Questions about Columbia, Missouri (Kansas City, St. Louis: low crime, neighborhoods, university)

[Juxtaposition109]

I have a couple of questions about Columbia, Missouri. First is Columbia a dangerous place? Do I really need to watch my back there? And last question is it true that it's a big time college town?

[GhettoKC]

Originally Posted by Juxtaposition109

I have a couple of questions about Columbia, Missouri. First is Columbia a dangerous place? Do I really need to watch my back there? And last question is it true that it's a big time college town?

Well the University of Mizzou is there, so I guess there's a good chance that it is...

[Juxtaposition109]

Yeah but there is pretty much a University in every city. That doesn't per say make every place a "College Town" where most of the actual town revolves around it.

[cyrano]

1. No.
2. No.
3. It's a town of 100,000 population. The University of Missouri has over 30,000 students and, with over 8,000 employees, the largest employer in the area. There's also Columbia College and Stephens College, adding several thousand more students. It's nickname is "College Town USA." the town would dry up and blow away were it not for MU.

[Peperosso]

I think it depends on where you are from and where you currently live. First of all every city DOES NOT have a college in it.

1. Yes, Read the daily paper online for free at The Columbia Daily Tribune - Columbia, Missouri
2. Yes, Columbia's crime rates with cities 3 times it's population.
3. Yes, Univ of Missouri, Stephens College, Columbia College, Moberly Area Community College.

[cyrano]

Let's try some facts, taken from a website the moderator doesn't want me to link to because it's a competitor--

Columbia's violent crime is .81 of the national average, while its property crime rate is .85 of the national average. Here's how other Missouri towns and cities rate--

Cape Girardeau, .38 violent crime, 1.28 property crime
Fulton, .68 violent, .60 property
Hannibal, .91 violent, 1.81 property
Jefferson City, 1.18 violent, .77 property
Joplin, .69 violent, 1.80 property
Kirksville, .64 violent, .79 property
Marshall, .03 violent, .48 property (wow)
Mexico, .32 violent, .49 property
Moberly, .31 violent, 1.26 property
Rolla, .43 violent, 1.23 property
Sedalia, 1.60 violent, 1.83 property (wow)
Springfield, 1.14 violent, 1.84 property

comparable university towns

Iowa City, .96 violent, .72 property
Athens (Ga), .62 violent, 1.32 property
Lawrence, .75 violent, 1.17 property
Oxford (Ms), .39 violent, .52 property
Lincoln (Ne), .80 violent, 1.31 property
Norman (Ok), .32 violent, .72 property
Stillwater (Ok), .48 violent, .72 property
College Station (Tx), .38 violent, .72 property
Charlottesville (Va), 1.14 violent, .80 property

Some places, in Missouri and outside the state, are significantly better than Columbia, while some are significantly worse. You should expect property crime in a university area and violent crime in low-income neighborhoods. Both types of neighborhoods are fairly easy to identify from the city's crime maps. If you want the super-low crime rate of a small town, then live in a small town. Don't expect Columbia to be something it's not.

If you don't like a place, I can understand why you'd bad-mouth it. But the facts tell a totally different story.

[Juxtaposition109]

I say that pretty much every city has a college in it but I mean any city of any size. I wouldn't consider Columbia a city but more of a large town.

[Peperosso]

You can go toModerator cut: link removed and compare crime, education, cost of living, etc of most U.S. Cities. You might be surprised what you fine there, also the City Data site has plently of information reflecting it.
Personally I like Columbia, MO but I would not recommend it for someone to live unless you are going to attend one of the Colleges in town. There hasn't been much done to retain businesses and overall there are better places to live in Missouri, just my opinion but there have been a lot of negative changes in the past 5 years or so.

[Juxtaposition109]

What are the negative changes over the last few years?

[Peperosso]

For me the 2 major things are the increase of Crime and increase cost of living. I do love Columbia from June-August it's a completely different town, but compared to Springfield I like Springfield better but that's just me.
I recommend reading the Columbia Tribune daily for free online and you will see what you should be avoiding if you move here, almost every day there is something crime related on the front page and that's unusual for a City this size, 5 years ago there was very little, 10 years ago when I moved here it was unheard of in Columbia.
There have been gang related issues in the last several years while the city was stating that there are no gangs in Columbia. They have moved in from St. Louis and Kansas City, try to avoid the downtown area late at night/early in the morning and use common sense even when going to Walmart.