Give me the good and bad. Considering a relocation.

Just a hop/skip down 55/70 to the ghetto.  Decent blue collar town.  Used to be a bunch of fast cars in the area, but a lot of them moved further north from the ghetto.  I just moved from Swansea, which is about 10 miles south, just south of Fairview Heights.

Edwardsville would be a higher class area.  Columbia if you can afford it.  Out of state is even better.

Consider across the river in MO somewhere if you can.  Bit more freedom.

Exactly why I left.

More freedom and lower cost of living.

Thanks for the input. I'll let y'all know how the interview goes.

What about the taxes on your cars every year?

My property tax in St. Clair County on a 6000 sq foot lot and an 1100 sq foot house was $2500.

My property tax on a 1450 sq foot house on a 1/4 acre in St. Francois County is $1338.  Personal property tax on the drag truck in my avatar to the left is $50.  28' Enclosed car trailer tax is $50.  2012 GMC 2500HD tax is going to be about $545.

Tax burden IL  $2500 Smaller lot/house.

Tax burden MO with Personal Property, larger house, larger lot $1983

Are personal property taxes a common thing elsewhere?  I don't think I was aware of those before now.

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-highest-and-lowest-property-taxes/11585/

IL has the 2nd highest property tax on real estate in the country, behind New Jersey.

Decent town. Maryville is much nicer right next door. My In-laws live in Maryville and I worked there for ten or so years.

There is a pretty good outdoor range in Maryville.

So, I'm a finalist for a .gov job there. I MAY have some flexibility in where I live, but that remains to be seen. If given an choice, would you go to St. Clair County or Madison County? What about schools in the area? Crime? I'm doing some digging and have some ideas, but I want unbiased input to help with the decisions, if I get the job, that is. Oh, I have two girls, by the way. Ages 12 and 10

This website will give you unbiased facts.  https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/

As for which county... Either is a liberal stronghold.  Madison is where a lot of the class action lawsuits occur because it has one of the most liberal courts in the country.  It was the court they used in the "big tobacco" lawsuits a decade or so ago.

Any of the cities in the metro east area are seeing crime increase as the ghetto of East St. Louis expands.  I-55/70 is a major drug corridor.  If you want to consider Madison county, I would look further north at Troy, Edwardsville, Glen Carbon.  If St. Clair county, Milstadt, Columbia, Red Bud, Waterloo.

It's not "right" but if you're in the St Louis metro area, being an Illinois resident does have one practical advantage.

An Illinois resident with an Illinois carry permit can carry on both sides of the river. Missouri residents can only carry in their vehicles in Illinois.

National reciprocity is looking less and less likely so this is something to consider.

SBRs in Illinois require you to have a C&R FFL, so if that's an issue get the C&R applied for. No suppressors (yet).

The Illinois carry permit has significant training requirements, something to consider is if you're up in the area and have the time, to get in the training before you move, so that you can apply immediately after establishing residence.

What's even dumber is that they voided my CCL as soon as I received my MO D/L.  So there was a huge waste of money.

In my opinion there is not much in the range of "driving to work" in Missouri you would want to live in with kids (and a .gov job paycheck, sorry Clayton/Ladue is probably out).

It sucks living in IL because of the chicago state politics, but in So. Ill. it doesn't affect your day-to-day much in my experience.  It might kill your pension some day, it might make your house impossible to sell in the future, taxes are higher, etc (macro level stuff-these are definitely BAD though!)--you have to make the call there, but I don't recommend it.

If I was dropped into the position of having a job in Collinsville, I would likely look toward Edwardsville, Troy, Highland/North of Highland areas.  Maybe some rural spots directly south/southeast of Collinsville are nice, but not sure of schools.  If you want more rural cow town, you can go straight east too.  So it will depend on what you want to have, suburbs/convenience/small town/school/etc.

Don't expect to come and buy land, farmground around there goes for 12k or more an acre, so EVERYTHING is high.  

Good luck in the decision, God I would hope the money would be huge (can't imagine that in a gov job)

Madison county is better on crime and schools for the most part. Plus our States Attorney is very very pro gun. I would look at Troy, St. Jacob or if you don't mind the drive Highland. They all have good schools. Edwardsville or Maryville would be a good alternative also. There is a pretty good outdoor range in the middle of Maryville.  

I have lived in this area for my entire life and have worked in every one of the towns.

Thanks for all the replies and input. I've accepted the position and will be moving there soon. I'll be travelling home on weekends till the end of the school year when my family will relocate with me. Next question, who can give me some insight on where I can hunt this deer season? One of the conditions from my daughters is we find a place to deer hunt there. Normally I'd start that kind of research the season before, but its not really an option this year.

This year's deer season, with a gun?  Good luck.  <jeopardy>"Things I wouldn't bother doing for $100, Alex"<jeopardy>

You do know you have to use a slug gun, muzzle loader, or a pistol here, right?  No rifles.

Now if you want to archery hunt, I think that can be a lot more fun on public lands...but honestly its a bit late in the game, southwestern IL doesn't have that great of deer populations once you get south of the pike county awesomeness, in my experience.  Or maybe I just don't see much since I can't put in the time because I am busy...

as far as close enough for you to hunt, maybe look at the north end of carlyle lake or some corp of engineer ground around that lake?  its an idea.  Hunt strange patterns like near the parking area for when everyone spooks them as they come in for the day?  Just some thoughts, hopefully someone else gets you some better ideas.  

You can try shawnee forest, along with every other out of state and chicago-area hunter

Best of luck!

I knew riles were out, but I have enough slug--guns and bows to go around. I guess I'll have to stock up on ML's. The youngest is a little small to draw a 45# bow, so she may have to wait a year or so for that.