Best place to live in missouri (Kansas City, St. Louis: crime rate, new home, safe area)

[Candy T]

I have enjoyed reading everyone's posts. My husband and I are planning to move to Missouri next year. My husband is on disability and I am self-employed with a modest income. My job can be anywhere as long as I have internet access and good shipping options. I know that probably raises a lot of questions, but sometimes I must ship overnight and I normally use UPS. We do not want to live in a city. We want to be as rural as possible and still retain my employment options.

Last month we traveled to Arkansas for a family matter. On the way home (to northwest Indiana) we took a detour to visit a friend in Eldon, MO. As we traveled Hwy 54 we saw several areas that we liked and want to check out. Eldon seemed like a nice town as well. Though we did not see Camdenton, it has a UPS customer center. That is an important consideration as I will probably be working for several more years.

Currently we live in northwest Indiana. There are many things here that we need to move away from, such as smog, noise and just the fact that it is a congested industrial area. City life just makes us feel "stuck" and claustrophobic. We want birds, sunsets, stars that are not obscured by sky glow, rocks, fresh air...you name it.

We would be looking for a modest place to live. A large house is not important to us. We live in 900 sq. feet now. But we have to consider location. Too remote would make my job more costly. And we wouldn't want to be caught up in tourist traffic all summer, either. Anyone have any thoughts about this?

Candy

[riptoman]

i don't really think there's a "best" place in missouri. i'm not a fan of missouri at all. but i'd say st. louis is probably the "best".

[northbayeric]

I'll give this my best shot. It sounds like you'd want to live in the most rural area possible that still isn't too far a drive from a UPS customer service center. Camdenton is a nice place, being close to Bridal Cave and Ha Ha Tonka State Park. There's a pretty fair amount of traffic on Highway 54 given its proximity to Lake of the Ozarks. So there would be quite a bit of tourist traffic during the summer. Let's keep going....

I checked out the UPS website, and there's a UPS customer service center in Springfield and one in Hollister. Hollister is right next to Branson, and maybe if you lived in a town like Kimberling City, you'd be able to avoid most of the Branson tourist traffic except when you'd need to make the drive to Hollister. Near Springfield, you'd probably want to look at Rogersville, off Highway 60 east of Springfield. MoMark might be able to suggest areas between Springfield and Bolivar.

My wife and I are planning on moving to St. Joseph by no later than spring 2008. There's a customer service center in St. Joe; and based on what you've written, I would take a very good look at the small town of Savannah, just north of St. Joseph. I confess that I haven't actually visited the area (I'll be flying back to visit this September), but looking at numerous real estate and other websites, I think Savannah could be a very good fit for you. Rural setting, yet close to Interstate 29 and all the city stuff you might need in St. Joe. Real estate is very reasonable, and I don't think you get the same volume of tourists as you'd find at Lake of the Ozarks and certainly Branson/Hollister.

Just took one more look at the UPS website; there's a location in Palmyra, but it's only open M-F from 4 to 6 pm. Palmyra is located a short distance west of Hannibal. It's been many years since I've visited Hannibal, but it's probably still a big corn-growing area. Finally, the Arcadia Valley in SE Missouri (Highway 21) is gorgeous. There's a UPS location in Farmington; and the area around Ironton and Pilot Knob is framed by the St. Francois Mountains. It's only open M-F from 5-6 pm, though. I don't know what the real estate picture is like; it's probably suitable for people who want to buy a lot of acreage, horse stables, etc.

Hope this helps! I think all of these places in rural Missouri I've mentioned have at least pretty good potential.

[CaboolBound]

HI Candy,

My husband is also on disability and we are moving to Cabool in 6 weeks. It is beautiful and we can afford it on SSDI. Our property taxes on a 1600 sq.ft home, 5 acres, three tier deck with pool are $273 a year. We only paid $65,000 for our home. Check it out, we are not sure if there is a UPS center in town but there might be in Houston, the next town over. If you need more info let us know.

Kim and Jim

[GraniteStater]

I have heard many positive things about St. Charles County Missouri. This is a suburban county in the St. Louis metro area. The average income in this county is one of the highest in the state, and the area is not extremely urban.

[Candy T]

First of all, thank you for your replies. Kim and Jim, it looks like Cabool is near Willow Springs. There is a UPS center there. I like the low taxes. What can you tell me about the area? Is it hilly, flat, lots of trees? Do you have pictures? You may email me at dwcv88 at ameritech.net (remove "at" and insert "@").

Northbayeric, thanks for the extra information. I'll look it over. To narrow things down, Savannah, too far north, would like to stay in the hilly Ozark area. When I looked up Hollister I thought we must have driven right through/past it on the way up from Arkansas. We got off the highway looking for gas near (maybe in) Branson and got caught up in long, slow traffic. Ughh!!

The reason we were looking at the Lake of the Ozarks area is because we have a friend in Eldon.

Candy

[Carlidin]

Candy - There is a service Center in Columbia, Missouri also. I live in New Franklin, population 1,100 which is 23 miles from Columbia. I work in Columbia and commute daily so the drive is nothing. There are many small communities surrounding Columbia that would be great places for you to settle. We have people moving to our area constantly who have either driven through the area or had friends or family here and loved it so much they decided to move here permanently. We are about 45 minutes from the Lake of the Ozark area...a good day trip or even weekends. We are fairly close to "float trip" country as my kids do that occasionally on weekend jaunts.
We do not have any major traffic problems as we are not a big "tourist" area. We do have an interesting history, the start of the Santa Fe Trail, but do not draw large crowds of people. The closest community to New Franklin is Boonville (3 miles) which is a beautiful town also with lots of large historical homes. I am a new realtor (my second career) and there are lots of homes for sale at very reasonable prices. New Franklin is located five miles from Interstate 70 in the center of the state between Kansas City and St Louis. We have access to all the "big" attractions, shopping, dining, entertainment, without the big town noise or traffic. Our school is a triple AAA rated school and we have no crime to speak of. As you can tell I am very proud of our community and would love to invite you to visit and check it out for yourself. If you would like more information please feel free to email me at codydog1@hotmail.com.

Carolyn

[CaboolBound]

Candy,

I think I packed my CD with all my Cabool pics. I am going to look for it tonight for you and another lady on here. Cabool is hilly and there is alot of trees. When I look out my kitchen window, I checked this out before we bought the house, all I see are hills and trees. It makes me want to wash the dishes. Breathtaking, that is all that I can say. I hope I can find the box the discs are in.
Take care,
Kim and Jim

[Candy T]

Originally Posted by Jim_Kim

Candy,

I think I packed my CD with all my Cabool pics. I am going to look for it tonight for you and another lady on here.

I am excited to see the pictures, if you can find them! We won't be movig till sometime next year so there isn't a huge rush. Thanks.

Candy

[syl77dar]

Hello! We can help each other! I need alot more information about St. Louis please? We are relocating due to a new job in Bridgeton, MO. I do not believe Bridgeton, MO is a safe area to live in. We are relocating from the Kansas City area, I was born and raised here! I would advise you not to move to Independence or Blue Springs, MO. The best places in the Kansas City area to live are: either in Cameron, MO; Kearney, MO; Lees Summit, MO or on the Kansas side in Overland Park, Springhill, Olathe, KS and all of these places have excellent schools. Other good places in Kansas City are Grain Valley, MO and Oak Grove, MO and Bates City, MO. Do not move to Independence or Blue Springs the crime rates and schools suck bad here! We are leaving from Blue Springs, MO the crimes here are going up way too much and the schools here are terrible! Up until 9th grade they are okay, but after middle school, the freshman center is an horrendous excuse for a school district! All 5 middle schools pour out into one freshman center. It is an old elementary school which is way to small for freshmen and there are approximately 300-600 students in it everyday! It is way too small for so many changing adolescent teenages with raging hormones! I have known several teenagers whom attended this FRESHMEN CENTER only to come out as aggressive, upset and angry teenagers since bullies run this school! It is the absolute worse excuse for a SCHOOL Districts excuse for not enough room for freshman at the high schools! I have a son and my best friends' daughters who attended this joke school and they were achieving 4.0 and came out with 4.0 only years later to let their grades slip to 3.8 when they realized the school personnel did not care about students! As you can tell I would never allow my children to attend this school or high school again! Recently the Freshman center busted a student who had threatened a Columbine situation and was set to carry it out!