St. Louis or Jefferson City for a place to live? (Kansas City: home, transfer)

[gpol66]

Won't delve into the reason other than these are the only two choices to live in Missouri. Just taking a poll but comments are welcome.

[branDcalf]

Jefferson City would be my choice, but it depends on what you want or need. If I had to fly frequently, I would choose St Louis.

[SunGrins]

I lived in both and still consider St. Louis my hometown. I left Jefferson City ten years ago after living there 37 years. I would choose Jefferson City if I had a young and growing family. It changed over the years I was there from a small and semi-rural town, mostly run by a few families, to one that finally made it onto the corporate radar. It gained some big-box stores, and the downtown area was revived and somewhat gentrified. The typical characteristic of small towns is that there are a few families, and they are all connected. You are often talking to someone's cousin. That is possibly not as much the case in more recent years. The place is halfway between St. Louis and Kansas City so you can be in a big city in two hours. Amtrak also can get you there. It is an hour or less from Lake of the Ozarks and Columbia. Being the state capital, it has a relatively steady economy. There are a lot of transfer folks moving in and out based on government work.

It is politically conservative, religious, and backward in many ways. It has a certain level of complacency that results in it not recognizing problems. There was a growing heroin problem when I left but no one seemed to notice. No one seems to take much notice that there is an African American community clustered around the Lincoln University campus. Lincoln University is a historically black university and has one of the best track and field programs among schools its size, but no one seems to take notice.

All in all, I think it is a good place to raise a family. The schools are satisfactory and better than some. Once your kids grow up, they will mostly high tail it out of town.

If you are single or have no intentions of raising a family and want a more interesting lifestyle with more stimulation or have a more liberal political or social perspective, you should opt for St. Louis.

One other option is to live in Columbia and commute or carpool to Jefferson City if that is where your job is. There are hundreds of people that do that. Columbia is larger, much more liberal, and has the state flagship university and much more going on socially and commercially. It also is within an easy drive to Kansas City or St. Louis and has the regional airport.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by gpol66

Won't delve into the reason other than these are the only two choices to live in Missouri. Just taking a poll but comments are welcome.

A question about the poll: Are you referring specifically to the City of St. Louis as "St. Louis" only or are you including the entire metro area, which would include its many and varied suburbs?

[STLCityMike]

I have lived in both, though only in Jefferson City for a brief period. I agree it was (perhaps is) very political with all of the state workers and that seemed to be the most prominent employer. It was (is) conservative but in a way that most people minded their own business. However, it is also a lot quieter and less going on by far than St. Louis. Jeff City is close to Columbia (university town) and the Lake (hot vacation spot), but to me, St. Louis is not that far from either, and its benefits by far outweigh Jeff City.

[mjtinmemphis]

It depends on your goals and ideals. St. Louis is a small version of a large urban city and offers many variations of living.

Jefferson City is small town living and is the political center for Missouri. Many options for small town rural living.

It really depends upon your perspective and what you are looking for.

[SunGrins]

It really depends on what you want. I lived in Jefferson City for a long time but I lived in St. Louis when it was at its maximum population. It has a city infrastructure from that era for almost a million people but now has a population of about 300,000. That makes city living somewhat less hectic and unstressed than it would be with two or three times the population. When the interstate highways are clogged with suburb traffic, the city streets are more navigable. I have relatives there and visit every couple of years and enjoy it now. If I was going to live there, I would choose one of the city’s many distinctive and walkable neighborhoods and not live out in the far suburbs. The inner suburbs might also be good. There is a lot to do there and not at a great expense. But you need to do some research on the neighborhoods.

[SciFiNerd1]

I cannot speak for Jefferson City but I have visited there several times. It is a charming small capital city with nice riverfront downtown. There does not seem to be much to do but you have Columbia nearby and Rock Bridge State Park if you are into nature and outdoor activities.

I grew up in St. Louis County practically 10-15 minutes southwest from Forest Park, which is in the City of St. Louis. If I ever move back to Missouri, I would look into Kirkwood, Webster Groves, and Rock Hill. Even Maplewood, Brentwood, and Richmond Heights are nice unless these areas have changed drastically since I left in 2007. From my understanding, housing is still pretty much affordable in Missouri compared to Texas. People from New York and California aren't exactly flocking to Missouri driving up the housing cost like they are doing in Texas. In fact, I have been thinking about returning back home one day just to be a homeowner despite a huge paycut I would be accepting to be back home.

It is really sad about the City of St. Louis with declining population and urban decay. It has a huge potential. That is why Kansas City has been gaining population in the city limit and has been better than St. Louis in many ways. Maybe I hope for too much but I don't think reuniting the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County is a bad idea.

[Kathy884]

To me it's definitely not an Apples to Apples comparison. The St. Louis metro area has around 2.8 million people and the variety of choices and amenities that go with a metro area that size. Jefferson City is a metro area closer to 150,000, so a decent sized place but sooo much smaller. Either can be an appealing place to live, but population size of the region makes the experience different for sure.

I personally really like metro areas that aren't too huge but have a population of 1 million or more (more job opportunities, great amenities: zoos, museums, theatre, I'm not into professional sports, but things like that are offered too, more tennis clubs to choose from (I'm a tennis player), churches to choose from (can find one that's the right fit), the list goes on and on). We've when we had choices (good job offers) have picked metro areas of this larger size. I also find most of Missouri too conservative for my taste with the exception of University communities and larger metro areas like St. Louis and Kansas City.

Many people though might want a smaller community.

I currently live in in the St. Louis metro area and love it! I live in Glendale, MO (Kirkwood zip code) -- close in older suburb -- sort of reminds me of a Beaver Cleaver looking neighborhood. And from here I can get to our world class zoo in 20 minutes. If I am going to a show downtown, I just leave an hour before the show starting time. I used to work in the city and it was an easy commute. Now I am full time work from home (I work in IT.).

I one time lived in a metro area of just 300,000 and really missed some of the amenities that larger metro areas had. There were a lot of nice things about the place, but given the choice and if it's economically feasible, I just love midwestern 1 million to 3 million metro areas. For me to pick a smaller sized area it would need to have one of these things going for it (a great job offer - something I was really passionate about doing -- that I couldn't pass up, proximity to family that I wanted to be close to, or an absolutely beautiful place in nature - a place that's natural beauty just blew me away).