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I have only been to the one in Missouri and the one in Illinois. Between the two of them, MO beats IL hands down. It is a much more attractive city with a much more attractive surrounding area. The Ozarks are way more attractive than the countryside around Springfield, IL. The only thing IL has on MO is that it's closer to Chicago and St. Louis
For the two that I've been to:
Scenery/Outdoor Recreation: Missouri by a large margin.
Culture: Don't know about this one. probably a wash. IL might have a small edge.
Education: Missouri - It has more and better colleges and universities. Missouri State University the largest
and best known, beats out UI-Springfield. MO has several smaller universities too.
Economy: Definitely Missouri.
Food: Missouri gave the world Springfield Chicken so I'll go with that.
Cost of Living: Both affordable.
Crime: Neither is great on this but I'll go with Springfield, MO.
Infrastructure/Transportation: MO. About the same interstate connection. MO airport has flights to more
destinations.
Urbanity: MO - It's bigger.
Desirable Suburbs: MO. Don't know if either is big on suburbs but Branson beats whatever is outside of IL.
Climate: MO. IL is too cold in the winter and still hot in the summer.
Location: MO. If being closer to St. Louis and Chicago is important to you then you might pick IL for this.
But MO is in the Ozarks - beautiful and great for outdoor activities, and you can counter
proximity to St. Louis and Chicago with proximity to Kansas City.
Proimity to other major cities: IL.
Based on what I've seen other people post about the one in MA, it's behind MO city but beats it with metro because of proximity to major cities, transportation, and nice places outside the city that are included in its metro.
Springfield, MA (MSA) 2.9/100,000
Springfield, MO (MSA) 2.6/100,000
Springfield, IL (MSA) 3.8/100,000
Entire state Murder rates (2017): https://worldpopulationreview.com/st...-rate-by-state
Massachusetts: 2.5/100,000
Illinois: 7.8/100,000
Missouri: 9.8/100,000
From the data, Springfield, MA has the highest murder rate within the city limits, but it's in the middle when discussing the entire MSA. Springfield, IL is in the middle within the city limits but its MSA is the highest.
Springfield, MA may have the highest murder rate of the three, I believe it is usually in the one of the top three worst cities in Mass (quite often it has the highest murder rate, depending on the year).
As you can see, the IL and MO Springfields are actually lower than their state averages.
If you're including places not particularly connected to Springfield, you have to include Holyoke which is actually connected. Another failed place with a school system in state receivership. Chicopee, also next to Springfield, is no prize, either.
Springfield, IL is a nice little city.
Springfield, MO is a drug-ridden ghetto.
I know nothing about Springfield, MA.
Springfield MO has higher crime than you'd expect for such a suburban looking city, but it's not bad either.
Downtown is okay and the rest of the city is mostly single family homes. The north side of the city is a little rough, but that's about it.
I never thought Springfield MA would win something.
But here we are. However, Springfield MA isn't all that bad:
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They improved it a bit after the tornado. Then the casino added more to downtown. The strip clubs are closing too. It had a lot of those for a small city. I remember this story:
Quote:
Officials had already evacuated part of the entertainment district in one of New England's biggest cities because of a gas leak and odor report before a natural gas explosion leveled a strip club and heavily damaged a dozen other buildings, including a day care.
They improved it a bit after the tornado. Then the casino added more to downtown. The strip clubs are closing too. It had a lot of those for a small city. I remember this story:
Definitely Springfield, IL. Solid mid-sized city with some interesting history and a moderate climate. Also not too far from St. Louis, KC, Indianapolis, or Chicago. I was just in Springfield MO a couple of weeks ago and was not at all impressed. Southern MO def lives up to it's reputation as a meth capital (a trip to the local Wal-Mart was eye opening), but the Ozarks around Branson is very beautiful...yet that summer humidity sucked the life out of me.
Never been to Springfield, MA.
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