Kansas City metropolitan area

Kansas City metropolitan area
CSA   Kansas City, Missouri   Kansas City, MO–KS MSA   Lawrence, KS MSA   St. Joseph, MO–KS MSA   Warrensburg, MO µSA   Ottawa, KS µSA   Atchison, KS µSA
Coordinates: 39°06′N 94°35′W / 39.1°N 94.58°W / 39.1; -94.58
Country	United States
State	Missouri Kansas
Largest city	Kansas City, Missouri
Cities with population over 50,000	- Overland Park, Kansas  - Kansas City, Kansas  - Independence, Missouri  - Olathe, Kansas  - Lee's Summit, Missouri  - Shawnee, Kansas  - Blue Springs, Missouri  - Lenexa, Kansas
Area
• Total	8,472 sq mi (21,940 km2)
Highest elevation	1,1601 ft (353.51 m)
Lowest elevation	6901 ft (210.31 m)
Population
• Total	2,192,035
• Rank	CDT )

The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With 8,472 square miles (21,940 km²) and a population of more than 2.2 million people, it is the second-largest metropolitan area centered in Missouri (after Greater St. Louis) and is the largest metropolitan area in Kansas, though Wichita is the largest metropolitan area centered in Kansas.^[2] Alongside Kansas City, Missouri, these are the suburbs with populations above 100,000: Overland Park, Kansas; Kansas City, Kansas; Olathe, Kansas; Independence, Missouri; and Lee's Summit, Missouri.

Business enterprises and employers include

Cultural attractions include the

.

Historic features include the confluence of the eastern endpoints of the

steak

.

Geographic overview

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The larger Kansas City metropolitan area can be visualized as a map with roughly four quadrants:

The southeast quadrant includes Kansas City, Missouri, and surrounding areas in Missouri. It includes the Grandview Triangle.

The southwest quadrant includes all of

The northwest quadrant contains Wyandotte, and Leavenworth, counties in Kansas and parts of Platte County, Missouri. Wyandotte County, Kansas (sometimes referred to as just Wyandotte), contains Kansas City, Kansas; Bonner Springs, Kansas; and Edwardsville, Kansas; it is governed by a single unified government. Another bend in the Missouri River forms the county line between Wyandotte County, Kansas, and Platte County, Missouri, to the north and northeast.

The map's northeast quadrant is referred to as the Northland. It includes parts of

Divisions

Areas

• Power and Light District, Historic Garment District, and the T-Mobile Center
  are in the downtown area.
• The Northland is a section of the metropolitan area north of the Missouri River, comprising Clay and Platte Counties in Missouri. This area includes the northern half of Kansas City, Missouri, which is referred to as Kansas City, North to distinguish it from the rest of the Northland and the city of North Kansas City.
• River Market
  is an area north of downtown, south of the Missouri River and west of Highway 9, and is home to a large farmer's market.
• North Kansas City is an enclaved city surrounded by Kansas City, Missouri.
• Shawnee Mission is a district created by the United States Postal Service that encompasses 16 cities and towns in northeast Johnson County, Kansas, most of which also lie in the school district of the same name.
• The Waldo Residential District (Waldo) is in Kansas City, Missouri, near 75th Street and Wornall Road.
• J.C. Nichols Company in 1923, and was the first suburban shopping district in the United States.^[3]
• The Country Club District is an associated group of neighborhoods built along Ward Parkway by J.C. Nichols, which is just south of the Country Club Plaza and includes Sunset Hill, Brookside, Crestwood, and Mission Hills, Kansas.
• 39th Street (also referred to as the Volker neighborhood or "Restaurant Row") is a small section of West 39th Street between State Line Road and the Southwest Trafficway in Kansas City, Missouri. The area has many restaurants, bars and shops, and is just across the state line from the University of Kansas Medical Center.
• University of Kansas Hospital
  (KUMED) is the corporate name of the hospital on the KU Medical Center campus.
• Benton Curve is a curve at the cross-section of Interstate 70 and Benton Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri; the area has long been prone to traffic accidents.
• Pendleton Heights
  is a neighborhood in the Historic Northeast district of Kansas City, Missouri, which is bordered by Cliff Drive to the north, Chestnut Trafficway to the east, Independence Avenue to the south, and The Paseo to the west. It is Kansas City's oldest surviving neighborhood, and has the city's largest concentration of Victorian homes.
• The
  U.S. Route 71 (Bruce R. Watkins Drive
  ). Notorious for fatal accidents, the Triangle has undergone improvements and upgrades in recent years.
• Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard, named for former mayor and current Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, comprises recently renamed portions of 47th Street and Brush Creek Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri.
• 18th and Vine Historic District (18th and Vine) is a neighborhood on Kansas City, Missouri's north side that contains the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the American Jazz Museum
  . This area was the heart of Kansas City's black business district.
• The
  Library District is a recently defined district around the new Central Library at 14 West 10th Street in Kansas City, Missouri.^[4]
• 135th Street (Overland Park, Kansas) is a shopping area featuring several indoor and outlet malls, restaurants, and two movie theaters.
• Prariefire is a modern shopping and leisure area featuring fine restaurants and high-end bowling venue. The Museum of Prariefire is its main attraction.
• Strawberry Hill is a historical area in Kansas City, Kansas that was home to many eastern European immigrants. Later, the neighborhood became home to many Latino and Latino families.
• Hospital Hill is an area near 23rd Street and Holmes Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, and consists of two major hospitals (University Health and the Children's Mercy Hospital) and the University of Missouri-Kansas City's School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, School of Pharmacy, and School of Nursing.
• Argentine is a neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas, centered along Metropolitan and Strong avenues from 27th to 30th streets. It is one of the oldest Mexican/Latino neighborhoods in Kansas City, with Mexican immigration to that area starting in the 1800s.
• The
  Union Station
  , centered around the intersection of 19th Street and Baltimore Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. It contains dozens of art galleries, and is considered to be the center of the arts culture in the metropolitan area. Local artists sponsor exhibits in the district on the first Friday of each month.
• Quality Hill is a residential and commercial neighborhood atop the bluff on the west side of the Central Business District of Downtown Kansas City, across the river from the Charles B. Wheeler Airport.
• Black
  neighborhood southeast of the 18th and Vine Historical District.
• The Westside is a historically African American and Chicano/Latino neighborhood near Southwest Boulevard and Interstate 35.
• Westport
  is a historic district that includes the oldest building still standing in the city and that is home to much of the metropolitan area's entertainment and nightlife.
• Valentine is a neighborhood north of Westport that includes the historic Uptown Theater.
• West Bottoms has many of the oldest buildings and the former location of the city's stockyards. It is now known for its arts community, the American Royal, Hy-Vee Arena, antique stores, and First Fridays events.
• Rosedale is the southernmost district of Kansas City, Kansas, and the only part of that city whose streets are on the metropolitan grid. Home to the main hospital of the University of Kansas Health System, it was the last municipality absorbed by Kansas City, Kansas, prior to the creation of the Unified Government of Kansas City and Wyandotte County.
• Union Hill^[5]
• Armourdale is a residential and commercial neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas, and is one of the historically Chicano(a) neighborhoods of the Kansas City metropolitan area.
• Sheffield is an industrial district in the Blue River valley on the city's far northeast side.
• East Bottoms, also known as the Industrial District, is primarily known for its industrial businesses and railroad activity.
• Brookside is a pedestrian-friendly district built in the 1920s, centered on the Brookside Shopping District at 63rd Street and Brookside Boulevard.
• Hanover Heights is a small neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas' Rosedale section that was once primarily noted for the antiques shops along 45th Avenue, with the neighborhood's boundaries running mainly between Rainbow Boulevard and State Line Road, running south of the KU Medical Center to the Johnson County border.
• The Historic Northeast District (Northeast) is a working-class immigrant collection of neighborhoods between downtown Kansas City and the suburb of Independence.
• The Truman Sports Complex, at the junction of I-70 and I-435 (east of downtown Kansas City, Missouri), is home to several professional sports attractions. It is anchored by Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs NFL franchise; and Kauffman Stadium, home of Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals.

Jackson County, Missouri

Downtown

Downtown

Other nearby neighborhoods are

Midtown/Plaza is entirely within Kansas City, Missouri with a population of 40,355.[7] It is just south of downtown, and bounded by 31st Street on the north, the state line on the west, West Gregory Boulevard (71st Street) on the south, and Troost Avenue on the east. Midtown/Plaza, the core of the metropolitan area, has many cultural attractions, shopping and entertainment areas, large hospitals, universities, and the metro area's most densely populated neighborhoods.

Midtown/Plaza has many distinct and historic neighborhoods, including

East Side

East Side of the Metro is primarily eastern Jackson County which is an area of the Kansas City Metro that contains the far-eastern urban side of Kansas City, Missouri and the following large suburbs of

Johnson County, Kansas

Johnson County, Kansas contains many municipalities with a population of 609,863. It has the largest economy in the metropolitan area and is the fastest growing county by total population.^[8][9][10] Municipalities include Overland Park, Olathe, Shawnee, Leawood, Lenexa, Prairie Village, Gardner, Merriam, Mission, Roeland Park, Fairway, Lake Quivira, Mission Hills, Mission Woods, Westwood, and Westwood Hills. Corporate headquarters include Garmin, Black & Veatch, and AMC Theatres, and the secondary headquarters of T-Mobile. Many local area attractions and shopping districts are in Johnson County, such as Oak Park Mall, Town Center Plaza, and Prairie Fire.

The Northland (Missouri)

The Northland is the area north of the Missouri River, bordered by the Kansas state line on the west. The southern half of

Cass County, Missouri has a population of 107,824 and contains parts of "South Kansas City". This area consists of the most southern part of Kansas City, Missouri, and the suburbs of Harrisonville, Belton, Loch Lloyd, Peculiar, and Raymore.^[12]

Leavenworth County, Kansas

Leavenworth County, Kansas has a population of 81,881 and contains the cities of Leavenworth and Lansing, and the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.^[13]

Population

The Kansas City metropolitan area (MO-KS) population in 2018 was 2,106,632^[18] and the Kansas City CSA in 2022 was 2,209,152.^[19]

More than 500,000

• Kansas City, Missouri – Pop: 508,090

More than 100,000

50,000–99,999

20,000–49,999

10,000–19,999

5,000–9,999

Fewer than 5,000

Counties

The MSA covers a total area of 7,952 sq mi (20,600 km²) including 97 sq mi (250 km²) of water.

Associated areas

Often associated with Kansas City, the cities of

As of 2019[update], Missouri accounted for 56% of employment and Kansas accounted for 44% of employment. From 2018 to 2019 Kansas added 13,000 jobs and Missouri added 6,500 jobs. Kansas side employment grew by 2.7% and Missouri side employment grew by 1.1%; job growth in Kansas was more than double that in Missouri. Professional and business employment growth was due entirely to a gain of 5,200 jobs in the Kansas portion of the metro area.^[23]

In 2015, the metropolitan area accounted for 40.9% of the total GDP in the state of Kansas and 22.7% of the total GDP in the state of Missouri.^[24]

Transportation

Highways

The Kansas City metropolitan area has more freeway lane miles per capita than any other large metropolitan area in the United States. This is 27% more than the second-place

The Kansas City area is a confluence of four major U.S. interstate highways:

• I-29 – North to St. Joseph, Missouri
• I-35 – North to Des Moines, Iowa and south to Wichita, Kansas
• I-49 – South to Joplin
• I-70 – East to St. Louis and west to Topeka, Kansas

Other interstates that cross through the area include:

• I-435 – A bi-state loop through Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and through Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas. It is the second-longest single-numbered beltway in the U.S., and the fourth-longest in the world.
• I-470 – Connects South Kansas City with Lee's Summit and Independence.
• I-635 – Connects Johnson County and Kansas City, Kansas to I-29, I-70, and I-35.
• I-670 – A southern bypass of I-70 and the southern portion of the downtown loop. The roadway is designated on road signs as East I-70, when exiting from I-35 while traveling north.

US Highways

U.S. Highways serving the Kansas City Metro Area include these:

• 
  US 24
  – Running from Independence Ave. and Winner Rd., between downtown Kansas City and Independence, Missouri, it serves as a street-level connection to Independence.
• US 40 – U.S. 40 is one of six east-west U.S.-numbered routes that run (or ran) from coast to coast. It serves as a business loop and an alternate route for I-70.
• US 50 – Enters the area in southern Johnson County, follows I-435 from the west to I-470, then splits off of I-470 in Lee's Summit to continue eastward to Jefferson City and St. Louis as a regular highway. Its former route through Raytown and southeast Kansas City was renumbered as Route 350. U.S. 50 is also one of the six east–west highways that run coast-to-coast through the United States.
• 
  US-56
  - Enters the area concurrent with I-35 until the Shawnee Mission Parkway exit. It runs east along the Parkway into the Plaza area of Kansas City before terminating at US-71.
• 
  US 69 – Connects Excelsior Springs, Missouri in the north and serves as a freeway in Johnson County Connecting I-35 to I-435 and connecting Overland Park to Louisburg and Linn Valley
  on the Kansas side.
• US 71 – In the north, concurrent with I-29 to Amazonia, Missouri, and serves as a freeway (Bruce R. Watkins Drive) south from downtown, joining with I-49 at the Grandview Triangle.
• US 169 – Connects Smithville, Missouri, in the north.

Kansas state highways

Kansas highways in the area include these:

• 
  GM
  Fairfax plant with I-635. K-5 continues as Leavenworth Road west to I-435 then on to Leavenworth, Kansas.
• K-7 – A freeway linking Leavenworth, Wyandotte and Johnson Counties in Kansas.
• K-10 – A freeway linking I-435 to De Soto and Lawrence.
• K-32 – A highway that links Lawrence to Wyandotte County in Kansas.

Missouri state highways

Missouri highways in the area include these:

• Route 7 - An important state highway serving the eastern suburbs of the metro. Primarily running north and south through Jackson and Cass Counties. Connecting the following communities: Independence, Blue Springs, Lake Lotawana, Pleasant Hill and Harrisonville. It is the commercial backbone for Blue Springs, Lake Lotawana and Pleasant Hill.
• Route 9 – A minor freeway northwest of North Kansas City, and serves as a commercial backbone to North Kansas City, Riverside, Platte Woods and Parkville.
• 
  Lewis & Clark Village, Missouri. Its eastern segment is also known as NW 64th Street. The highway serves as a commercial backbone of Parkville, Missouri and runs across Riss Lake. The National Golf Club of Kansas City
  is located on MO-45.
• Route 58 - A state highway serving the southern suburbs of Belton and Raymore.
• Route 92 – This narrow and hilly road crosses the northern part of the metro, connecting Platte City, Smithville, Kearney, and Excelsior Springs.
• Route 150 – A highway linking southern Lee's Summit and Grandview to the Kansas suburbs at State Line Road.
• Route 152 – A freeway contained entirely in Kansas City's Northland, stretching from Liberty in Clay County west until it intersects with I-435 near Parkville, Missouri.
• Route 210 – A minor freeway east of North Kansas City that, as a two-lane road, stretches to Richmond, Missouri.
• Route 291 – Formerly an eastern bypass route of U.S. 71, this minor freeway connects Harrisonville and Lee's Summit to Independence, Sugar Creek, Liberty and Kansas City North. The roadway is designated on road signs alongside I-470 north of Lee's Summit.
• Route 350 – This road crosses through Raytown as Blue Parkway.

Other roads

These are other notable roads:

• 18th Street Expressway – a freeway carrying US-69 through central Wyandotte County from I-35 to I-70.
• Ward Parkway – A scenic parkway in Kansas City, Missouri, near the Kansas-Missouri state line, where many large historic mansions and fountains are located.
• Broadway – A street that runs from the west side of downtown Kansas City to Westport. The street has long been an entertainment center, with various bars, live jazz outlets, and restaurants along it. It also forms the eastern border of Quality Hill, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Kansas City.
• The Paseo – Part of the city's original system of parks and boulevards developed beginning in the late 1880s, it is the longest of the original boulevards, and the only one that runs the entire length of the pre-World War II city boundary, from the Missouri River bluffs in the north to 79th Street on the south.^[26]
• Shawnee Mission Parkway – Former alignment of K-10 from 1929 to 1983; K-58 from 1956 to 1979; US-56 from 1957 to 1968; K-12 from 1983 to 1998. Serves Shawnee Mission.
• Troost Avenue – A north-south thoroughfare 11 blocks east of Main Street, named for an early Kansas City settler and dentist, Benoist Troost. The street roughly divides the city's mostly black neighborhoods to its east from its mostly white ones to its west.
• Swope Parkway – Running on the south side of the Brush Creek valley eastward from The Paseo, then southward from its junction with Benton Boulevard, this street is the main route from the city's midtown to its largest city park, Swope Park.
• North Oak Trafficway – A major road in the Northland. The roadway is designated as MO-283 from MO-9 to I-29. It is a major road in the Northland and serves as the commercial backbone of Gladstone, Missouri.
• Barry Road – Runs along the former route of Military Road, which ran from Liberty to Fort Leavenworth. It is now a major commercial street in the Northland, although it has been paralleled by MO-152 for its entire route and has been effectively replaced by it east of Indiana Avenue.
• 87th Street Parkway – A major parkway that extends from Overland Park to De Soto. Former alignment of K-10 from 1929 to 1983.

Street numbers

The Missouri side of the metropolitan area south of the Missouri River shares a grid system with Johnson County on the Kansas side. Most east–west streets are numbered and most north–south streets named. Addresses on east–west streets are numbered from Main Street in Kansas City, Missouri, and on north–south streets from St. John Avenue (or the Missouri River, in the River Market area). The direction 'South' in street and address numbers is generally implied if 'North' is not specified, except for numbered 'avenues' in North Kansas City. In the northland, east–west streets use the prefix N.E. or N.W., depending on the side of N. Main on which they lie.

Air

The metro has several airports. Primary service is at Kansas City International Airport (MCI), 15 miles northwest of downtown Kansas City, Missouri. It was opened in 1972 as TWA's "Airport of the Future", a global hub for supersonic transport and the Boeing 747. A new single-terminal building was opened on February 28, 2023,^[27] to modernize the design, operations, and passenger experience.

The much smaller

Two general aviation airports are in Johnson County, Kansas. New Century AirCenter borders southwest Olathe and northeast Gardner. The primary runway at New Century AirCenter is the second longest runway in the region next to those at Kansas City International Airport. It is 7 miles (11 km) from the Logistics Park Kansas City Intermodal Facility. Johnson County Executive Airport has one runway on 500 acres and is the fourth-busiest towered airport in the state of Kansas.

Rail

Kansas City is a freight hub served by the

City buses operated by the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) provide most public transportation. The Metro Area Express (MAX) became Kansas City, Missouri's first bus rapid transit line in July 2005, and operates and is marketed akin to a rail system instead of a local bus line. The MAX links River Market, Downtown, Union Station, Crown Center, and Country Club Plaza.^[30][31] Buses in Johnson County, Kansas, are operated by Johnson County Transit, known as The JO.

The

Intercity bus service is provided by Greyhound Lines and Jefferson Lines at the Kansas City Bus Station.

Cultural attractions

Photo	Name	City	Notes
	Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art	Kansas City, Missouri	Founded in 1933, the Nelson-Atkins maintains wide-ranging collections of more than 35,000 works of art and welcomes 500,000 visitors a year.
	Chicago & Alton Railroad Depot	Independence, Missouri	The oldest business building in Independence, Missouri. In 1978, the hotel, which originally served the railroad, moved from the original site just south of Main Street to its present location.
	Dillingham-Lewis House Museum	Blue Springs, Missouri	Built in 1906, the only native limestone structure in Blue Springs. The house is named after two families.
	Fort Osage National Historic Site	Sibley, Missouri	Part of the early 19th century U.S. factory trading post system for the Osage Nation .
	Jackson County Jail and Marshal's House	Independence, Missouri	Former jail site, operated by the county historical society, which housed thousands of prisoners including William Clark Quantrill .
	Leila's Hair Museum	Independence, Missouri	A museum of hair art since the 19th century.
	Lone Jack Battlefield Museum	Lone Jack	The only Civil War Museum in Jackson County, Missouri, and one of the few battlefields where the soldiers – who perished during the battle – are still buried on the battlefield.
	Midwest Genealogy Center	Independence, Missouri	The largest freestanding public genealogy research library in the USA.
	National Frontier Trails Museum	Independence, Missouri	A museum, interpretive center, and research library about the history of principal western U.S. trails.
	Rice-Tremonti Home	Raytown, Missouri	Home built on the Santa Fe Trail in 1844 by Archibald Rice and his family.
	Cable Dahmer Arena	Independence, Missouri	A 5,800-seat multi-purpose arena that hosts the Kansas City Mavericks ice hockey team.
	Harry S. Truman Historic District	Independence and Grandview, Missouri	Associated with 33rd U.S. President Harry S. Truman, the district includes: The Truman Presidential Library, in Independence. The Truman home, in Independence, where Truman lived for most of his time in Missouri. The Truman Farm, in Grandview, built in 1894 by Truman's maternal grandmother.
	Truman Sports Complex	Kansas City, Missouri	Two major sports venues: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City Chiefs (football) Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City Royals (baseball)
	Grinter Place	Kansas City, Kansas	A home built in 1857 by one of the earliest settlers.

Architecture

The architecture of

• The
  KCTV-Tower
  is a 1,042 feet (318 m) pyramid-shaped television and radio tower used primarily by local CBS affiliate KCTV (channel 5). It is at the corner of 31st and Main Streets, next to the studio facilities of PBS member station KCPT (which formerly housed the original studios of KCTV), and is visible from many parts of the city, especially at night due to the string of lights adorning the tower.
• The twin red-brick towers of the American Century Investments complex are oriented north and south along Main at 45th Street, just north of the Country Club Plaza (the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art is slightly east, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is east and slightly south).
• Kansas City Community Christian Church, at 4601 Main Street, has a group of lights that shoot a beam upwards to the sky at night. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1950s, it is slightly south of and across the street from the American Century Investment Towers (the Nelson Atkins is to the east, and the Kemper Museum is to the north and slightly east).
• Bartle Hall
  has a section that somewhat resembles a north–south suspension bridge, crossing over I-670 at the southwest corner of the downtown loop. It has four towers, with metal sculptures on top of each tower.
• The Veterans Affairs Medical Center, near the intersection of I-70, Linwood Boulevard and Van Brunt Boulevard, has a large "VA" emblem.
• The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, at 16th Street and Broadway (just south of the downtown loop), with its tiered glass and steel half-domes, has a design reminiscent of the world-famous Sydney Opera House.

Colleges and universities

Top 5 largest colleges by total enrollment (within the MSA)^[34]

• 1. Johnson County Community College - 18,638
• 2. Metropolitan Community College - 17,025
• 3.
  University of Missouri-Kansas City
  - 16,383
• 4. Park University - 9,512
• 5. Kansas Christian College (Overland Park) - 200

List of institutions (including those in the CSA):

Libraries

The metro public library systems include Kansas City Public Library (Missouri), Mid-Continent Public Library, Kansas City, Kansas Public Library, and Johnson County Library. Private libraries include the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum and the Linda Hall Library.

Media

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