I dont know too much about Kansas except it is very flat and in the middle of the US. I think some parts of the US must be extremlely isolating places to live in.
Most people prefer to live in cities as safety in numbers, but for the old 'frontier places' they still have this wild west mentality where you need a gun.
NZers would only go to the US to make their fortune in New York City, or maybe LA or San Francisco, though recent direct flights have opened to Houston, otherwise, there is no huge reason to go there. it being very expensive to be constantly flying back and forth.
I have met some expats americans in NZ where they stand out like a sore thumb and their accents mark them out as not from these parts. Of course americans being more richer and seemingly a bit more sophisticated than nzers, nz women can be charmed by them. In the olden days, when american GIs visited, they semed to get away with bribing women with chewing gum and coca cola, or other fancy US products that we could not buy here.