Springfield (area) vs. Columbia (area) (Kansas City, St. Louis: for rent, school, universities)

[darrenlamb45]

Hi all,

I am currently a senior in college set to graduate in May with an adult and community education major and Spanish minor. I am originally from central Illinois but am looking to move to Missouri after graduation. I am looking for a city in Missouri (50,000-200,000) that has decent job opportunities and decent standard of life. I picked these two cities in particular because they are both roughly the same size.

Without further ado, let me list off some questions about each area that I hope you, the fine people of city-data, will help me answer! Thanks!

1. What is the cost of living like for each city (rent specifically)? Is one significantly cheaper than the other? I've budgeted an $800 cap for rent each month if that helps. Is there a "best time" to move to either one of these cities? Are there noticeably "good" and "bad" parts of each city?

2. Are there any nice suburbs or small towns close to either city that are significantly cheaper (I'm not opposed to small town living at all)?

3. What are the job opportunities like? My degree is human service-oriented, but, given my minor, I want to use it to teach English or Spanish in a community setting (I have my TEFL). Would the universities and community colleges be good places to look for these type of jobs?

4. What are some cool things to do? Hiking? Sports? Attractions? Traditions?

5. I'm a big concert goer, I have seen via my BandsInTown app that both cities get pretty decent shows rather consistently. That begin said, can one say that one city is definitely the "better" music city considering the venues themselves? Variety of artists? Frequency of concerts?

6. This is a random one, but how big is the influence of the universities on life there? Both cities and universities are much bigger than city and school I go to. I attend a small university in Illinois where the school is just as big as the town.

7. How hard is it to get a MO license plate, ID, etc?

Thanks for reading, I do appreciate it! If you have any other information about the cities, I am all ears! Again, thank you all very much!

[Arrby]

I am going to have to assume that you know something about job prospects with your degree that I do not.

Columbia, Mo. serves rather less than half the market are of Springfield, Mo. Springfield itself is more than a third again the size of Columbia.

Columbia is strongly oriented toward the University. Springfield has several colleges and universities with Missouri State being the largest. The total post secondary student population in Springfield is probably just a bit larger than Columbia's, but has a much broader economic base.

The only significant difference in the cost of living might be rents. Use padmapper.com to get an idea of relative costs.

Both communities have nearby smaller towns. Columbia has Ashland, Browns Station, Hallville, and others farther out. Springfield actually adjoins Republic, Willard, Strafford, Ozark, Nixa, and Battlefield, and others are nearby.

Lots of outdoor activities in either location. Columbia has more near by, but Springfield has a far greater number of choices within, say, an hour drive.

Traditionally, Columbia is big on both University Basketball and Football. In addition there are professional teams about two hours away in Kansas City and St. Louis. Springfield has no particular large sports following.