SperlingViews - Rock_Island, Illinois

Pros: 1. Extremely low cost of living 2. Affordable place to live Cons: 1. High crime rate 2. Poor school system 3. Not much to do[read more...]

Rock Island has a varied background and contains many cultural and historic areas. It has been improving its school system and is in a metropolitan area which contains two private 4-year colleges, two Junior Colleges, a satelite campus of a State University a College of Chiropractic and several business schools. The area known as the Quad City Area (QCA) is home to the home offices of Deere and Company and at least two major insurance companies.[read more...]

I just moved here for work one year ago. Moving from San Francisco here was a shock but ultimatelly good. The community is a typical midwestern small town. It is part of the Quad Cities but the more modern contemporary section is in Davenport/Bettendorf Iowa. Rock Island/Moline has very affordable homes, one large shopping mall, Black Hawk Community College, and the private Augustana College. A big detriment is the lack of an Illinois public university. A branch of Western Illinois University is here but a student typically needs to commute to the main campus to finish a Batchelor' degree. There are pockets of criminal activity centered around gangs and drug trafficking but they are centered in a small area and the rest of the city seems problem free.[read more...]