I Spent A Day In A Poor, Dangerous Missouri Town

We give all this money overseas, and our own cities look like this??

Missouri is full of bad places.

If you measure crime, poverty, obesity, the quality of schools and jobless rates, there are a lot of cities and towns in Missouri that would be considered….bad. That’s just how it is. We all know what good and bad is.

Some say Missouri is where the worst of the south and the worst of the north meet. People call it Misery. And they live here.

Because of all of that, Missouri has a bad reputation among Americans.

I only spent a few days here on this trip, and I didn’t even come close to seeing the many places in this state that are described with such disdain. But what I saw told me a lot. It might have told me everything I needed to know about Missouri.

And now I’m gonna tell you. This is St. Joseph.

#missouri #kansascity

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[freddybell]

These "bad" towns in Missouri are often loved by the people who actually live there. This is nothing more than a city dweller assuming every rural town that doesn't look like something out of a movie is a terrible place to live.

[lleehome]

I moved to Missouri from California and I’ve never looked back. I love rural Missouri and the people who live here.

[markpatro]

I moved to Missouri from New Jersey for college and I just couldn't imagine paying east coast taxes again. Sincerely hope that this decline doesn't continue, their are truly some amazing people in rural America.

[Howwwwwl]

As someone who lives in the San Francisco bay area, this town looks quiet and peaceful, I don't see any graffiti, trash in the streets, streets congested with traffic, homeless encampments, and holy moly, gasoline is $3.59 a gallon (I'm currently paying $5.59/gallon). Yeah the downtown area has a bunch of old storefront that is not occupied, but even for unoccupied territory, there are no stripped cars on blocks, panhandlers, fentanyl zombies wandering around -- seriously he says there are drug addicts, like where? In SF they are out in the traffic lanes screaming at invisible people. The areas that are occupied look clean and well kept. Also, rent appears to be in the $700 - $1000 per unit (I'm paying $1000 a month to rent a bedroom on the SF peninsula). Edit: another thing I noticed, the streets are really well paved! Out here in California the tarmac is always cracked and rippled.

[KellyJaye]

I live in Missouri and have traveled many parts. Plenty of beautiful and good rural towns. The entire state shouldn’t be thrown under the bus. 🤷‍♀️

[newageorganzation]

As someone that's lived in Missouri for all my life. Not every city is ran down like this in Missouri you just visited one of small cities and not others that much better. It's the same as most cities in the Midwest state. Old cities that used to have big manufacturing jobs and plants before they with closed down or moved and some businesses closed up. That doesn't make Missouri bad... just that how it happens.

[bekindtoeachother]

I happen to LOVE Missouri and adore going there any chance I get! Most people are AMAZING! It saddens me that some of its residents don't know how special their State really is. EVERY State has old, wornout, and forgotten downtowns, in small communities. I will ALWAYS defend Missouri, because part of my heart remains there since attending College in a tiny town in the 70's.

[StevenSiebern]

I was born in St. Joseph and I still live here. The western part of town is the abandon part of town though downtown is getting more life with bars/restaurants. We have good parks should of checked out Krug Park then drive down the parkway to Hyde Park. The riverfront park has a scenic river walk. The eastern part of the town is where most of everything else is at - Belt Highway. The museums is what people should check out. There is going to be more police in the future with a tax that passed.

[shawnjeffmarsteller]

I'd rather be in Missouri than Portland, Seattle, Chicago, NYC, etc. As a military family who's lived and traveled all over the world I would not consider St Joe dangerous. Run down like parts of EVERY town but no human feces or blocks of homeless tents. Actually go to a bad city and film that.

[Jojo_]

People forget that walmart was started next door in Arkansas and quickly spread to missouri causing many mom and pop stores to close leaving a trail of devastation as they expanded. Missouri is a hidden gem with the mountains, foothills and mazes of rivers, lakes, and creeks. Everyone seems to be outdoorsy because there are things to do that is free or almost free such as swimming in the rivers, kayaking, boating, water-skiing, snow skiing, fishing, hunting, camping and much more. If you like the bright lights there is Branson wich is like a mini Vegas, or in St Louis which there is always things happening in Dog town, U-city, or the parks and zoo by forest park. The small towns around Missouri are neat because they offer unusual sites such as a post office that was split into 2 sides with a deli and restaurant on the other side, with kind of a thrift shop in the back. Strange, but true. Missouri is very unique and wonderful to say the least IMO.

[brinna.strr]

the amount of disrespect is unbelievable. you don’t go into a town where people are living and saying that it’s useless and that nobody deserves to live in these conditions. some of my family live in a rural missouri town.. we love it there. sometimes it great to be isolated

[somethingedgy]

I've been saying for a long time that a big reason for the Rust Belt is because of the exporting of labor overseas.

[alyssacarlisle]

I’ve never heard St Joseph referred to as St Joke. I’ve lived not too far my whole life (except for my college days). I’m more shocked that while in St. Joseph you didn’t come across the huge Psychiatric Prison which is on the grounds of the old State Insane Asylum.

[TheKeksadler]

I'm a St. Joe native and a bit knowledgeable of the town's history. The best way to put St. Joe into perspective is that was once the 2nd Largest city in Missouri, as the first railroad through the state ended there. However, the city never outgrew that frontier "metropolis" era. Its population has been about 75k for about 120 years now, yet the city's land area has more than doubled. It's sort of the epitome of suburban flight.
While the north end is nice, most of the "real wealth" of St. Joseph tends to be on the East side of the interstate. Even though those parts of town seem really nice, the issue is the rotting core in the middle. Most of the children in these neighbors grow up and move out of town, with- in my experience- the most commonly cited reason being simply not wanting to be in this town anymore. What St. Joseph is lacking isn't reasonable to well-paying jobs, it's prestigious jobs that attract young talent into the city. There are a few companies in town that cater to this to some degree, but none that really "put it on the map" so to speak. The town has the issue of being viewed as a random country town by those that don't know and as a place to stay away from by people who do know.
I'm not entirely familiar with the city's finances, but the impression I've always got was that the city council has always been incredibly slow-moving, inept, and way too fiscally conservative. When you were talking to Kristi, every one of those things she championed is a huge milestone for the city, even if it doesn't seem like it. Development is just that slow. And while some of these things may seem mundane, St. Joe was in a really bad spot in the early 2000's. It's actually getting better, albeit struggling along the way.

Sorry if this comment seems a bit scatterbrained, I was writing it throughout the video.

EDIT: Oh yeah, when that study came out saying that St. Joe was the 2nd saddest city in the country, I used to joke that that's even sadder, because we couldn't even be the worst at something lol.

[SpaceNavy]

"I spent a day in a town where literally nothing happened"

[jstarASMR]

Driving around all of these places in America, seeing first hand what's it like to live in these cities, from the comfort of your own car. As a major geography nerd myself, I'd love to do something like this someday. There's something so human about putting yourself in the environment of others, if only for a short amount of time. Loved this video :)

[charitycarey]

For those of us who were born and raised in "Misery" yes we grew up poor but we grew up fed and loved and we are damn proud of our little towns thank you for making Missouri look so crappy a

[farmhand]

I think most Missourians are happy to be here. In southern Missouri we have some of the most beautiful and cleanest rivers in America. When you were describing St. Joseph you were describing a bunch of towns all over the US.

[FairyFrequency]

The old architecture in St. Jo is stunning and definitely selling super cheap.. Sad to see it falling into disrepair. We love our beautiful state of Missouri. Sending lots of love and peaceful energy to everyone reading these words.

[TheBigdutchster]

I lived in MO the majority of my life (in MI now) and they are the friendliest people in the entire country. If one can get past the very long, hot, and humid summers, it can be a great place to live. There are many great state parks. The southern part of the state has very mild winters and a long spring and fall. There are a lot of small towns that are nicer than St. Joe, Cape Girardeau comes to mind. Also, as particularly compared to CA, there is not a gigantic homeless problem.