Kansas City is the Missouri/Kansas shared city that is home to fantastic BBQ, iconic Jazz and Blues musical history, the World Series-winning Royals baseball team, and, last but not least, some truly amazing entrepreneurship and startup opportunities.
Kansas City has several major businesses in its booming downtown area, as well as in a neighborhood we are particularly interested in, Startup Village. This booming business and industry neighborhood has seen up to 32 startups at once, and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon, either.
Whether you are here for the downtown scenery, riverfront recreation, blues, and bbq, or fantastic city-wide parks and recreation options, you will undoubtedly notice a business-savvy vibe to the town during your visit, and you may want to make time to stop by Startup Village before you go to learn more!
KC Business Facts:
-The Cost of Living is 2.5% below the national average
-The average income is $57,433
-Forbes ranks KC as #61 Best Places for Business and Careers, #103 in Cost of Doing Business, and #50 in Education
-Kansas City holds one of the top Agribusiness markets in the world.
-H&R Block, Google Fiber, Seaboard Corp, Sprint, Cerner and many other successful businesses have started and thrived in OKC.
-The college attainment level here is 33.7%
Here are the 4 main reasons Kansas City is great for entrepreneurs:
Startup Village -
The highly business-oriented community near the state-straddling line of both Kansas and Missouri that is known as Startup Village has created much business and entrepreneurship successes in the area, seeing over 32 startups happening at once, at times! This community aims to ‘establish [itself] as a hub of the Greater Kansas City startup community and serve as an example and resource for other startup communities’, something it has done very well so far.
Much of these communities (and the city as a thriving entrepreneurship spot as a whole) success comes from the 2012 introduction of the 80-times-faster-than -the-national-average broadband service coming to town, the tech giant known as Google Fiber.
Affordable Housing and Friendly Neighbors-
Midwesterners really know how to make people feel at home, which honestly isn’t a very hard task to do when you can find a home for on average 2-3% less than the rest of the country. This may not seem like a huge difference, but when you think about the fact that Austin Texas is the only other city hosting Google Fiber, and their average home costs 52,000 more than KC, it really does make a big difference.
Kansas City Skyline Dollarphotoclub
Location -
As mentioned a few times already, Kansas City has an EXCELLENT advantage of being right on the border of two different states: Kansas and Missouri. Not only is this great for connectivity to more businesses and educational resources, but it is also great for policy and price choosing.
For example, Missouri as a state will make businesses pay income tax but allows them to deduct losses, whereas in Kansas you may not deduct losses but only have to pay the local Angel Taxes. These slight financial changes can allow you to really choose how your startup business is operated, giving you more policy-related and financial freedom.
Expansion -
If you haven’t noticed, Kansas City is constantly expanding, whether it’s new sports facilities, new transportation methods (KC Streetcar), or new bustling businesses downtown and within the Startup Village. Expanding cities mean expanding interests, which is another reason this is a perfect entrepreneurship paradise.
While there aren’t very many notable entrepreneurship-focused tours within the city, you may call ahead and try to tour any particular business you are interested in, such as Google Fiber or Startup Village (these companies will work with groups), or choose to take a campus tour of a popular local university such as UMKC. Other popular city tours that represent the local business well include:
KC BBQ Tours
Harley Davidson Factory Tour
Hallmark Visitor Center
Shatto Milk Co
