Places to live and a drive to UMKC
 

Where are decent places I can live that aren't typically too long of a commute to UMKC's campus?

I wouldn't want to live anywhere near UMKC.

How's the Plaza area now? I'd live down there if I moved back.

I just moved from that area, homeowner though. And lol at any overweight recluse that wouldn't want to live there. Anyway, you can find decent house rentals around the 50th area from Holmes to Harrison. Harrison is as far east as I would go if you stay in the 50s. When I went to UMKC, I lived as far north as Armour Blvd. Check apartments down Warwick all the way to Armour, best time of my life.

Keep in mind that I live in Chicago now so I have a penchant for danger.

Why not?

I had a friend in pharmacy school that lived a few blocks away from campus. Frequent gunshots, frequent break ins. No thank you.

A few blocks make a huge difference around there. If you want to live near campus, there are many good neighborhoods quite close, with a variety of levels of risk. It is a city. There is risk anywhere, but people have different levels of tolerance for it, and the costs will follow that generally. If you want a suburban type neighborhood close by, perhaps Fairway on the Kansas side. It is pretty sleepy, but the price tag is higher. 10 minutes at the most.

If you want a big house for your money and have a city comfort level, the aforementioned zone by KCUnited has some really amazing houses, and yes there are gunshots and helicopters from time to time, but the whole neighborhood is well connected on Facebook and doing a good job of working together to be as safe as possible. 5 minutes at the most.

Ward Parkway is nice.

Probably a no go on the house thing for various reasons. (But thanks for offering to help, GoChiefs.)

I'd like to keep my rent within $1000 unless there's a ton of stuff included in on that cost.

You should do just fine with that budget.

For frame of reference, I've been overpaying at $650 in Springfield.

Generally speaking, staying west of UMKC campus is "safer". Lots of apartments around the Plaza. The state line is only about a mile or two west of UMKC, and there's a bunch of housing around KU Med center too (roughly 39th St and State Line Rd). If you drew a line from KU Med to UMKC, areas around that line would be where I'd focus.

How bad does traffic get? I'm fairly certain that classes will be in the evening so I have to factor that in.

Traffic really isn't too bad in that vicinity. Where you get into bad traffic is on the in-town Interstates (i.e. I35, I70, I435, I635, etc) at rush hour. And since you're going to be relatively close to UMKC campus, traffic isn't going to be an issue. You'll be using regular old city streets with lots of options if something backs up via a wreck or something.

BTW, on the Kansas side the Roeland Park and Mission areas might work for you. They're a little further into Kansas than Fairway, but probably cheaper rentals in a nice area. Probably a 15 minute, very easy drive to UMKC

You'll live like a King on the Plaza:

http://www.apartmentguide.com/neighb...ry-Club-Plaza/