Kansas

Kansas is known for clean air, sunny skies and no traffic. What is better than that? Kansas' government officials tout the Sunflower State as being the best state in the union to call home. With a year-round average of 55 degree, quality clean air, and 12-foot wide highway lanes, Kansas is an attractive place to buy or build a home.

Several cities in Kansas including Plainville, Ellsworth, and Marquette are offering free land to those wishing to move to the state. The free land program started several years ago when the state's population was experiencing a decline in some of Kansas's smaller cities and towns.

To spur population and economic growth, some cites began offering free land to those willing to build at least a 1,000 square-foot home within two years. Other incentives include down payment assistance and the waiver of water, sewer, and other service connections.

In Kansas, city officials are rebuilding their cities and towns one family at a time. As of 2005 the population of Kansas was approximately 2.8 million, a 2.8 percent increase from 2000 when the population was 2.7 million.

Wichita, KS, is one place in the state that does not need to give away free land. Numerous published accolades make it an easy sell. Wichita is ranked the second best place to relocate a family in a city with a population between 575,000 and 1.2 million by Worldwide ERC (Employment Relocation Council) and Primacy Location. Money Magazine also ranked Wichita one of the best big cities. Wichita took first place when it came to the least expensive place to live as an upper middle-class person.

Kansas Real Estate Information

Kansas offers residents and visitors some the craziest places to visit including a place that houses a nine-ton ball of twine stretching 40 feet wide, a spinach festival where the world's largest spinach salad is tossed with pitchforks in a plastic pool, and a 24 by 32-foot replica of Vincent van Gogh famous Sunflower painting sitting atop an eight-story easel. There are another 197 of these quirky places to visit throughout the state. If you're lucky, one may be located in your neighborhood.

Kansas's real estate is spread throughout six regions. In the north central part of Kansas - and the central United States - you will find acre upon acre of prairie land. It was in this region that "Home on the Range" was written.

In the northeast there are rivers and rolling hills. It is here that you will find historic ghost towns balanced by small cities including Kansas City. Average home prices in Kansas City were $108, 418 in 2005 slightly higher than the state's $107,000 average price tag.

Rivers and prairies make up the land in the northwest region of the state. It is in this region that several fossils were found left behind by seas that at one time covered the plains of Kansas. The heartland country region, south central Kansas, is home to Wichita, KS and a same-sized replica of the Space Shuttle. Median home prices in and around Wichita are $154,000, according to 2004 reports.

The southwest corner of Kansas is considered the Wild West. It is here where the Wickedest Little City in America - Dodge City - is located and where the Wild West truly began. Home prices in Dodge City, KS in 2005 averaged $72,200.

Kansas Demographics

The estimated population is currently 2,671,740, of which 60% belong to an age group that includes 19 up to 64. The largest minority group is Hispanics at 6% of the total population, followed by blacks at 5%. The median annual household income is slightly above the national average at $43,802.

Kansas Education Information

Kansas ranks 23rd in regard to brainpower in comparison to the rest of the country. Most of this brainpower comes from students in the state's six universities and 19 community colleges. Slightly more than 90 percent of the population age 25 or higher as of 2006 has completed high school and 31.6 percent of the population has a bachelor's degree or higher.