forms a peninsula containing the Charles B. Wheeler Kansas City Downtown Airport.

Midtown is the core of the metro area just directly to the south of downtown (south of 31st Street) and is mostly urban terrain. Contained within Kansas City, Missouri, it is broken up into the historical neighborhoods of Westport, The Country Club Plaza, Hyde Park, Ward Parkway, Brookside, West Plaza, Southmoreland, Valentine, Coleman Highlands and Rockhill. It contains the majority of the metro area's businesses, visitor attractions, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

South KC or "South Kansas City" is the southern half of Kansas City, Missouri as well as the suburbs of Lee's Summit, Grandview, Harrisonville, Belton, Raymore. It is sometimes called "the southland."

The Eastside is an area of the metro that contains the eastern urban side of Kansas City, Missouri as well as the suburbs of Independence, Blue Springs and Raytown. This part of town is best known for the Truman Sports Complex where the Royals and Chiefs play.

Johnson County (the southwest portion of the metro) indicates all of Johnson County, Kansas, which includes the cities of Overland Park, Lenexa, Olathe, Shawnee, and De Soto. Interstate 35 runs diagonally through Johnson County from the southwest toward the northeast and downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Wyandotte or the western side of the metro contains Wyandotte County, Kansas. Wyandotte County, sometimes referred to as just 'Wyandotte' or 'The Dot', contains Kansas City, Kansas, Bonner Springs and Edwardsville, and it is governed by a single unified government similar to a consolidated city-county. Often the Wyandotte government is referred to simply as 'The Unified Government'. This area is best known for NASCAR's Kansas Speedway and CommunityAmerica Ballpark, home to the T-Bones and the Wizards. Another bend in the Missouri River forms the county line between Wyandotte and Platte counties to the north and northeast.

In all, nearly 2 million people live in the metropolitan area. It is difficult to state exactly the size of the population because there are few natural boundaries and suburban expansion (or "sprawl") is ongoing.

Metropolitan Area

Anchor city

*Kansas City, Missouri (Major airport: Kansas City International Airport)

Libraries

* [http://www.jocolibrary.org Johnson County Library]
* [http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/ Kansas City Kansas Public Library]
* [http://www.kclibrary.org/ Kansas City Public Library] (MO)
* [http://www.lhl.lib.mo.us/ Linda Hall Library]
* [http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/ Mid-continent Library]
* [http://olathelibrary.org/ Olathe Public Library]

Media

Print media

"The Kansas City Star." is the region's major daily newspaper. The McClatchy Company, the owner of "The Star", also owns the suburban weeklies "Lee's Summit Journal" and "Olathe Journal".

The five-day daily "Kansas City Kansan" serves Wyandotte County. Additional weekly papers in the metropolitan include the "Liberty Tribune", "Sun Newspapers" of Johnson County and the Northland, "The Examiner" in Independence and Eastern Jackson County, and "The Pitch". Two newspapers serve the area's faith communities: "The Metro Voice Christian Newspaper" and the "Jewish Chronicle". "Dos Mundos" is the area's primary newspaper that serves the Spanish speaking community with articles printed in Spanish and English.

Broadcast media

According to Arbitron, about 1.5 million people over the age of 12 are part of the Kansas City DMA, making it the 30th largest market for radio and 31st for television Nielsen ratings.

Television

Kansas City metro television stations, with all major network affiliates represented, include:
*WDAF-TV 4 - Fox Owned and Operated.
*KCTV 5 - CBS affiliate.
*KMBC-TV 9 - ABC affiliate.
*KCPT 19 - PBS Member Station
*KCWE 29 - The CW affiliate.
*KMCI 38 (independent)
*KSHB-TV 41 - NBC affiliate.
*KPXE 50 - i affiliate.
*KSMO-TV 62 - My Network TV affiliate.

Radio

Over 30 FM and 20 AM stations broadcast in the Kansas City area, with stations from Topeka, St. Joseph, and Carrollton also reaching into the metropolitan. The highest rated radio stations according to Arbitron:
*KPRS-FM - Urban
*KCMO-FM - 60/70s AC
*KQRC-FM - Rock
*KMBZ-AM - News/Talk
*WDAF-FM - Country

Public and community radio

*KCUR-FM NPR affiliate:KANU-FM and KTBG-FM, both college radio stations, are also NPR affiliates
*KKFI-FM Locally-owned not-for-profit station

pecialty TV and Radio

Hispanics account for five percent of the market and are served by three AM radio stations (KCZZ, KDTD, and KKHK) and a Univision affiliate, KUKC-LP.

Business interests

The Kansas City Metropolitan Area's largest private employer is Sprint Nextel Corporation. The international telecommunications company maintains its world headquarters at its convert|200|acre|km2|sing=on campus facility in south Overland Park. During 2005, the company employed nearly 18,500 people in the five-county metropolitan area, with wages of more than $1.16 billion generating $58 million in local and state income taxes. Sprint spent more than $21 million on property taxes and $1.74 billion for goods and services from area businesses. Sprint's headquarters was temporarily moved to Reston Virginia in 2003 after it merged with Nextel. Since then, the world headquarters has been reconsolidated in Overland Park. [http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/488335.html]

Other major employers are AT&T, BNSF Railway, Asurion, Cerner, Citigroup, Garmin, Hallmark Cards, Harley-Davidson, General Motors, Honeywell, and Ford Motor Company. Kansas City also has a large pharmaceutical industry, with companies such as Bayer and Aventis having large presences.

Future Business Growth

Bombardier has announced that Kansas City is in the running for a $375 Million assembly plant for its future C-Series aircraft. Bombardier cites Kansas City's prime location in between Wichita and St. Louis, both cities having a very sizeable workforce in the aerospace industry. The proposed building site of the new facility would be slightly southeast of the 1R runway at Kansas City International Airport. The proposed facility would be responsible for 2,100 jobs. If approved, construction of aircraft would begin in 2013, with full production in 2015 or 2016. During the summer 2008, Bombardier decided to reject the Kansas City proposal and build its plant in Canada. [ [http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/545130.html www.kansascity.com | 03/24/2008 | Kansas City in the running for Bombardier aircraft plant ] ]

Headquarters

The following companies and organizations are headquartered in the area:
*American Century Investments, an investment firm
*AMC Theatres, a movie theater chain
*Andrews McMeel Universal, a syndication and publication company which represents features such as Dear Abby, Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes and Doonesbury
*Applebee's restaurant chain
*Aquila, Inc., a major energy company
*Black & Veatch Corporation, major engineering firm
*Burns & McDonnell Engineering, an engineering and architectural firm
*Cerner, leading supplier of healthcare information technology solutions.
*Church of the Nazarene church
*Commerce Bancshares, bank serving Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois
*Community of Christ church (Mormon RLDS)
*DST Systems, Inc., global provider of sophisticated information processing and computer software services and products
*Embarq Corporation, large telecommunications company.
*Ferrellgas, the nation's largest retailer and distributor of natural gas
*Fort Dodge Animal Health, a major animal health pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturer and a division of Wyeth
*Garmin, largest maker of GPS-based electronics
*Hallmark Cards, largest maker of greeting cards in the US
*HNTB Corporation, large architecture and engineering firm
*HOK Sport + Venue + Event, world leader in sports architecture
*H&R Block, financial corporation and former parent company of CompuServe
*Inergy, LP, one of the nation's largest retailers and distributors of natural gas
*Interstate Bakeries Corporation, makers of Twinkies and Wonder Bread
*J. E. Dunn Construction Group, major construction contractor.
*Kansas City Power & Light Company, a leading regulated provider of electricity and energy-related products and services
*Kansas City Southern Industries, operators of a Class I railroad
*Lockton Companies, the largest privately held insurance brokerage in the nation
*Peterson Manufacturing, a leading manufacturer of vehicle safety lighting
*Premium Standard Farms, provider of pork products, producing pork products for the retail, wholesale, foodservice, further processor and export markets
*Russell Stover Candies
*Sprint Nextel Corporation, one of the world's largest telecommunication companies.
*Perceptive Software, makers of "Image NOW" software.
*Unity Church
*Walton Construction, a major construction contractor
*Wolferman's bakery
*YRC Worldwide Inc., one of the largest transportation service providers in the world.

Kansas City has a Federal Reserve Bank.

Shopping Centers

* Antioch Center
* Bannister Mall - ** Now Closed For Redevelopment **
* Blue Ridge Crossing
*Crown Center
*Country Club Plaza
* [http://www.thegatewaylife.com The Gateway (formerly Mission Center)]
*The Great Mall of the Great Plains
*Independence Center
*The Landing Mall
*Metcalf South Shopping Center
*Metro North Mall
*Oak Park Mall
*Summit Woods Crossing
*The Legends At Village West
*Ward Parkway Center
*Zona Rosa

Local organizations

* Irish Museum and Cultural Center
* Kerala Association of Kansas City

ee also

*List of people from Kansas City

References

External links

* [http://www.visitkc.com/ VisitKC.com]
* [http://www.kcata.org/ The Metro] Transportation Authority