How Bad Is Branson Traffic If You Live There? (Springfield: apartments, rent)

[jeffconsiglio]

So, I'm seriously thinking of moving to Branson. It's between that, Ozark, Nixa, our maybe south Springfield.

I'm very familiar with the area, as I lived in Springfield most of my young adult years.

Long story short, I currently live just outside Sacramento, CA...been here 4 years...but am getting divorced and moving back to Missouri for cheaper cost of living, values closer to my own, and because MO is home.

So anyway, although Branson looks very appealing on certain levels, I'm concerned heavy tourist traffic would drive me nuts much of the year, if I were to become a resident there. Do those of you who actually live there find that to be much of an issue in your day-to-day existence? If so, would Hollister be better, in terms of not having to deal with too much tourist traffic, while still having nearby access to Branson?

Thanks for your input.

[sub]

Basically, avoid the strip.
The regular stuff like Walmart and Target are in their own part of town.
We lived somewhat near Branson for a while and that area never seemed terribly busy.

Springfield traffic is awful for a town its size. Half of southern Missouri descends upon it every weekend for shopping while the other half commutes to work there during the week.

Ozark and Nixa are okay but you might find yourself going to Springfield a lot because that’s where everything is at.
Branson seems a little more self-sufficient. Even if you’re not directly in Branson, it’s not a bad place to be near.

[jeffconsiglio]

Originally Posted by sub

Basically, avoid the strip.
The regular stuff like Walmart and Target are in their own part of town.
We lived somewhat near Branson for a while and that area never seemed terribly busy.

Springfield traffic is awful for a town its size. Half of southern Missouri descends upon it every weekend for shopping while the other half commutes to work there during the week.

Ozark and Nixa are okay but you might find yourself going to Springfield a lot because that’s where everything is at.
Branson seems a little more self-sufficient. Even if you’re not directly in Branson, it’s not a bad place to be near.

Thanks for your input.

My heart is really in Branson, but the more practical side of me wonders if South Springfield, Ozark, or Nixa might be better for making an income.

I'm currently debating between trying to make a living online or getting back into the business I was in before I let my wife talk me into moving to overpriced California, which was owning and running a personal training studio for about 11 years in Shreveport, LA.

If I go with the online thing I'll have the luxury of living wherever I want. And since I prefer small to medium sized towns, Branson would be a great fit. But if I decide to get back into face to face personal training I'd need to have access to a larger population-base for client leads. I don't think Branson's population is large enough to support a personal training business over the long-term.

I'm aware Springfield's crime rate and homeless problems have greatly increased since I last lived there in the 90's, which is a real turn-off. But I'm guessing the south side of Springfield is still the nicer, low crime part of town, so that's still a possibility if I decide to get back into face to face training. Either that, or I'll live in Ozark/Nixa, then have my training studio in South Springfield.

Just thinking out loud here...guess I'm getting off-topic at this point.

But in my heart of hearts, I'd rather make my living online, and live in Branson. Just not sure how practical a decision that would be though.

Then again, even if I go with the more "practical" decision of living in the Springfield area, and opening a training studio, a new pandemic could shut that business down in a heartbeat, thus making that wildly impractical. In fact, as I type this, the media seems to be trying to whip up a lot of fear about Monkeypox.

We business people are in uncharted waters these days. Scared of opening businesses which aren't "pandemic proof," and can be shut-down by the government on a whim, at any point.

Thus a big part of my motivation to develop an online income (probably online fitness and weight loss coaching) is to not only have a better lifestyle, but to also have a business which is "geographically independent" and which can NOT be shut down by the government on a whim.

Ok, I'm done rambling. Time for another morning cup of coffee.

[sub]

Remember that Missouri is pretty much the polar opposite of California.
People didn't take the pandemic nearly as seriously in MO, certainly not in the smaller towns.
After the way corona was handled, it would probably take something far more serious for people to agree to shutting things down again. The feds bringing the hammer down would cause problems but even then most people would probably ignore it and live their lives.
Still, I wouldn't blame you for avoiding that possibility all together if you're able to do so.

Other places just outside of Springfield that people seem to like are Rogersville, Battlefield, Willard, Aurora, etc. All these have probably changed a good bit since you were there in the 90's.
Outside of Branson, Forsythe is popular.

As for crime, if you can handle Shreveport, you can handle Springfield. I've seen the stats that make it look worse somehow. Not sure if that's how things are being reported or what. Recently, I've noticed it hasn't always been great, but also didn't seem that bad.
The south side is still the nicer part of town.
From what I've seen, homelessness isn't anywhere near the levels you have on the west coast but that's also more of a north side thing.
For the time being, Springfield continues to grow.
In some ways I do find Branson more appealing in this case, though I'm not much into smaller towns.

[jeffconsiglio]

Originally Posted by sub

Remember that Missouri is pretty much the polar opposite of California.
People didn't take the pandemic nearly as seriously in MO, certainly not in the smaller towns.
After the way corona was handled, it would probably take something far more serious for people to agree to shutting things down again. The feds bringing the hammer down would cause problems but even then most people would probably ignore it and live their lives.
Still, I wouldn't blame you for avoiding that possibility all together if you're able to do so.

Other places just outside of Springfield that people seem to like are Rogersville, Battlefield, Willard, Aurora, etc. All these have probably changed a good bit since you were there in the 90's.
Outside of Branson, Forsythe is popular.

As for crime, if you can handle Shreveport, you can handle Springfield. I've seen the stats that make it look worse somehow. Not sure if that's how things are being reported or what. Recently, I've noticed it hasn't always been great, but also didn't seem that bad.
The south side is still the nicer part of town.
From what I've seen, homelessness isn't anywhere near the levels you have on the west coast but that's also more of a north side thing.
For the time being, Springfield continues to grow.
In some ways I do find Branson more appealing in this case, though I'm not much into smaller towns.

Thanks for your feedback. And yes, MO and CA - at least overall - are indeed VERY different places.

But even here in Northern CA...outside of the Bay area and Sacramento city limits, most of northern CA is actually fairly conservative, and therefore also not prone to Covid histrionics. I live in a little town about 30 minutes outside Sacramento, in the central valley, and am largely surrounded by farmers and ranchers. Most people in our town were not mask Nazis at all. Though once the state itself mandated masks indoors most of us went ahead and wore the darn things.

Nonetheless, having said that, CA overall is a hell-hole now. Almost all the cities are overrun with homeless junkies, and the cost of living here is insane. That, along with the fact that I'm NOT a liberal "woke" kinda guy makes me want to get back to MO ASAP.

A one bedroom apartment here, with roaches and totally surrounded by homeless junkies who break into your car, is $1,300 per-month. To be in a truly nice and safe area around here, such as Folsom, will run ya around $2,000 to $2,500 for a 1 bedroom apartment.

Whereas one of the apartments I'm looking at in Springfield is just $475. And it's a very decent looking place with good Google reviews. Big difference.

Thanks for the tip on Forsythe, as that wasn't on my radar at all. I'll have to look into it.

And ultimately I just need to make up my mind about whether or not I want to open up another training studio in MO, since that will play a large factor in which town I decide to live in. But at this point I'm leaning more towards just coaching people online, since that can be done from my home, with no need to buy a bunch of expensive weight machines and rent space in a strip mall. And again, it would be a totally "pandemic proof" business too.

Time will tell.

Again, thanks for your input.

I'm going through a divorce, which has made my thinking these days kind of a jumbled mess, so it's nice to get objective opinions from folks who aren't emotionally involved in my current situation.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by sub

Basically, avoid the strip.
The regular stuff like Walmart and Target are in their own part of town.
We lived somewhat near Branson for a while and that area never seemed terribly busy.

Springfield traffic is awful for a town its size. Half of southern Missouri descends upon it every weekend for shopping while the other half commutes to work there during the week.

Ozark and Nixa are okay but you might find yourself going to Springfield a lot because that’s where everything is at.
Branson seems a little more self-sufficient. Even if you’re not directly in Branson, it’s not a bad place to be near.

Isnt the Springfield area one of the fastest growing areas of the country? Why is that? Is it because of the nearby lakes and mild climate of southern Missouri.

[sub]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

Isnt the Springfield area one of the fastest growing areas of the country? Why is that? Is it because of the nearby lakes and mild climate of southern Missouri.

Fastest growing in the state, but nationally I don't think it stands out much.
It's not a horrible town, but the layout and the way strip malls just line all the streets doesn't do much to alleviate traffic.
Branson does a pretty good job of giving you options to get around that aren't hwy 76.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by sub

Fastest growing in the state, but nationally I don't think it stands out much.
It's not a horrible town, but the layout and the way strip malls just line all the streets doesn't do much to alleviate traffic.
Branson does a pretty good job of giving you options to get around that aren't hwy 76.

True. I don't mean fastest growing like population wise but like percentage increases. Percentage wise I think St. Charles County was one of the fastest growing counties.


Is it the lakes attracting people?

[jeffconsiglio]

Thanks for the info guys, but I think I've ruled out Branson for now. I intend to open a personal fitness training studio, and will need a bigger population-base to draw clients from.

Springfield is still on the list of possibilities, but the jaw-dropping crime rate there makes me wary of living there.

Columbia, MO is also on my list, but only because I have a brother who lives there. I don't actually like Columbia itself in all honesty.

Also looking at Tyler, Texas for various reasons, even though I swore I'd never move back to the humid south (lived in Shreveport, LA for 14 years). But it seems to have a lot going for it, while having a MUCH lower crime rate than either Shreveport or Springfield.