What makes Missouri "Misery"? (Kansas City, St. Louis: crime, how much, house prices)

[SciFiNerd1]

As Missouri Native, I do miss home. MO is not perfect just like every state. I feel that pros outweigh the cons of living in MO. I am curious to know what makes MO "Misery" to some people. I am very curious to know your reasons along with what you like and what you don't like about MO. I will start with mine below:

Pros:

1) Missourians can be reserved but still are friendly and would offer to help if they can.
2) Consistently ranked in the Top 15 states for affordable cost of living in all categories including taxes
3) Variety in landscape ranging from Ozark Mountains, Lake Country of Mid-Missouri, river bluffs, forests, to flat agricultural Bootheel region
4) For big city amenities, there are KC and St. Louis. There are also smaller cities and nice college towns across the state like Columbia, for an example.
5) Missourians seem to enjoy more personal freedom from government when it comes to guns and low taxation on gasoline, alcohol, and tobacco.
6) I have noticed that MO has good roads for most part compared to the surrounding states.
7) MO really does have 4 seasons. Humidity is not that bad compared to the rest of the South and snowfall is not extreme like Minnesota and Wisconsin.
8) MO may have a high percentage of religious people but they seem to be tolerant, respectful, and kept to themselves unlike the Bible thumpers you meet in the South.

Cons:

1) MO economy seems to be stagnant for many years with slow population growth under 3% annually. MO is not getting better nor worse in its ranking among 50 states in many categories. It is stuck in the middle of the pack.
2) MO politics is unpredictable leaning more conservative over recent years losing its status as the bellwether state. Liberals would feel more at home in KC, STL, and Columbia while conservatives would feel at home in most of MO.
3) MO could have improve in the overall health of its residents. Maybe increasing taxes on cigarettes would help to fight one of the highest smoking rates in the country.
4) Meth labs are rampant in rural Missouri and suburbs like Jefferson County. I don't really see any improvements in this area.
5) Maybe it is due to laissez faire attitude among Missourians that MO stays in the middle of the pack. I believe most Missourians are happy with the way things are. Nothing is wrong with that but I would love to see MO moving up one way or other.

Even my cons do not make Missouri "Misery" in my view. I am looking forward to hearing what your thoughts are about MO.

[SciFiNerd1]

So far, more people do not think that MO is Misery based on the current poll results.

I am hoping to see posts if anyone want to share their perspective on MO, please.

[SunGrins]

Missouri, like a couple other states, has lost its way and is no longer capable of self-government. The legislature and governor have no interest in the welfare of the populace. It has many natural assets and an interesting and impressive history. The future does not look good.

Mostly, if I miss anything, it is some of the food.

In the OP, I would echo items numbered 1, 3, and 4 in the Pros. The Cons are polite understatements.

[SciFiNerd1]

Originally Posted by SunGrins

Missouri, like a couple other states, has lost its way and is no longer capable of self-government. The legislature and governor have no interest in the welfare of the populace. It has many natural assets and an interesting and impressive history. The future does not look good.

Mostly, if I miss anything, it is some of the food.

In the OP, I would echo items numbered 1, 3, and 4 in the Pros. The Cons are polite understatements.

Thank you for sharing. I wholeheartedly agree with you. St. Louis Metro has great choices for food. While the legislature and governor ignore Missourians, we know that MO will never do worse than the neighboring state of Illinois with its financial woes.

For the Midwest, I think only Minnesota, Indiana, and Iowa have the most positive future outlook. They are not any better than what MO has to offer.

[GraniteStater]

Most areas of the Midwest are economic laggards that have been long since bypassed by other economically faster growing regions that have more in-migration and population growth. There are numerous high quality areas of suburban Twin Cities that have high six figure median household incomes and high levels of educational attainment. Taxes are spendy. Carmel Indiana carries extremely high debt levels due to huge city projects, but is consistently ranked very highly in many quality of life categories, but is in a very bland area geographically. An underrated area is Oakland County, MI, high median household incomes, lower house prices, and thousands of acres of parks and lakes.

[SciFiNerd1]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Most areas of the Midwest are economic laggards that have been long since bypassed by other economically faster growing regions that have more in-migration and population growth. There are numerous high quality areas of suburban Twin Cities that have high six figure median household incomes and high levels of educational attainment. Taxes are spendy. Carmel Indiana carries extremely high debt levels due to huge city projects, but is consistently ranked very highly in many quality of life categories, but is in a very bland area geographically. An underrated area is Oakland County, MI, high median household incomes, lower house prices, and thousands of acres of parks and lakes.

I am open to other places preferably 3 hours but no more than 6 hours away from family in St. Louis. That leaves me a few choices like Kansas City/surrounding suburbs, Columbia, Metro East in Illinois, and Indy.

I agree with you about Indy being bland. Even Columbus, Ohio has a little more going for it compared to Indy.

I will check out Oakland County, MI. I never gave it any thought because of its close proximity to Detroit. I have heard great things about Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids too.

[CrazedCamper]

Missouri is quite nice outside of parts of the 3 largest cities.

[SciFiNerd1]

Originally Posted by CrazedCamper

Missouri is quite nice outside of parts of the 3 largest cities.

Which is your favorite part of MO? I have always like the Lake Country of Central MO and Branson but I wouldn't want to live there year round. My least favorite cities are Cape Girardeau, Springfield, Joplin, and St. Joseph.

I am a city person. If I have to choose to live in a more rural area, I wouldn't mind living out in the country in middle of Columbia, Jefferson City, and Fulton. Such a beautiful area close to the Capital and college towns!

[CrazedCamper]

Originally Posted by SciFiNerd1

Which is your favorite part of MO?

Can't go wrong with the Ozarks.

Originally Posted by SciFiNerd1

My least favorite cities are Cape Girardeau, Springfield, Joplin, and St. Joseph.

Aww... I was born in Cape.

[sub]

Originally Posted by SciFiNerd1

As Missouri Native, I do miss home. MO is not perfect just like every state. I feel that pros outweigh the cons of living in MO. I am curious to know what makes MO "Misery" to some people. I am very curious to know your reasons along with what you like and what you don't like about MO. I will start with mine below:

Pros:

1) Missourians can be reserved but still are friendly and would offer to help if they can.
2) Consistently ranked in the Top 15 states for affordable cost of living in all categories including taxes
3) Variety in landscape ranging from Ozark Mountains, Lake Country of Mid-Missouri, river bluffs, forests, to flat agricultural Bootheel region
4) For big city amenities, there are KC and St. Louis. There are also smaller cities and nice college towns across the state like Columbia, for an example.
5) Missourians seem to enjoy more personal freedom from government when it comes to guns and low taxation on gasoline, alcohol, and tobacco.
6) I have noticed that MO has good roads for most part compared to the surrounding states.
7) MO really does have 4 seasons. Humidity is not that bad compared to the rest of the South and snowfall is not extreme like Minnesota and Wisconsin.
8) MO may have a high percentage of religious people but they seem to be tolerant, respectful, and kept to themselves unlike the Bible thumpers you meet in the South.

Cons:

1) MO economy seems to be stagnant for many years with slow population growth under 3% annually. MO is not getting better nor worse in its ranking among 50 states in many categories. It is stuck in the middle of the pack.
2) MO politics is unpredictable leaning more conservative over recent years losing its status as the bellwether state. Liberals would feel more at home in KC, STL, and Columbia while conservatives would feel at home in most of MO.
3) MO could have improve in the overall health of its residents. Maybe increasing taxes on cigarettes would help to fight one of the highest smoking rates in the country.
4) Meth labs are rampant in rural Missouri and suburbs like Jefferson County. I don't really see any improvements in this area.
5) Maybe it is due to laissez faire attitude among Missourians that MO stays in the middle of the pack. I believe most Missourians are happy with the way things are. Nothing is wrong with that but I would love to see MO moving up one way or other.

Even my cons do not make Missouri "Misery" in my view. I am looking forward to hearing what your thoughts are about MO.

I would agree with the pros.

)As for the cons, yes, the economy could be better statewide.
)As someone who leans right, Missouri's politics isn't the worst.
))I currently live in Wisconsin, a historically high-tax state. On top of the comically high taxes, they charge fees for stuff that's no extra in MO. Don't even get me started on how much better Missouri roads typically are, or that MoDot gets things done in a vastly shorter amount of time.
Wisconsin has a history of bonafide socialism I could live without. Missouri's state government is much easier to deal with all in all. For the most part, I'd put MO's politics in the pro column because perfection doesn't exist anyway. Don't get me wrong, I like WI. Every place has it's downsides.
)One complaint I can add are those private DMV (or whatever) places they have in MO. You're doing state business, might as well have state offices for that. They're usually terrible and hokey.
)People could make better health choices, no doubt, but I'm too libertarianish to push it.
)Meth labs need to be obliterated.
)Missouri has always been middle of the pack. If it seems worse than it used to be, that would be an indication the country as a whole is worse than it used to be, which is my personal take on it.

So in a nutshell, be more business friendly, stop playing footsy with Kansas in the KC area, do an epic crackdown on meth and crime in general, etc. Also, shore up the corruption in rural areas. I know that's been a problem from time to time.
Another thing would be to do everything possible to get that hyperloop built between the cities. That would be an epic Next Big Thing that would help Missouri's image nationwide.

I've lived in a couple different areas of Missouri. My personal experience has been a mixed bag, but it wasn't Misery.