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Okay so I have been looking at crime rates in the KC, MO area and comparing to where I live now (Springfield, MO) on the Area Vibes website. It LOOKS like Springfield has way worse crime, but then I compared to Chicago and Washington DC and supposedly we are worse and "more dangerous" than either of those places. That seems ridiculous. The site does admit those cities have higher murder rates though.
Anyhow, for people who actually LIVE there...just how bad is it? I am especially looking into Raytown since there is a house I am interested in in that area now. I did find some news articles about a guy who was shot and murdered and then a drive by shooting where a child was injured by glass but not killed, both in February, in Raytown. It made me wonder just how bad things are.
Of course here in Springfield we have had a guy murdered and a little girl kidnapped and murdered within the past couple of weeks too. You'd think a lot of times though that we live in Mayberry down here. You don't hear a lot about violent crimes, normally.
Do you think Kansas City, MO is generally "safe"? What about Raytown specifically?
If you give more details about your specific situation and desired amenities, I'm sure you'll get pointed in the right direction.
Thanks. That was an interesting thread. Makes it sound kind of bad. Looking at the houses, they didn't look so bad in the area I was at, but I guess it would be considered "South" as the nearest streets are Raytown Road and 83rd. It is Raytown South High School.
I don't really care about amenities since we can drive to other places in the metro area. I just want it to be a safe place to live and raise kids. We would probably make use of the YMCA and swimming pools, stuff like that.
At some point you just need to pull the trigger and live out your life. You have started a dozen threads on moving to KC and you seem as confused as ever. This question is too vague to even answer. The city of KCMO is WAY too big (over 300 sq miles and nearly half million people) to compare city wide stats to another city and come to any sort of conclusion. Crime stats will vary down to the street you live on. Things can change drastically just blocks away.
Most people on forums like this will steer people asking about relocation to places like Lee's Summit and Overland Park. Kansas City has over 2 million people and not everybody lives in the buttoned down new and often expensive select suburbs.
Many people don't want to live in the newer outer suburbs. I have relatives that live in Raytown that could EASILY live in Leawood or Lee's Summit, yet they choose to live in a 180k home in Raytown and are very happy there. Then there are people that just don't have a choice and have to live in less expensive areas of the city but just don't want to live in the "ghetto".
Hundreds of thousands of people live in places like Raytown, Grandview, Independence, South KC and many other more modest type areas around metro KC and seem to get by fine using public schools, they don't get shot or mugged regularly etc. They generally live normal incident free lives. 99% of how your kids are educated is based on how YOU raise them, not how the public schools are rated. Just because a school or district is rated lower than another does not mean your kids will get a less quality education. But if you send them out the door and never interact with them or the schools or teach them the basics of life then they will struggle regardless of the school's rating.
I'll sum it up for you again. Raytown is generally fine. The Raytown school district is generally fine. Most of the city limits of Raytown is fine and it's all in the Raytown School district. Parts of KCMO south and west of Raytown can be sketchy, but you would have to research specific neighborhoods. KCMO south of Raytown is mostly in the Hickman Mills district which has some issues, especially further south, but again, you need to drill down and research specific neighborhoods before writing off the entire area. The parts of KCMO east of Raytown are generally fine. Independence is generally fine as are the Independence schools. Northern Indep is very poor, but not necessary dangerous. Again, once you fine a home, just look at the stats for that specific neighborhood and determine then if the stats are too high for you. You should take a hard look at South KCMO in the Redbridge and Watts Mill area as well as you would be fine in the Center and Grandview districts in those areas of KCMO between state line and Holmes on both sides of 435.
I really don't think you are grasping the size difference between Springfield and KC though. Springfield would basically be a suburb in the KC metro area, although a larger suburb. Jackson County alone is much larger than the entire Springfield region.
From what I have read in all of your threads, I think the Raytown School district and the Raytown area would be fine for you. Just concentrate on that area and when you find places that interest you, research further into those specific areas.
At some point, you have to stop over analyzing and just take a chance. You are not moving to the ghetto, most of Springfield is VERY close to raytown demographically. From what I have seen of most of Springfield, Raytown would actually be an improvement.
At some point you just need to pull the trigger and live out your life. You have started a dozen threads on moving to KC and you seem as confused as ever. This question is too vague to even answer. The city of KCMO is WAY too big (over 300 sq miles and nearly half million people) to compare city wide stats to another city and come to any sort of conclusion. Crime stats will vary down to the street you live on. Things can change drastically just blocks away.
Most people on forums like this will steer people asking about relocation to places like Lee's Summit and Overland Park. Kansas City has over 2 million people and not everybody lives in the buttoned down new and often expensive select suburbs.
Many people don't want to live in the newer outer suburbs. I have relatives that live in Raytown that could EASILY live in Leawood or Lee's Summit, yet they choose to live in a 180k home in Raytown and are very happy there. Then there are people that just don't have a choice and have to live in less expensive areas of the city but just don't want to live in the "ghetto".
Hundreds of thousands of people live in places like Raytown, Grandview, Independence, South KC and many other more modest type areas around metro KC and seem to get by fine using public schools, they don't get shot or mugged regularly etc. They generally live normal incident free lives. 99% of how your kids are educated is based on how YOU raise them, not how the public schools are rated. Just because a school or district is rated lower than another does not mean your kids will get a less quality education. But if you send them out the door and never interact with them or the schools or teach them the basics of life then they will struggle regardless of the school's rating.
I'll sum it up for you again. Raytown is generally fine. The Raytown school district is generally fine. Most of the city limits of Raytown is fine and it's all in the Raytown School district. Parts of KCMO south and west of Raytown can be sketchy, but you would have to research specific neighborhoods. KCMO south of Raytown is mostly in the Hickman Mills district which has some issues, especially further south, but again, you need to drill down and research specific neighborhoods before writing off the entire area. The parts of KCMO east of Raytown are generally fine. Independence is generally fine as are the Independence schools. Northern Indep is very poor, but not necessary dangerous. Again, once you fine a home, just look at the stats for that specific neighborhood and determine then if the stats are too high for you. You should take a hard look at South KCMO in the Redbridge and Watts Mill area as well as you would be fine in the Center and Grandview districts in those areas of KCMO between state line and Holmes on both sides of 435.
I really don't think you are grasping the size difference between Springfield and KC though. Springfield would basically be a suburb in the KC metro area, although a larger suburb. Jackson County alone is much larger than the entire Springfield region.
From what I have read in all of your threads, I think the Raytown School district and the Raytown area would be fine for you. Just concentrate on that area and when you find places that interest you, research further into those specific areas.
At some point, you have to stop over analyzing and just take a chance. You are not moving to the ghetto, most of Springfield is VERY close to raytown demographically. From what I have seen of most of Springfield, Raytown would actually be an improvement.
Good luck!
Well, it's a big decision for us. I'm a single mom with 5 kids, so especially vulnerable and want to make sure where we are moving is safe and has decent schools. Any place we move, we will probably be for awhile. It isn't easy to pack up and move with this many children.
In any case, we are looking at a house in Raytown today. The other ones I've visited so far I haven't been impressed with but this one seems promising. I want to make sure we are making the right choice.
I was looking at crime statistics last night and there was a home near there robbed very recently. Though as my teenage son reminded me, there were 4 houses on our street here robbed in the last couple of months (including my next door neighbor's, during broad daylight when we were home and we totally missed it). He's like "MOM, you are going to read all these stories about crime and it's going to scare you out of moving anywhere. There's crime here all the time". LOL It's true the unknown just makes things seem scarier.
Well, it's a big decision for us. I'm a single mom with 5 kids, so especially vulnerable and want to make sure where we are moving is safe and has decent schools. Any place we move, we will probably be for awhile. It isn't easy to pack up and move with this many children.
In any case, we are looking at a house in Raytown today. The other ones I've visited so far I haven't been impressed with but this one seems promising. I want to make sure we are making the right choice.
I was looking at crime statistics last night and there was a home near there robbed very recently. Though as my teenage son reminded me, there were 4 houses on our street here robbed in the last couple of months (including my next door neighbor's, during broad daylight when we were home and we totally missed it). He's like "MOM, you are going to read all these stories about crime and it's going to scare you out of moving anywhere. There's crime here all the time". LOL It's true the unknown just makes things seem scarier.
Yea, I understand, but you will drive yourself nuts if you start worrying about every crime that happens within a five mile radius of you no matter where you live.
Kansas City's crime rate is what it is. It's not unlike other urban areas of comparable size and larger, in that it has a diverse socioeconomic profile, and the crime stats that typically go hand in hand with that. There are swaths of immense wealth in the KC metro, and swaths of equally immense poverty...greater extremes, I would imagine, than Springfield (although I have spent very little time in Springfield). Where you have poverty, you have higher crime. Raytown is not absent of poverty. Portions of it border areas of Kansas City that fall on the higher crime end of the spectrum, and there is some degree of bleedover. It is what it is, which is a community that is not the lowest crime rate in the metro, but also not the highest. And, honestly, it's a metro that includes over two million people. There is crime everywhere, though in higher concentration in its poorer areas...just like any other metro. There have been violent crimes in and adjacent to its most wealthy neighborhoods, there is just a higher incidence of violent crime in areas that act more as home base for the drug trade. When lived in Lee's Summit, there was a rash of home burglaries on my street, which was generally as white picket fence as one could get, neighborhood watch, all that. Whenever you have a couple million people, you will get some who are bent on victimizing others. You take precautions, but crime happens everywhere.
You can find neighborhoods in Raytown that are sketchy. You can find neighborhoods in Raytown that are perfectly fine. The nicest parts of Raytown will still skew more working class than affluent suburbia, but that doesn't translate to unsafe, either. There are communities with more highly rated school districts (which will, largely, be correspondingly more expensive in which to live), but Raytown's schools are fine. I don't know your children's academic situations or needs, but a large amount of my professional dealings with the Raytown school district have involved its special education department, which is run very well and very professionally. Given the reality that special education is a very complex area of education, and subject to even more scrutiny and compliance than regular ed, the fact that their special education is top notch leads me to believe that other areas of education are taken equally seriously. I worked with more affluent school districts in the area that were not nearly as pro in this regard. All my experiences with the administrative level of Raytown Schools have indicated to me solid leadership and management. Because I worked in an area of KC near Raytown, I had a number of coworkers who had grown up there, a well. The colleagues I have known and worked with who are products of an education from Raytown schools have been intelligent, well-educated, went on to do well in college, and are professionally capable. I also know people who teach and are paras in the Raytown district who are top notch, as well.
Raytown does not enjoy a reputation of being the nicest, most affluent, or most elite suburban community in which to live in the KC metro . It's too old, too working class, too run-down in areas, and too closely located to some not-great parts of KC to ever attain that cache. But it's not a bad place.
Well, it's a big decision for us. I'm a single mom with 5 kids, so especially vulnerable and want to make sure where we are moving is safe and has decent schools. Any place we move, we will probably be for awhile. It isn't easy to pack up and move with this many children.
In any case, we are looking at a house in Raytown today. The other ones I've visited so far I haven't been impressed with but this one seems promising. I want to make sure we are making the right choice.
I was looking at crime statistics last night and there was a home near there robbed very recently. Though as my teenage son reminded me, there were 4 houses on our street here robbed in the last couple of months (including my next door neighbor's, during broad daylight when we were home and we totally missed it). He's like "MOM, you are going to read all these stories about crime and it's going to scare you out of moving anywhere. There's crime here all the time". LOL It's true the unknown just makes things seem scarier.
You are just being a good mother; it's your job to protect your children. I have a friend who lives in Raytown. She keeps her front door locked at all times and she won't go in the back yard without her front door locked. That just seems crazy to me to have to do that, but also she could be a little on the paranoid side. I've been to her house lots of times and nothing ever happened to me. If you have a specific area you are looking at and you want me to email her and ask her opinion of that area, I will. I can't guarantee how soon I will hear back from her though; I'm sure she is working today.
I don't know areas of Raytown well enough myself to tell you which would be okay and which wouldn't. I'm sure kcmo wouldn't mind if you PM-ed him asking about a specific area/address, either. I'm sure he has more firsthand knowledge of the area than I do.
Interesting side note - did you know the TV show Mama's Family is based on Raytown? Although I don't think the show really represents the way Raytown is today; it's probably more like it was 30-50 years ago.
The crime rate in KC isn't terrific and could stand to improve, but it is definitely not one of the most dangerous cities in the country.
Personally, I don't understand why so many people put such a high emphasis on and worry so much about crime. Maybe they have had traumatizing personal incidents while I have been fortunate to not have anything serious happen to me or my loved ones (while living my whole life in neighborhoods that certain people might consider sketchy), but I feel like there are more important things to worry about.
Are you concerned about schools at all? What kind of a price range do you have?
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If you have a specific area you are looking at and you want me to email her and ask her opinion of that area, I will. I can't guarantee how soon I will hear back from her though; I'm sure she is working today. 
