Everyone Searches For The Same Thing (Springfield, Chester: cul-de-sac, low crime, house)

[HOWELL_STREET]

Everyone, including myself, is searching for the same parameters. An excellent job with excellent remuneration. A nice town to live in with low crime. A beautiful house and land that did not cost much. And a beautiful school system.
Well, guess what. That combination no longer exists near the larger cities. Since everybody wants the same things, then when a person is fotunate to find a beautiful job, they stay there for a lifetime.
In many cases such a person is fortunate because 'he' is the nephew of the company's comptroller, etc. An 'insider'.
To become successful, one has to rotate at least one of those above parameters 180 degrees. Don't want to change one's goals? - - then we become a country of wandering people looking for something that doesn't exist. I believe John Steinbeck's story, "The Grapes of Wrath" portrayed the same things. Some might say "But the times have changed since the 1920s". But the bottom line to our success is one's employment. IF there are no 'beautiful' jobs for success, then our bottom line becomes the same as that of 1929.
IF you want something approaching the above formula, then look South of Springfield, Illinois. But only if you want to live in Illinois.

[jtjmom]

The post about everyone looking for the same thing does not necessarily hold true. Unfortunately, people DO assume that. If I sound unappreciative, I'm really not. What I am is realistic. I know what we are accustomed to, and what we can afford. I also know that we're not a "cul-de-sac" family, so to speak. I apologize for the sweeping generalizations... We're just a working class family looking for a place where our daughter can safely take a walk once in a while, and you don't have to worry about getting caught in crossfire. I know there are places like this in the St. Louis area that aren't astronomically priced... There have to be.

[tlw]

The west suburbs out of St. Louis do get a bit pricey, but after you get out past Chesterfield, Ballwin, it gets a little more reasonable.

You might take a look at the area south of the city called South County and maybe just a little farther south also. That area had more of a medium sized town feel to me and just felt different. The lot sizes are larger than in the city too. Easier driving and you can be on the riverfront downtown in no time.