Email this page  Print this page  del.icio.us  digg  yahoo!  Comments

How We Compare

Ever wonder how 417-land’s Queen City compares to some other mid-American hotspots? We stacked up Springfield against Kansas City, Wichita, Tulsa and Chicago. Plus, see why a couple of noteworthy locals call this fair city home, and how Branson compares to similar tourist destinations.

How wonderfully against the grain to hold up our heartland as ideal, instead of nodding to the coasts. Let Middle America be the center of all things. Of course, that’s how we usually see it: In the heart of the heart of the country, 417-land is home, cradle, eye of the storm. This month, we bring you a helicopter view outside our borders. “How We Compare” shows you how 417-land’s unofficial capital, Springfield, stacks up against four other Middle American cities: Kansas City, Wichita, Tulsa and Chicago. (We skipped over-covered St. Louis to give you a look at under-covered Tulsa, an important partner in trade and culture.) The raw numbers, spiced with some research and a few reminders about Springfield’s past, help us look at our community without rose-colored glasses… or any chips on our shoulder. In six areas—Economy, Demographics, Education, Crime, Weather and Culture—we analyze why we rock, what’s not to like and how, sometimes, it’s a mixed bag. The image that comes into focus is remarkable. We’re not exactly Utopia; we’re hardly Flint, Michigan, either. We have a distinctive, sometimes vexing, mostly wonderful place in the American pecking order.

The Color Code:

Any time you see a graph, the colors will represent the following cities, like so:

The Criteria:

We compared Springfield and its neighbors in a number of areas (click on one to read category):

The Citizens:

Two Springfield luminaries, along with hundreds of our readers, spoke out about the best and worst things about living in Springfield. Read their responses by clicking on a photo below:

Ralph Manley	Stephanie Weiss