Decatur IL Move or stay away?

[linicx]

Decatur is far more than burned beans. I know some very nice people who live and work there.

B-N has more real estate agents, teachers and students than it does insurance company employes. .

Springfield is the seat of state government. This does not mean it is devoid of all other forms of life.

CAT global headquarters is in Peoria. None of its manufacturing plants are in Peoria. It is kinda uneducated to call doctors, lawyers, judges, scientists, CEOs, CFOs, business owners and bankers blue collar..

Champaign is a farm town with 35,000 college students and teachers. It is the Illinois flagship University. There is far more to the university than undergrads on one campus.

Illinois is for everyone!

Originally Posted by tabone1

Central Illinois simply put:

Decatur= for people who want to smell burnt soybeans 24/7.

B-N= for insurance suits.

Springfield= for gov. employees

Peoria= for Cat blue collars

CHAMPAIGN-URBANA= FOR EVERYBODY!!!

[illstate89]

I can imagine half of these people that are dissing Decatur have never been there or at least not for more than a couple days. Having grown up in Decatur, I have to say it may not the best town, but it is certainly not the worst. There are many good things about the city if you take the time to look... the lake front, some very nice parks and biketrails, some really good restaurants(not just chains), some very good bars/clubs, downtown is definitely on the upswing, Maroa, Forsyth and Mount Zion are growing rapidly and have great school systems(ranked among the top in the state). Can't forget the location 40 minutes to Springfield, 45 minutes to Bloomington and Champaign, roughly 2 and a half hours from Chicago, Indy and STL... So there are some good things if you really take the time to look, it's not just factories and abandoned buildings... come on people.

[JESTER137]

My ex wants to move to Decatur IL, and take my kids there with her. She says she has a house on the NW side of town next to the high school. We all live in FL. now. She also says that her and her husband have good jobs up there. He is a construction worker. I have never been there and have no clue what kind of place Decatur is. Please some feed back would be nice about the place. From what I have read on other sites it is not good.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by JESTER137

My ex wants to move to Decatur IL, and take my kids there with her. She says she has a house on the NW side of town next to the high school. We all live in FL. now. She also says that her and her husband have good jobs up there. He is a construction worker. I have never been there and have no clue what kind of place Decatur is. Please some feed back would be nice about the place. From what I have read on other sites it is not good.

Overall Decatur is a standard slightly run-down rust-belt town with a struggling economy and struggling sense of purpose. There are far worse places to live. Some parts of it suck, most of it is fine. My grandmother and aunt & uncle live on the NW side; by my estimation it's a nice part of town. The biggest issue most looking in from the outside have with Decatur is the quality of the schools. Typically people looking to move to the area strongly consider one of the outlying towns like Forsyth or Mount Zion, or even a bit further out like Maroa and Monticello.

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by JESTER137

My ex wants to move to Decatur IL, and take my kids there with her. She says she has a house on the NW side of town next to the high school. We all live in FL. now. She also says that her and her husband have good jobs up there. He is a construction worker. I have never been there and have no clue what kind of place Decatur is. Please some feed back would be nice about the place. From what I have read on other sites it is not good.

As long as they have good, solid jobs, they should be fine. Decatur is very ho-hum, and it has been economically depressed for a while. Every time I go back to visit my family, I keep on hoping Decatur will reinvent itself and turn itself around. Forsyth is a nice suburb right north of Decatur. A plus is that Decatur is nearby Springfield, Bloomington-Normal, and Champaign-Urbana. Combined, there's plenty of things to do and all the normal things you'd want from a bigger city. Peoria is a bit larger than those three areas, but it's also further away from Decatur.

[linicx]

Decatur is a town that fell on very hard times and is recovering slowly. It is a farm town. Because of their very seasonal nature farming communities and poor towns recover at a slower rate than the rest of the nation. And there may be better places to live, but "across the street from a school", or "next to a church" are not generally terrible locations.

If you have shared custody and your divorce was granted in Florida, you wife may not be able to pick up and move 2000 miles without your consent. You need to call your lawyer.

Decatur is a university town as is Champaign, Normal, Bloomington and other central Illinois towns. Millikin University - Stats, Reviews, Scholarships and More - Cappex

City of Decatur Web Feature

Lake Decatur is about 2800 surface acres of water, a seven county watershed and the largest lake in the Sangamon River ecosystem. Construction on the man made lake was finished in 1922. It was initially created to benefit companies that produce corn byproducts such as the corn syrup used to make Peanut Brittle.