Diverse In Springfield (Chicago, Peoria, Chatham: for sale, 2009, apartments)

[ArkLvr627]

Is it diverse in Springfield? I'm thinking about attending college there me and my girlfriend and we are an interracial couple. Which neighborhoods are more diverse? Are there alot of jobs? How the crime?

[bulldawg1594]

its pretty diverse between black and white. theres not that many hispanics or asians though. there is kind of a lot of crime. the east side is probably more diverse.

[doll lady]

Do a search on this Illinois forum for Springfield, IL. A lot of us have previously included comments about neighborhoods and outlying towns/villages. I really don't agree with the comment about there is a lot of crime. Every city has crime and yes Springfield has some crime situations, but not an unusual amount of crime. However, the majority of crimes do occur on the eastside.

You really don't want to live on the eastside if you are new to Springfield. Springfield city proper appears to be quite open to interracial couples. If you plan to rent an apartment, there are quite a few on the southwest side. If you want to choose a smaller town, Chatham would probably be the better choice. The smaller towns/villages don't offer much in the way of rentals. If you are planning to go to University of Illinois Springfield, there are some small apartment style units at the university for first year students but I don't know the requirements relative to a family housing situation.

Good luck. Don't hestitate to ask more specific questions if you want.

[Annie3]

Springfield is not very diverse beyond black and white, but it is becoming more so. And yes, Springfield does have a high crime rate for a city of this size (around 111,000), but when you have lived here forever you don't notice it as much. I posted a brief thread about my observance of crime increasing on this site.

There are *lots* of apartments, but avoid anything in the Seven Pines Road neighborhood - the apartments are cheap but it is not worth it! Instead try to find a smaller complex or an apartment that has a local landlord. I have always had better luck with those.

Good luck!

[LookKXLight]

Seven Pines does have some issues but they may be overstated. I live in a small condo complex there (Brookside Place) and have had no issues. There are several units for sale and they are a real bargain IMHO. The complex management is really great. As to the apartments, I agree that they are a bit sketchy, but the cops do seem to have a strong presence in the area. I anticipate minor to moderate irritations as opposed to real crime issues (fear of serious bodily harm). Most people from Chicago or St. Louis would probably laugh at what the locals here consider to be "a lot of crime" as I have not found any place in the city I am afraid, but I cannot say that about Chi-town or St. Louis.

[doll lady]

Originally Posted by LookKXLight

Seven Pines does have some issues but they may be overstated. I live in a small condo complex there (Brookside Place) and have had no issues. There are several units for sale and they are a real bargain IMHO. The complex management is really great. As to the apartments, I agree that they are a bit sketchy, but the cops do seem to have a strong presence in the area. I anticipate minor to moderate irritations as opposed to real crime issues (fear of serious bodily harm). Most people from Chicago or St. Louis would probably laugh at what the locals here consider to be "a lot of crime" as I have not found any place in the city I am afraid, but I cannot say that about Chi-town or St. Louis.

Thanks for commenting about the crime rate in Springfield. I may have lived here for a long time, but I am fully aware of everything going on and I DO PAY ATTENTION. I'm pretty active in politics and have some mighty good sources. I agree with you Looklight .... It's perception of how serious things are. Apparently other posters think things are truly bad in Springfield but the types of crimes and the number of crimes aren't really that bad for a city this size. I would like to see the sites where the information was obtained that the crime rate for our city size is bad and I'd like to know what Illinois city it was compared to. Yes I admit the crime rate is higher on the eastside, but that doesn't mean the crime rate is bad all over the city. Sure Springfield just had a murder on the eastside, but it's been quite a while that something like that has happened. I wouldn't hestitate to drive down any street at night, even alone. The little town of Beason just had 5 persons killed in a hate crime. Their crime rate will go up significantly, but that doesn't mean it will happen again in that city, but it could.

Some of the known reporting blogs and sites like to incite rage and talk about things like the crime rate in Springfield is building and these sites concentrate on single type crimes. But they fail to cite the actual decreases in crime rates for Springfield in 2007. The crime rate was down in 2007 from 2006. The total crime decreased 2.2%. The actual figures on 2008 crimes I believe will be published in October, 2009. Until then it's pretty hard to make accurate statements about the crime rate being so high.

But I must state that it is a known fact that in bad economic times crime rates have a tendency to increase.

According to Springfield police: "police realize crime statistics aren't everything". The numbers may seem to be high, but Peoria had the highest crime rate per 100,000 people.

I always support the fact that if a person feels something is intolerable in their city....there are other cities to which one can move. Don't just complain, try to do something about it. Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side.

[RadioactiveStardust]

I see interracial couples everyday, it's not a big deal. It shouldn't be.

There is crime in Springfield, but I think there is crime everywhere. I grew up near Chicago Illinois, I don't view it as a whole lot different than the city I grew up in- in that respect. Common sense, you know? Lock the doors, and know your surroundings.

There are quite a few homeless people. I'm not equating this situation with crime, however I think it is an important bit of information to understand before you are shocked by it. I sure was when I moved here.

The neighborhoods all seem rather diverse to me. I have lived in two different parts of the city, there were blacks and whites in each neighborhood. The last neighborhood also had a hispanic neighbor. My opinion is you should live wherever you want. Who gives a rip if you are the only white/black/asian/hispanic/etc? As long as you are happy in your dwelling and area, the ethnic makeup of the area shouldn't matter.

I suppose the job front depends on what you plan to do. I think there are various restaurant jobs out there. The better (more steady/health insurance/ higher paying) jobs seem to be in the medical field or with the state in this particular area.