I grew up in KC, and lived there as an adult for a little less than ten years until moving north last year.

I've lived in MD, AL, TX, MO, and MN as an adult. MO has the worst DMV services out of all of them.

If you're a gardener, the growing season is long and you can grow a lot with very little effort depending on where you're at.

The BBQ is unbeatable, but it's not the only great food to be had.

If you are not a heterosexual white male, or at least present as one, it's a very unpleasant place to exist, not the metro so much, but the state itself.

The politics are ever present and have gotten more and more hateful the last 30 years.

There's a bunch of churches, if you like those.

The summer can get very humid and hot, and the winters can still get quite cold, though the amount of snow also seems less than when I was young, I'd have to check the data on that one though.

I witnessed a drive-by shooting a few years ago on the way home from work.

You maybe should take my experience with a grain of salt, I hate Missouri now. I was forced to move away from family and friends, the first home I'd ever owned, and am still dealing with the emotional fallout of feeling like the state is trying to criminalize your family for existing.

I'm lucky enough to work fully remotely now so I could choose where to live and I could afford to move pretty much wherever we wanted, and I chose to move to Minnesota.

So, grain of salt and all, but I used to be proud to be from Missouri, I've unironically said "That sounds nice and all, but I'm from Missouri, you're gonna have to show me." Maybe that sentiment meant something once, but the confirmation of facts and attitude of skepticism is long dead in that state.

If you have to move to the region for work or something I'd recommend Kansas over Missouri at this point. It's slightly less determined to turn the clock back to 1860.

Oh that reminds me, Missouri Town is pretty cool, you should check that out.

ETA: Fireworks availability and legal weed are pretty dope too. So, bread and circuses at least. Eating some gummies and going to Missouri Town would be a vibe.