Looking To Move (Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield: apartments, rent, low crime)

[carolmora]

Hello everyone. I am looking to move and have been checking out many different states. Do any places in MO meet the following criteria.

1. Low crime
2. Decent schools
3. Clean soil, water and air. Will want a large garden.
4. Decent cost of housing. Will rent for first year. Would like to keep rent under 2k per month.
5. Don't like flat. Like to walk outside the house and see mountains and/or rolling hills with lots of green.
6. A town no smaller then 15k and no larger then 30k
7. Hospital in town or VERY near by.
8. Lots of activities. Bike trails, hiking trails, outdoor activities in general. Things for children. Ages 13 and 18. Well, guess the 18 is not a child anymore. Maybe to me but not to him.
9. No closer then 45 minutes to a large city.
10. NO ALLIGATORS! We can't enjoy water sports where we are because of all the alligators.
11. Winters that are not to cold. Snow is ok. Just can't stand below zero weather.
12. Sunny most of the year. I know I can't get that during winter. But hopefully during spring, summer and fall?
13. Friendly, down to earth people that don't mind a white man and hispanic lady.
14. No tornadoes.

Thanks in advance everyone.

[Carlidin]

Boonville, Mo was looking real good at fulfilling all your criteria until you got to No. 14. Any place in Missouri has the possibility of having a tornado. We have watches several times during the spring and summer but as of yet and I've lived here all my 59 years....we've never had one yet. Some high winds a couple of times but no actual tornadoes. Other than that Boonville would pretty much fit the bill. By the way, rents here range from $350 for older homes/apartments to $700 for a newer place. You might find a large new home for $1,000 per month but those are far and few between.

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by carolmora

No tornadoes.
Thanks in advance everyone.

ooops that requirement just crossed Missouri off your list. LOL

20yrsinBranson

[carolmora]

Boonville seems a bit small. 8k

Looks like cost of housing is very low cost. I am shocked it's that low. But that is a good thing.

Anymore ideas anyone?

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Alligators?

I'd suggest somewhere in the Ozarks (which covers at least half of Missouri). The Springfield area might be good. Springfield itself is too big, but there are some nice little towns around it.

There's always risk of tornadoes. The actual likelihood of being struck by a tornado isn't great. Tornadoes are relatively small in damage (compared to an earthquake or a hurricane) and the state is very big. Tornadoes can be deadly, but the damage usually isn't really widespread. We've had 2 in our town in the last 7 years, but neither struck my house or caused much damage around the town.

But living in Missouri, there's risk of a tornado always. You just have to be prepared.

[OA 5599]

Originally Posted by carolmora

Boonville seems a bit small. 8k

Looks like cost of housing is very low cost. I am shocked it's that low. But that is a good thing.

Anymore ideas anyone?

With 14 items on your list, it will be next to impossible to find somewhere that meets every single one of the criteria in just about any state. As said, all of Missouri has tornadoes, but the actual number of people they affect or injure/kill is pretty low. I lived the first 22 years of my live in Missouri and we never had any problems with tornadoes...one came close to our house once but did no damage besides knocking a limb out of a tree in the yard. Just about anywhere will have some problems with natural disasters.

Off to top of my head, I'd recommend Rolla. Its about 16,000 people (swells to about 20,000 when college is in session). Its really the only town I can think of off the top of my head between 15 and 30k that I'm familiar with. Housing is dirt cheap, public schools are good, there are a lot of outdoor activities close to town and many, many more within 2 hours. Its about 100 miles from either St. Louis or Springfield on I-44. The college in town adds some diversity to the area, which most of Missouri is sorely lacking in. I really don't think you'd have any problems being an interracial couple anywhere Missouri, but people in Rolla would be at the very least more accustomed to seeing people of races other than white around.

Also, there is a hospital in town, no alligators (they don't reside anywhere in the state as far as I know), and a good amount of sunshine, although with 4 seasons in MO you'll get a little bit of everything. Weather.com has averages for any city/town in the USA if you are interested in weather. Rent is cheap, you should be able to find a decent house for $1000 a month...we had a 6-bedroom house in Rolla for that price, although it was older and didn't have much of a yard.

[wktully]

Originally Posted by carolmora

Hello everyone. I am looking to move and have been checking out many different states. Do any places in MO meet the following criteria.

1. Low crime
2. Decent schools
3. Clean soil, water and air. Will want a large garden.
4. Decent cost of housing. Will rent for first year. Would like to keep rent under 2k per month.
5. Don't like flat. Like to walk outside the house and see mountains and/or rolling hills with lots of green.
6. A town no smaller then 15k and no larger then 30k
7. Hospital in town or VERY near by.
8. Lots of activities. Bike trails, hiking trails, outdoor activities in general. Things for children. Ages 13 and 18. Well, guess the 18 is not a child anymore. Maybe to me but not to him.
9. No closer then 45 minutes to a large city.
10. NO ALLIGATORS! We can't enjoy water sports where we are because of all the alligators.
11. Winters that are not to cold. Snow is ok. Just can't stand below zero weather.
12. Sunny most of the year. I know I can't get that during winter. But hopefully during spring, summer and fall?
13. Friendly, down to earth people that don't mind a white man and hispanic lady.
14. No tornadoes.

Thanks in advance everyone.

I just moved to Warrensburg in May and can confirm it fits all your criteria except the tornado part - you'll find that risk in any part of this state. Population is about 20k, we have a hospital, great schools, walking trails and many parks, Kansas City is about an hour away, rolling hills and reasonable housing. You'll have no problem renting at under $2k - closer to $1k. I find the people very friendly and plenty of sunny days so far