Edwardsville il (Wheaton, Carbondale, Fairview Heights: 2014, home, universities)

[Scottiegal]

We live in Wheaton and my husband works in St. Louis. We are relocating in about six months. While we are looking in the St. Louis area, however upon some research edwardsville il came up as a nice safe town and about a half hour from downtown St. Louis. Any feedback on edwardsville il? Thanks!

[chet everett]

I have been to Edwardsville several times. As a "college town" it is something of a "hub" in the region. There is shopping and such in nearby Glen Carbon that includes a Sams Club, which is a sign of economic vibrancy. In contrast, as far from the core of St. Louis on the Missouri side of the river, there are THREE Costco stores -- they include St. Peters, Manchester, and SW St. Louis. Most analysts prefer the demographic profile of towns with Costco stores... How Kirkland Signature Contributes to Costco's Top and Bottom Lines - Market Realist

The overall tax burden, factoring Illinois significantly higher average property taxes against its current more modest income tax, still shows that Missouri is a better value for more people -- http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/b...cal-state.html

[Maintainschaos]

Edwardsville and Glen Carbon are both very nice areas. While enrollment at SIU-E is somewhat down, it is a strong economic anchor to the region and has grown tremendously over the years.

[PerseusVeil]

I would maybe recommend making a similar thread in the St. Louis forum, as you might get more replies. Just ignore a certain spam poster who keeps making new accounts to bash the area for a couple of posts before leaving / getting banned and making another new account.

As for Edwardsville, it's a great city. As Maintainchaos pointed out, it's home to SIUE. I wouldn't be too worried about enrollment though, as Edwardsville hit peak enrollment last fall, and this fall was only down about a hundred students. SIUE weathered the budget crisis far better than the other directional universities, including Carbondale by a large margin.

Regarding the town itself, there's a nice downtown area, and Edwardsville also has a Target to add onto the basic shopping. Most of your big box shopping will have to be done in Fairview Heights, however, as its home to the Metro East's mall and most of its big box stores. Higher end shopping will need to be done across the river in St. Louis County and beyond. You are correct though that it is fairly close to St. Louis, and that it's certainly very safe.