Like everything in Springfield, it literally is block by block. I live on Fort by Walnut and the most problems we have are people talking loudly. We have several families that have bought homes as well as some remodels going on. My street is doing well, but go two blocks over and there's a lot of crime. There's also a trap house diagonal to me but so far it's just been entertaining. I feel like I have more of a community and feel looked out for more here than the 20 years my mom's been in her neighborhood (she still doesn't know her neighbor's names).

Do you have any cross streets? Everything varies street to street almost on this side of town. Edit: remove something

I lived in WC and wouldn’t go back. I moved out in a hurry after my security system picked up someone in our back yard looking through our windows while holding a gun.

Before that I had tons of trouble with property crime but nothing that made us feel unsafe, just that we couldn’t own anything nice that we didn’t want stolen.

After living in West Central, I feel that I can say this: don’t. It’s not looking up. I had so many weird and unsettling things happen. A police car chase ended in my front yard. Peeping toms. So much foot traffic- but usually people rooting through your garbage or walking through your yard. Had my car broken into. It’s a shame, because there are some cool old houses and it’s in a decent location- no offense to those that live there and I’m sure many have had better experiences- but I’m so glad we moved out of that part of town.

Neighborhood is on the up. While I live off Grant - we do get noise from downtown (sirens, pedestrians, etc). There are some less attractive houses and properties that continue to be neglected or downright abandoned, but a lot of the previous slum-lord like property owners have lately off loaded or entirely sold. Some have cleaned up very nicely. This has gone with some tax breaks offered along with the next section below:

Grant Avenue parkway, bike path and shopping plans have provided a vision for the neighborhood to continue improving and increasing in value. Downtown has been expanding and touches the neighborhood. The biggest sign was the Kum and Go on Grant and Mount Vernon closing. So all that said, I’m sure other property management and large scale owners have come in where the previous ones left - only they are doing some massive renovations on some.

I actually have grown to like it over the past 5 years a lot. There’s a neighborhood group on Facebook that organizes events and cleanups etc

Currently living in WC and I have lots of unsolicited people going through my garbage. I’ve had to go out and yell a few times. The worst thing that has happened is someone hitting my mailbox (?) not sure why, but whatever. On the flip side, I have left open my garage during the night (by accident) with tools, a challenger, and other items and nothing was out of place. It’s hit or miss for sure but summer you should expect more activity to happen from side walkers.

I live on Walnut and we love it. It is close enough to walk to the things we enjoy downtown.

We bought way more house for the money than we could get elsewhere with a big lot. The house is an early 1900s house with tons of character that was lovingly remodeled.

There is a lot of pedestrian traffic. We had a porch pirate problem so we built a picket fence and that has resolved that.

There are pockets that are way worse. But as previously mentioned the Grant Avenue parkway is going to be a big deal.

There is a house near me that needs to be torn town and I’ve been a part of that process. It is moving forward for demo soon* and I am hopeful about it.

I live in west central now, other than an occasional random cutting through my backyard it's been OK, but I adjusted my fence, I have a garage and I have motion detection flood light cameras.

I accidentally left my garage open and nobody took anything, so each their own.

I'll repeat what others have said: It varies.

I've lived off Market north of Grand for 13 years. It has gotten better, but it's definitely nowhere close to "good". Random people walk down the street - in the street, rarely on the sidewalk - poking through trash dumpsters or trying to bum cigarettes. Things have been stolen from my porch, everything from chairs to houseplants... but those stopped once I installed a motion-sensing light.

I lived on West Madison from mid-2016 to mid-2017. People were brutally beaten with a crowbar multiple times, someone got stabbed, a woman was shot to death. Our next-door neighbor constantly did meth and heroin and would ask to borrow our electricity with an extension cord bc he couldn’t afford it. Our house got broken into, our fence was graffitied, gunshots every single night.

I could go on and on.. this was all in only a year’s time. I would say 90% of crime in that area does not get reported. Living there, I learned that in “rough” neighborhoods, people handle things themselves and cops are rarely called. If I were you, I’d visit the area you’re looking at during the night a few times as that’s when it typically gets crazy in my experience.

Don't... Just don't. Especially if you have school aged children. Seriously. I moved from the area a few years ago. Myself and my children were born and raised in Missouri. I raised all 3 of my kids in the Springfield area. Had several friends in the areas of Scenic/Madison/Golden. We loved it there for a very long time. From 1990-2018 it was all we had known. I hated leaving but It deteriorated SOOOO bad year after year. Although I'm not at all sure where one could go to feel safe now days.

What part of west central are you talking about bc one street can be bad vs another?

I would also love to know what everyone thinks about the actual Westside if anyone has any opinions about that area

I’ve lived on WC at various addresses for about 7 years now. It’s gotten better for sure. I live on S Campbell and have had plants stolen off my porch, and one time someone ditched a stolen car in my driveway lol

I lived on Elm Arcade. A meth head tried to abduct my toddler through a crack in our front door, the second night we lived in the duplex. I opened the door a crack and she was standing there. Asked a bunch of questions about my kid, then tried to get my kid to come to her. We had to purchase a shot gun and an aluminum baseball bat. After this incident, a couple days later, my wife was home with my daughter and had to go get the gun to get the meth head and her boyfriend away from our duplex. They wouldn’t quit trying to talk to her, and she just wanted to leave the house safely. They refused to back up off our porch, so she let them know. They finally moved out within that month. The crackheads behind us were in the process of being evicted (found this out from the owner, who stopped by one afternoon to ask about who had been in the house and stolen tools and broken the fence). They came at night and started big ass fires to sit by. They had the FD by there more than once to put the fire out. The old lady who lived 2 doors down from us was a heroin addict who moved dudes in and out of her place. We work in healthcare and she knew that. One of her boy toys OD on heroin. We gave CPR and narcan. Two weeks later, same dude does the same thing. We administer CPR and narcan. Drains weren’t draining, contacted the landlord. Landlord’s plumber says there were drugs and needles clogging the line that runs from all the duplexes. We assume they tried to dispose of the drugs after the second OD, thinking we would call the cops. But they refused 911, so we never called. Had some dude with a black covering over his head run up to me while I was smoking a cigarette on my porch and tell me he was running from the cops, could he have a cigarette. I told him no and to get the fuck off my porch. He took off running. Still don’t know if he was actually running from the cops. All of this happened from mid-December 2022 through mid-May 2022, when we finally had enough and moved to Ozark.
Stray cats and dogs. SNAKES. The neighborhood roads don’t seem to be taken care of as well as others in the city. Takes forever to get to a highway, or to anywhere, really, due to location. The neighbors we had that weren’t crackheads mostly stayed to themselves. They would wave rarely, but otherwise left everyone else alone. A neighbor at the end of the road stopped us while we were on a family walk one afternoon to talk, but she was really nice. You just gotta be choosy and be prepared to protect yourself, even on the Southside of Springfield, or anywhere. Make sure you keep your doors and windows locked when you’re not at home, and even when you are. We installed an extra lock on our door when we lived on Elm Arcade, after the whole attempting to steal my kid thing happened. Be aware of your surroundings. Make sure your porch light is on, always, and is a bright light. Get an anti theft system in your car and do routine checks. I know that sounds paranoid, but you’ll be grateful when you notice that someone backed into your car sometime overnight and left marks if you’re walking around your car often. Be prepared to get in your car when you walk out of your door - keys in hand, no distractions. It depends a lot on the location in West Central. Some streets are alright, but they get a little of the spillover when shit goes real bad on another close street. Some streets avoid like the plague. Some streets only be on during the day. My advice is to drive the area during the day, during the evening, and after midnight. Do it on weekdays and weekends. Observe. See if people are at home in bed, expecting to work tomorrow, or if there are a lot of lights on with people up at 3AM with nothing to do. See if vehicles are left running at 3AM, waiting for someone to go to work. See if people are out walking their pets, or are out with their kids. With the exception of Elm Arcade (due to circumstances) everywhere I have ever lived, I have scoped the area out for a few weeks before deciding if I want to live there. So far, I’ve been able to keep myself and my family safe doing that. But really, use common sense! :) and good luck finding something beautiful!! I hope it works out for you.

I live in an apartment building here, so very likely a different experience. But at least from outside noises and such, it's quieter than when I used to live around Glenstone and Cherry.

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I love west central. If you stay to yourself and don’t let heads get to you then you will be ok. People are usually very nice.

I really love this area. Yes there are homeless going through garbage sometimes but for me personally the only thing that bothers me is in the spring some negligent fuckers let dogs run free. My dog is old and I hate the idea of her being hurt. Other than a few random issues it's fine. The crime is way overblown by some people.

Not first hand but my friend lived on S Newton between Mt Vernon and Grand,she never had any issues but the abandoned house across the street did.

Lots of obvious cameras and some not so obvious ones.

Lots and lots of motion lights.

Lock your stuff, don't leave anything out that you want to keep.

Leave your yard or porch a little messy, seriously, if a crackhead sees a nice tidy well kept up house they are going to assume you have shit worth stealing, if they pass by a house that looks like every other house on the block or slightly worse they're gonna keep looking for a nice house.

If you buy something nice keep the box or throw it away at work, don't leave the box for your new game console or TV on the side of the road next to your can otherwise someone might decide they want it more than you do.

Stay armed. It helps to occasionally open cary to your car or something so people around know you're armed and probably not worth the trouble. (Don't be a jackass, if you do decide staying armed is a right you choose to exercise do it properly and safely)

It's all about making the thief/attacker/tweaker/whatever think twice and just pick an easier target.

And don't be afraid to call the cops, don't do it in an obvious fashion cause you don't want the neighbors to think you're a snitch and retaliate but if you see some suspicious shit (tweakers breaking in to abandoned houses or trespassing where they definitely shouldn't be) call and have them roll by eventually word will get out that cops are always in the area and to steer clear. But remember you can't actually rely on SPD to save you, that responsibility is up to you and you alone.

Get cameras, ring doorbell or something similar.There are security companies that provide off site surveillance and can give you a bundle deal. Cameras, lights and plain, visible no trespassing signs, and signs stating surveillance on the property. Lights near the doors should be the brightest of course. Possibly purchase a handgun and know how to shoot and use it. You can't go wrong with dogs who bark when someone approaches a fence.

With all that considered you've minimized your chances of a break in or theft on the property, but the one wild card that throws logic and reasoning out the window would be someone under the influence of meth.

Lives on west college when I was renting and honestly I had fewer problems than when I purchased in a much nicer neighborhood.

A lot went on, but I was left alone. In the nicer neighborhood people are more apt to think I might have something they want.

WC had a lot of domestic incidents. I saw multiple police chases, including on foot through my yard. But rarely did anyone actually interfere with me or my property. A couple times drugged out people wandered into my backyard at weird hours but they were more lost than anything else. Once a stolen car was abandoned in the alley. Nothing concerning as far as personal safety.

Now I live in an affluent neighborhood smack in the middle of the north side and I’ve seen it all. Had a methed out couple try to walk in my front door in the middle of the day. Found a guy hiding on my back deck at 3am. Have had outdoor decorations stolen.

Nowhere in Springfield is crime free. 🤷‍♀️

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