01 · the cities
San Jose
San Jose is Silicon Valley's anchor city, much bigger than San Francisco by population, and culturally underrated because everyone drives through it on the way somewhere else. The Vietnamese food scene (especially in Little Saigon) is one of the best in the country. The weather is impossibly mild, the Santa Cruz Mountains rise to the west, and the tech money funds a genuinely excellent restaurant scene.
full dispatch→Kansas City
Kansas City is barbecue (burnt ends are a local invention), jazz (the 18th and Vine district fed Charlie Parker and Count Basie), and fountains everywhere you turn. The city straddles two states and doesn't make a big deal out of it. The Plaza shopping district looks like Seville, which is delightfully odd for the Midwest. Friendly here means genuinely friendly.
full dispatch→02 · the money
Median rent
Median rent
$3,470/mo
$1,502/mo
$1,968/mo less than San Jose (131%)
Median home price
Median home price
$1.8M
$326k
$1.5M less than San Jose
State income tax
State income tax
9.3%
4.7%
Gross left after rent
Gross left after rent
$4,088/mo
$6,440/mo
Kansas City has $2,352/mo more gross after rent at $100k
Gross left after rent reflects state income tax but not federal, based on $100k salary. Enter your salary to find your ideal city.
03 · the weather
Pleasant days/yr
Pleasant days/yr
283 days
170 days
113 fewer than San Jose
Extreme heat days
Extreme heat days
19 days
8 days
days above 95°F per year
Extreme cold days
Extreme cold days
0 days
26 days
days below 20°F per year
San Jose has 11 more days above 95°F each year than Kansas City. Kansas City drops below 20°F on 26 more days per year than San Jose.
04 · the life
OutdoorScore
OutdoorScore
70 / 100
56 / 100
14.0 pts behind San Jose
Nonstop flights
Nonstop flights
29 routes
43 routes
14 more direct routes than San Jose
Metro size
Metro size
1.9M metro
2.2M metro
San Jose has 1.4x fewer events per month than Kansas City.
the verdict
3
San Jose
categories won
6
Kansas City
categories won
Kansas City wins on money. San Jose has the edge on weather.
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