Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS) receives a "C" rating on niche.com.

While there aren't a large number of highly rated schools in the district, Lincoln College Prep is an outstanding exception. Coming in at an "A" on niche.com it is the #1 rated niche school in the area and is a public magnet, requiring high test score performance for admittance.

Here is a pretty thorough walkthrough of options by a parent in KCMO district:

"There are many more options in KCMO than there used to be, but none is perfect, so you will be faced with choices. The charter school system in KCMO is variable, but some are excellent. My kids go to Academie Lafayette, which is a French immersion school.

Crossroads Academy is another excellent charter school that had a high school. Like Lafayette’s, Crossroads high school is small and new, so hard to say how “good” it is just yet. Both options have an IB program as well, as does Lincoln. Crossroads’s overall focus is STEAM and project based learning and one of the schools (k-8) has a Spanish focus as well. My oldest went there for over a year, and I loved it. Crossroads is in the middle of downtown, so if you work downtown it can be quite convenient, and I believe it is significantly easier to get in if you live or work north of 39th street? We don’t, but got in anyway. The downtown location means that outdoor spaces (playgrounds) are much smaller, but the cool part is that the proximity to the streetcar means that the kids take frequent field trips on the streetcar! They also collaborate with the Nelson art gallery for some of the kids learning directly at the museum. And the talent shows, etc are held at the historic Folly theater.

Okay, so, of course there are politics associated with the Charter vs public school debate. Which is uncomfortable as a super left-leaning progressive. That being said, there are a few decent schools in the KCMO district, Hale Cook Elementary for example and I have heard mixed reviews of the Montessori signature school Borderstar (general impression I’ve gotten is that it started out really well, but the training/funding necessary for effective teaching with the Montessori method has fallen off considerably. Lincoln is great for 6-12th, and I hear pretty good things about Paseo? We have several friends who send their kids to the Foreign Language Academy (another Signature public school) and they all seem to like it. The language instruction is not completely immersive like Lafayette, but starts with either Mandarin or Spanish in kindergarten.

And then, of course, there are many high quality Catholic and private options in the metro."

Young people are flocking here due to the desirable cost of living and optimal job market and driving the arts and culinary scene in the city to new heights.

Here's a local's pov on the city and the savings:
It’s just like Chicago, New York and LA except without the assholes, haha. We’re so laid back and hospitable in this section of the map. We believe that money should be spent on life experience and not rent(; The cost of living is quite enticing. We love our professional sports teams while embracing our college athletics at the same time. The arts district is so rich and diverse and the roots are obviously very deep-our art institutions and museums are world renowned. I love it here, it’s for living and thriving, not just visiting. It’s a wonderful place to call home.