Any thoughts on Richmond? (Indianapolis, Muncie: housing, travel, jobs)

[KMT]

Looking to relocate in one to three years due to career change. I have been through Indiana in the past and recently spent some time in Harrison county (Corydon). I have done some research on Richmond but would like personal opinions. It appears to be clean...not too big or small, and is near the highest point in the state (Hoosier Hill).

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

KMT

[superfly]

I know the message was from a while ago but I thought I would respond anyway. I relocated to Richmond about a year ago for a new job. I really like my sub-division, but I think if we had it to do again, we would have moved closer to Indy. Richmond is a small town with some big city problems. The downtown has some potential, but there are a lot of worn down buildings, seedy bars, etc...There are some beautiful old homes in the area, but several others are junky looking. If the town could get together andstart sprucing up the older homes and attract some better businesses to the downtown are, it would be a heck of a lot nicer. The school system is pretty poor in Richmond as well. Many people move out to some of the surrounding communities for their school systems. Centerville is known for a great school system and is a very nice place to live. One last thing, the streets in Richmond are a mess and it can be confusing to get around for a while.

[highliner]

The only complaint that I have against Richmond is that its too far from Heaven, and too close to Indianapolis!

[twinkletoes1982]

I have lived in Richmond for 22 years. There are many pros and cons. The cons are: the weather, we have cold snowy winters and hot humid summers, The school system, the schools are poor if you have kids you care about you'll need to fork over the dough for a private school. They have terrible public schools, but great private schools. The job outlook, there are few jobs and when you land one the pay will probably be lower than the national average. The law enforcement. The police here have real issues. They are not known for being even a little bit friendly. They pick fights with people in bars, I've seen it MANY times, they target speeders and seat belt violators but never seem to solve any other crimes, you know crimes that actually take work to solve.
Now for the pros: It is affordable: housing, food and alcohol are fairly cheap here. It is a nice sized town, its small enough to be able to get around easily but big enough for there to be things to do. There is a night life. The bars are pretty popular on the weekends. There are several opportunities to continue education. There are 4 schools here. We have little weather related catastrophies. Richmond is bowl shaped so tornadoes normally go over Richmond and rarely touch here. I don't know of one since I've lived here.

[Pathwalker]

Just a sidenote: Hoosier Hill isn't really anything much to see. You don't climb it for a spectacular view, and you don't actually view it from a distance as if it sticks out on the horizon. It's basically just an elevated part of the landscape that happens to be the highest point in the state. If you want to see actual hills with breathtaking views, you'll need to go to the southern part of the state, around Brown County and places south.

[shawbird]

I have found it to be basically boring, no shopping to speak of unless you travel to Indy, Cincy, Muncie or Dayton. Landscape it attractive with the arboreteum, but other than relatively quick access to great chocolate, Hagerstown or Union City or Dayton, I don't know what is to do. Movie access is slow and although people are friendly, ...

Your pick.