COMMENT BY
COMMENT ABOUT PLACE
Shawnee Mission, KS
COMMENT
Overland Park is Family Utopia
Overland Park is family Utopia. If you want a good place to raise your family with above average to great public schooling then OP is the place for you. Housing is a little expensive but not as bad as your Chicago's, Denver's or St.Louis. And if you don't want new housing then the established neighborhoods are still in good standing and you can find affordable housing.
If you have kids that are active you'll have no problem placing them in sports, dance, etc. There's plenty of places for that both rec. and tournament. The Kansas City area is home to a couple of regionally recognized soccer complexes (I don't like soccer but it's good for the community), a former NBA arena changed into a multi-court basketball and volleyball tournament venue, several tournament quality baseball facilities and more. In Overland Park are also two high quality school districts and a handful of top notch private schools.
As a family you'll have plenty to do as well. There are a sufficient number of parks, entertainment boxes (such as Main Event, Skyzone, etc.), shopping, and loads of places to eat. Also as part of the Kansas City metro you are close to the KC Chiefs and Royals, Sporting KC (MLS soccer), Kansas City symphony, Crown Center (Hallmark shopping center, yes THE Hallmark cards), Plaza (high end shopping and eating), Kansas City Power and Light entertainment district downtown and World's of Fun (amusement park).
The most recent knock on OP is the expansion of Apartment/Retail/Entertainment developments on the main streets of the city. Longtime locals HATE this because of the influx of population these developments are going to cause. My view on this is that at one time Overland Park was a small suburb of Kansas City. Now it is a LARGE suburb of Kansas City and in some ways becoming it's own city next to Kansas City. So it's a city that is becoming a legit city. But it's still a family city.
If you're moving to the KC area it's probably the best place to live. If you want to live in the midwest with all four seasons it's a good place for that too.