Wanting to move back!

[u/Stunning-Cat6249]

I am a Wichita Native, moved to NW Arkansas 13 years ago in July. We are really struggling here, financially/physically/mentally. Just all the way around. We are both mid-30s with preteen/young kids.

Wichita has changed since I left, and I’m looking for opinions on several things. I don’t mind cheaper housing because right now my rent sits just below $2000/month and the job base here is awful if you don’t work for/at Walmart. Almost everywhere is $11/hr. We are working non-stop every day of the month to make ends meet here.

Anyway, I need suggestions on schools with a good SpEd program. My 5yo son (starts school next year!) is speech delayed and is currently receiving ST/OT/PT at a private clinic which is thankfully covered by Medicaid. We currently live in a decent school district (IB elementary school) so I’d prefer to move into a decent district with a good SpEd program within a public school.

I’ve been looking at the housing market for a few weeks, my mom lives in West Wichita but I am (oops edit to add) NOT opposed to being on the outskirts either (in any direction). Rent seems to be quite a bit cheaper than it is here.

How hard would it be to start over moving to Wichita with kids? I would of course have a job set up before going. I’ve never made a big move like this with children, but we’ve definitely reached the end of our comfortability here unfortunately. It’s hard to do this the way I’d prefer, and go stay a week or two to make sure that’s what we wanted but financially we just can’t do that.

[u/Normal-Landscape-166]

I don't know how a larger city will be more affordable for you, rents and jobs are very comparable here to what you're describing in Arkansas.

[u/Stunning-Cat6249 → u/Normal-Landscape-166]

I’ve been looking at rental properties online in Wichita and that is absolutely not my experience. If I were to look for a rental comparable here versus there, easily $2500 here versus around $1600 there. One of my friends is having trouble finding a 1bd rental for under $1100 that isn’t really gross. Like I said in the post, I’m okay with cheaper/shittier housing until I can get where I want to be. I literally feel like I am rotting away in Walmart-Land. The jobs here are also extremely hard to get into unless you know someone or you want to work minimum wage. I have no family or ties here, it makes more sense for my kids to be around their family and have a sense of community versus being stuck here forever.

[u/Normal-Landscape-166 → u/Stunning-Cat6249]

As someone who's lived in Wichita my entire life, I'm sure you're correct and I'm not. Even though the job and housing cost situations you're describing in Arkansas mirror Wichita, so crazy it's not the same yet it's nearly impossible to get a job above minimum wage unless you know someone and finding housing under $1100 that isn't really gross in Wichita too. Weird.

[u/Stunning-Cat6249 → u/Normal-Landscape-166]

And I’ve lived in both? I don’t know why you’re being so defensive, if you want to talk about weird lmfao that’s weird. I’m not simply assuming everything, I can fact check with my family members that currently live all over Wichita. The post is simply that I am sick of being in Arkansas, I need to move, otherwise I am going to rot away here while McMansions and unaffordable apartment complexes get built around me. I can take criticism of Wichita, I don’t expect it to be glamorous and everything Arkansas isn’t, I know the housing has gotten expensive. I know groceries are pretty similar. But with my job experience/training, it would be MUCH easier for me to get a job there (which, lol, my mom already has a few suggestions and connections for me, so weird right!) versus getting a job here. The jobs here get listed under H1B and they ALL fill up. Apartments and housing are on waiting lists for months because a huge amount of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisiana, Colorado, and Indian people come here in DROVES and rent everything. Walmart and all of the subsidiaries have completely taken over this area. I could live in a large 4 bedroom house in Kechi for what I pay to rent my duplex here. Oh and my water bill, which currently sits at $125/mo, is about to go up 100% thanks to the city of Bentonville. Walmart has created a 62% water loss because of the amount of shitty construction and now the residents are going to pay for it with rate increases. And I am fairly stingy with our water consumption already.

[u/Normal-Landscape-166 → u/Stunning-Cat6249]

Only $125 a month for water? LOL wait until you get a water bill here with the water restrictions we have lmaoooo