The Bible Belt Starts In Effingham Il (Chicago, Peoria: mover, mobile home)

[HOWELL_STREET]

One may ask, "What is the Bible Belt"? It is an area located in the Southern part of Illinois and other states, too. It is an area where people live at a slower pace, are more friendly towards strangers, and raise their kids in a more wholesome community. Many local ma & pop businesses even shut down on Sundays to attend church. In summary, the Bible Belt communities support social living conditions that many people search for, today. Although some people don't understand what they actually yearn for.
In Illinois, the Bible Belt starts in Effingham, Illinois. The proof of this is to visit the web site, The Cross Foundation, and view the 198 foot cross that is adjacent to Interstate 57 (east side of the road). For first time spotters, that cross is so large that it is awsome.
Although with this cross, Effingham proclaims that they are the gateway to the Bible Belt, there is actually some overlapping of the Bible Belt further north into the state of Illinois. Usually, in small farming communities where they also have the same ideals.
So if your method of operation is to move to Chicago as a shaker or mover, then expect some rough competitive treatment from others as well. However, if your goal is to raise children in a quiet Bible Belt community, then chose something south of Effingham, Illinois.

Best Regards,

Carter Glass

[Jons99]

And that area is so darn prosperous, isn't it? High unemployment, low wages, poor schools, nothing to do.... Yep, great place to raise children!

[NothernExposé]

Originally Posted by Jons99

And that area is so darn prosperous, isn't it? High unemployment, low wages, poor schools, nothing to do.... Yep, great place to raise children!

There are certain areas that are doing quite well south of Effingham. Marion, IL is growing at a very quick pace, due to attractive business and income taxes. That, along with lower industrial costs than larger metro areas, make Marion a very good place for many different career fields. And many of those fields are very well paying. Marion has averaged 1+ new businesses EVERY MONTH for 5 years and counting.

It depends on how good you are no matter where you decide to live. My family has a very successful wholesale building materials company out of Herrin, IL (right next to Marion). We compete, I might add out compete, with companies out of St. Louis, Peoria, Nashvile and other national level companies for business in the five state region. All from a lowly Bible Belt community of 11,000 people. We do it by better, more honest service than the city based companies provide.

No educated person is going to take their specialty to a place where there isn't a need for it. It might surprise you that there are accountants, engineers, architects, human resource managers and what do you know, very well paid doctors throughout the Bible Belt. Of course salaries are lower compared to large urban areas, but the cost of living is lower as well.

[Jons99]

Marion area has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, as do all of the counties in southern Illinois..

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by Jons99

And that area is so darn prosperous, isn't it? High unemployment, low wages, poor schools, nothing to do.... Yep, great place to raise children!

I second that!!! Unless you count working cashier at Wal Mart a great career!!!

[Steve-o]

Could it be argued that Wheaton, IL (the city with the most churches per capita) is not in the Bible Belt? I dont really know of a more religious city, especially one that size...

[LeftSo.IL.Behind]

Originally Posted by NYrules

I second that!!! Unless you count working cashier at Wal Mart a great career!!!

Have any of you lived in Southern Illinois? I grew up there and my family and most of my friend's families are quite well off. Some of my friend's parent's occupations: one is a chemical engineer who builds weapons for the U.S. military ($130,000k), one is the owner of the company that rips off all those Chicago fools who buy the expensive pre-paid phone cards (because they can't even get mobile phone companies to trust them with a contract), one is one of the four members of the Illinois Labor Board (he's friends with Blagojevich which I highly disapprove of), a few own small businesses, and my family owns a business that does $14 million in revenue per year. And guess what, the money made by successful people in So. IL goes a LONG way.

If you're not successful, you're not going to be successful anywhere. If you're looking for a bottom of the barrel job, then So. IL probably isn't the best place to live. Unemployment in the area isn't 20% like it seems you guys think. It is 5.8%-6.6%, Illinois as a whole is 5.6%.

I myself, don't like small town living and thus have moved away. But, some of these posts are completely wrong.

[Jons99]

Which would explain why so many people are leaving Southern Illinois? Why so many companies are leaving that region? Why they rely on northern Illinois to pay for their schools and other programs?

There will be successful people everywhere, but overall Southern Illinois is trailing the rest of the state..

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by Jons99

Which would explain why so many people are leaving Southern Illinois? Why so many companies are leaving that region? Why they rely on northern Illinois to pay for their schools and other programs?

There will be successful people everywhere, but overall Southern Illinois is trailing the rest of the state..

You could also add that it is rather interesting how the farm areas of the US, SO. IL included, hold many of our blue collar jobs of which all seem to be migrating to Mexico or China for better opprotunities. HMMMMM, what is everyone in our small towns to do? Where will everyone work in 10 years to come after all the big companies have fled to Juarez or Beijing?

To the people who support this notion of small town life is wonderful: True there are some people that make a ton of $$$ in small towns all across the US, not just SO IL, but for the most part people in the small towns are dirt poor living in old beat up farm houses or trailers. Oh excuse me, mobile homes. Oh, and for the record I have lived in central IL and do know what life is like down there. It is slower and perhaps more religous if you count F--ing your cousins like my neighbors that lived next to me did down there and then praising Jesus in the next breath, or calling every African American a N---r and going on about how wonderful Hitler was as many of my other white supremacist neighbors did. You go ahead and believe that SO. IL, IN, KY, wherever, is the place to be because it supposedly holds values, but if you for a moment think that there aren't religous, friendly, or scrupulous people in the big cities; NYC, Chicago, and yes even LA, then you are sadly mistaken. Believe it or not, I like SO. IL and think it is very pretty down there, but under the same token, I don't want to hear people going on trying to persuade others into thinking that shops closing early so that people can sit in church all day is the way life is supposed to be or that that is even what people do down there. I knew a lot of people when I lived in central IL and even know a lot of people in the VERY religous area of KY and believe me, when the shops close those people are out on dates, BBQing, eating, sleeping, doing drugs, drinking, smoking, etc., basically about everything but sitting in church praising the lord.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by LeftSo.IL.Behind

Some of my friend's parent's occupations: one is a chemical engineer who builds weapons for the U.S. military ($130,000k),

My friend is a car mechanic and makes 120K up here. 130K in So. IL is definitely alot of money but not up here. My cousin makes 120K a year (Best Buy) and can only afford a 300K house, which are run-of-the-mill in most cities up here. I wonder what all the other 10s of 1,000's of people make a year who live in all the really nice homes.