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Another wildcard MO has is the Columbia, MO MSA/CSA (where Mizzou is located). It is a blue area in a sea of red. With a population of 250k (and growing) it definitely has an effect on the state.
Great catch. Low key Columbia MO is a great area. Great college town with central business district walkable directly next to its campus. Also the city planners put all the chains the areas around the periphery and reserve the central business district for locally owned businesses primarily. Journalism school is a huge positive on the area.
Pre-pandemic would routinely go there for the world class True/False documentary film festival. Easy 7 hour highway cruise from Chicago or a 75-90 minute direct flight.
Great catch. Low key Columbia MO is a great area. Great college town with central business district walkable directly next to its campus. Also the city planners put all the chains the areas around the periphery and reserve the central business district for locally owned businesses primarily. Journalism school is a huge positive on the area.
Pre-pandemic would routinely go there for the world class True/False documentary film festival. Easy 7 hour highway cruise from Chicago or a 75-90 minute direct flight.
I liked Columbia a lot. I considered the area for graduate school because they offered me a paid graduate assistant job. My dad got sick, so I ended up staying closer to home. Columbia reminds me of my hometown Murfreesboro, just less sprawly and more progressive. Preservation seems to be more of a thing in Missouri than Tennessee.
I hate these litmus test questions. Just because someone is not necessarily progressive doesn't preclude open-mindedness. Perhaps they're open-minded in ways you are not.
The only one question that's apt: Does a state provide a good quality of life and opportunity?
Agreed. But how does one measure a "good quality of life"? It's very subjective.
I like Nashville, for example, as it definitely has it strengths. But it's also very overrated, imo. There are all the frustrations of large(r)city life with few of the perks or amenities.
As for the topic, I've never been to Missouri and know little about it. It's probably a beautiful state, as most states are, and I've heard great things about Kansas City and St. Louis (a former coworker always said that St. Louis is her favorite US city). On the other hand, I've heard really bad things about Missouri outside of those cities.
Tennessee is also beautiful, but it's got a loooong way to go before it could be considered "progressive." Have to say, though, that I've always found people here much friendlier and open to outsiders than I found people to be in a large midwestern city I lived in for 14 years before moving to Nashville.
Agreed. But how does one measure a "good quality of life"? It's very subjective.
I like Nashville, for example, as it definitely has it strengths. But it's also very overrated, imo. There are all the frustrations of large(r)city life with few of the perks or amenities.
As for the topic, I've never been to Missouri and know little about it. It's probably a beautiful state, as most states are, and I've heard great things about Kansas City and St. Louis (a former coworker always said that St. Louis is her favorite US city). On the other hand, I've heard really bad things about Missouri outside of those cities.
Tennessee is also beautiful, but it's got a loooong way to go before it could be considered "progressive." Have to say, though, that I've always found people here much friendlier and open to outsiders than I found people to be in a large midwestern city I lived in for 14 years before moving to Nashville.
Absolutely true. Quality of life really depends on whose criteria one uses.
But this conflation of "progressive" and "open-minded" is just absurd. Self-proclaimed progressives can be just as stupid and closed-minded as the worst knuckle-dragging conservatives out there.
It's a symptom of the mindless binary political thinking that plagues our country right now. Go where the jobs and the amenities are.
Virtually all of the rural counties in both states are heavily red, conservative, and religious. It basically comes down to which combo of cities is more progressive; Nashville/Memphis, or St Louis/KC. I'd say it's close, but overall I'd say MO is more progressive, and that shows in the past several elections; Tennessee has a wider margin of republican voting than Missouri. I'd say both states are closer to flipping blue; MO because it's such a narrow margin, and TN because it is rapidly growing with transplants.
But Missouri used to be a Purple state and is now becoming more of a Red state. So it's moving the other direction. Meanwhile, Tennessee is inching from Red to Purple.
MO declined right-to-work, voted to increase their minimum wage and voted for medicaid expansion. In TN, an anti-abortion law was passed and signed while Nashville voters rejected rail transit.
Both states are red statewide and will continue to be red statewide for the near future. But progressive=/=Dem and regressive=/=conservative.
GOP voters are not in favor of things like right to work anymore, that doesn't mean they're becoming any less socially conservative
Another wildcard MO has is the Columbia, MO MSA/CSA (where Mizzou is located). It is a blue area in a sea of red. With a population of 250k (and growing) it definitely has an effect on the state.
And to add, Knoxville and Chattanooga are both very conservative.
STL County is increasingly becoming conservative over time.
All KC suburban counties are red except 1 I believe.
Overall which state do you think is more progressive and open minded. I.E more culturally diverse and integrated, more open to new ideas and people/cultures different from themselves.
This one is hard because you are comparing states and the lifestyles and experiences can vary so much depending upon rural and urban areas and small towns. I have experienced life in both states but in larger cities. Tennessee I've experienced more rural areas than I have in Missouri. As a Black man, I can say Tennessee is better for rural and small town minded individuals. Missouri is better for big city experiences. Tennessee cities are less segregated by way of neighborhoods where people live. I think St. Louis has a broader mindset when it comes to unconventional ways of living and alternative lifestyles and the cities ability to embrace a broad range of skills and different ways of life. Nashville and Memphis both seems rather narrow when it comes to certain things when compared to the Missouri cities. So given the OP's question, I have to go with Missouri. If one where to ask what state is attracting more new residents or what cities are growing the fastest, my answer would be different.
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