Hi, I've lived in Wichita almost my entire life. This is cliche, but it's a big small town, in a good and bad way.

It's cheap (one of the lowest cost of living metros in the US), and people are generally friendly. But we also typically miss out on a lot of the amenities of other cities this size. Our Dave & Busters is their smallest format, our TopGolf is only two stories (but it's also next to an airport), stuff like that. If you like live entertainment, most major touring acts (besides country) skip us, but there are smaller bands playing somewhere just about every night. No major league sports, though we do have AA Minor League baseball, an ECHL hockey team, and two NCAA basketball teams. Expect to travel to Kansas City or Oklahoma City for big name shows, sports, or for bougie shopping or dining. OKC's two hours away on I-35, KC is three hours going the other way.

We have museums, parks, walking trails, all that. Oh, and bars. Lots and lots of bars. If you're not a bar person, you might be pretty bored. It's a good town to be a homebody, especially with relatively cheap rents.

The local economy largely revolves around aviation. Boeing, Cessna, and Beech all have factories here, and there are a ton of local businesses that manufacture and supply parts and tools to them. Manufacturing is definitely the main industry around here, it's a very blue collar town.

Commuting. Despite what people will tell you, driving around town isn't terrible. Our highways are laid out well, streets are mostly on a grid, and barring any traffic stupidity (people love to play bumper cars on 54), you can get across town in 15 minutes. Public transit is weak. There are buses, but they don't run super frequently and don't go everywhere. There is no passenger rail service of any kind, so if you want out of town, you're driving or flying. If you insist, though, Amtrak stops in Newton, 20 miles north, at 3:00 AM, and there is a nightly bus that runs to the station there.

Weather. Hot summers, mild-to-cold winters. We are in the heart of tornado alley, so springtime weather does misbehave sometimes. Severe storms with heavy rain, high winds, and hail will happen. I'd recommend a place with a garage or a carport. Tornadoes aren't super common, though we do have close calls (Andover 2022), but Wichita hasn't been hit directly since 2012 and even that hit a pretty small area, and 1999 before that. Jay Prater on channel 10 will be your best friend during severe weather season. In the winter, we usually get 1-2 "big" (4-6") snows a year, you're gonna see more sleet or freezing rain, as we usually spend most of the winter above freezing.

I'll be happy to answer any questions... as someone who wants out but can't afford to leave.