hipnut76

Help! I'm in a fortunate situation as I have several job offerings that take me to three different areas of the country. Would some knowledgable Fodorites share the positive and negatives associated with any of the three communities mentioned in my title. My wife and I are looking for smaller metro areas, would be ok being close but not in larger metro areas, enjoy a wide variety of interests. Money will not differ greatly in any of these communities although cost of living is generally low in all three. Can someone help us out?

DanM

I cannot imagine living in College Station. It is hard to describe, but as someone who has lived within 100 miles of there for 30 years, it is not some place I would want to live. I am not sure how it comepares to the other areas, but given the choice of other similar sized places in Texas, I would not live in College Station.

coldkelly

I've been in College Station only briefly, but it didn't appeal to me in any way. It had no charm whatsoever.

rkkwan

When I was living in Houston, I did go up to College Station a few times deliberately to drive on the Texas World Speedway. If you and/or your wife have that as a hobby, then that could be a big plus. Otherwise...

SAnParis2

Not sure why you would want to live in Gastonia either. If I had a job there, I'd likely live in Belmont (on the west side of CLT near the river). It would be an easy commute, as you would be going against the normal traffic flow. There are many smaller metro areas in & around CLT w/Gastonia being near the bottom of any such list I would compile. Gastonia is the frequent punch line to many jokes in this part of NC, & w/good reason.

Brian_in_Charlotte

Agreed. Gastonia would be one of my last choices of where to live in the Charlotte area.

jcb

I attended school in College Station several years ago, and I currently go back approx 4 times a year for football games. I assume you would be working for the university, correct???

College Station has some nice places to live (and some really crappy ones too). For being a smaller town, it has good entertainment choices due to the school. The TAMU MSC OPUS (or OPAS??) brings in musicals, dance troops, operas, etc every year. During football season, do not expect to go to any restaurants or anywhere near the university b/c it is a mad house.

You are approx 1.5 hours to Houston and approx 3 hours to Dallas, so you definitely are not close to a big city.

Would I want to live in College Station? Probably not. However, if you are a professor, it may not be a bad choice, but I suggest you talk to some other educators who live there.

SiteC_er

College Station has little to offer (IMHO). While I personally would not choose to live in St Joseph, it's only 25 minutes (approx) north of Kansas City. St. Joe, is not a bad city / town, just not much happening. For what it's worth, St Joe is much prettier than College Station.

SAnParis2

What kind of Jobs (exactly) are you being offered in these less than average locales ? Curious minds want to know.

jcb

According to his previous thread, it appears that he is a hospital executive.

musicfan

Well, looks like I am the only one to weigh in on St. Joseph, MO...I'm no expert, and have only passed through there fairly regularly as my in-laws lived a little south of there, just over the next county line, on a small farm they retired to.

I can't say that I would recommend it as somewhere to live over somewhere else (I have no knowledge of the other places you mention). St. Joe is a pretty blue collar basic town. Their economy has been the pits for years (well before everyone's economy was in the pits) and they have hemorrhaged jobs in plants, factories, etc. I would imagine most of the housing stock would be older homes in widely varied states of dis/repair. You don't mention a need to consider the schools, and I have no knowledge of them either...sorry.

That said, if you don't mind commuting, there are some lovely neighborhoods about 1/2 hour+ to the south...The National and Riss Lake in Parkville to name just a couple. Parkville is a charming older small town on the Missouri River just north of Kansas City, MO. There are also a lot of rural areas where an acreage might be a possibility, if you're interested in that.

From the Parkville area on north has seen lots of growth, retail-wise, lately. Also, the airport is near there, in case that is a consideration for your job.

Hope this is helpful for you!

apersuader65

This may be a little late, but I'd like to update musicfans information. St. Joseph's last factory closing was over seven years ago. The MeadWestvaco plant closed and is now loft/studio apartments. The area has recently changed with the new Triumph foods pork processing facility, but it is a return to its roots. As for the housing stock, east of I-29 are new homes in the range from 150K to 750K. Just as in any other city, the older parts of town have older homes, but the new stock is located in very nice subdivisions that, other than the cost of the land, rival Riss Lake homes. If you're replacing Mr. Kruse, keep in mind musicfans completely accurate assessment of the mindset - blue collar.

Large growth in the animal science industry with Phoenix Scientific, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica and other support businesses. The hospital is generally good, but as in any other blue collar town, there is large resentment for the "wealthy doctors" and rumors persist of malpractice. However, eventhough there were a rash of lawsuit from an MRSA outbreak a few years ago, I don't believe the hospital took it on the chin on those cases.

And, the reason for my post . . . St. Joseph is the new home for the KC Chiefs training camp starting in 2010! Although the recession has hit many areas hard, St. Joseph has not had a signficant drop off in commercial building permits. Residential has slowed substantially, primarily as a result of the lack of easy credit and general fears. The existing home sales are not doing bad, however.