Content Analysis

Mike Haug
Dominic Micer
English 102
6 March 2009

Great Living in Evansville

When people are looking for places to live they look at what the city is all about and how it functions. Most people would first look at the crime rate, if they have well organized school corporations, and the cost of living. Learning how your city operates and functions is very important information before you decide on where to develop and raise your family.
From gathering information, Evansville, In. is one of the best places to raise your family and live in the mid-west. This claim is asserted for many reasons. For the major factors of why Evansville is a great place to live is because Evansville has a low crime rate, very involved schools, and plenty of activities for singles, families, and especially kids, and sports play a big role in it too. Evansville is the third largest city in Indiana but yet has a definite small town felling to it. As of 2008 the population of Evansville is around 115,000 people.
To start off why most people are drawn into the Evansville region is because of some interesting events and activities. To name of the most popular one of them include the fall festival which is almost one of the largest street festivals in the world. The fall festival is a great experience for the family. This is a place where you can take your family down to the festival and eat, play games, and ride rides and have a lot of fun.
One may argue that it is a little bit dangerous to take your kids down there do to the types of crowds and people that hang out downtown. Which is true but there are many ways to avoid these situations. These things include going down there during the day or before night when most people go down there. You could also go down there in big groups or with a lot of people that you know. Also just taking your kids down to the fall festival lets them know what it feels like to participate in local activities. Kids will be able to realize all of the different kinds of people and groups that participate in the festival around their communities. The advantages of taking your kids down to the festival totally outweigh the disadvantages. Another event that occurs in Evansville is the boat races, called Thunder on the Ohio. This also is a huge attraction that has been going on in Evansville for quite awhile now. The Frog Follies is also another event that takes place in Evansville. These are also other ways to share great family time in Evansville. These are some of the main events that occur in here and give Evansville a little bit of attention. With all these big events occurring in Evansville, the main focus around town is education.
Schools in this region are very important too. When looking at schools in Evansville they are outstanding. There are many public grades schools and they are very nice. Also there is a great selection of private schools around Evansville. Some statistics show that the average one teacher has about fifteen students which are very nice numbers and allows the teachers to have a lot of one on one time. The school corporations also spend about 6,590 dollars per student, which is about five hundred more dollars then the average spending of anywhere else around Indiana. (In. Schools) In the public schools, there are a lot of different races together, which I have experienced firsthand. This allows your kid to learn how to be interactive with different kinds of people, which is a very important thing in today’s society. The two main colleges here are the University of Southern Indiana and the University of Evansville which are both outstanding and constantly growing universities. They are great place to let your kids get the college experience but also still be in their hometown. There are also other colleges around Evansville that include Indian Business College and Ivy Tech community school. These colleges are filled with very outgoing people.
Evansville also has a very low crime rate compared to other cities in Indiana. Evansville has a crime rate of 388 incidents per 100,000 residents. The average incidents in Indiana are about 516 and the average for our nation is about 600 per 100,000 people (Crime Report). So as you can tell there is not a whole lot of crime involved throughout Evansville. Some may argue that these numbers are still pretty high. By looking at the map of crimes in Evansville, mostly all of them are occurring within about a five mile range around downtown. This means living on the outer suburbs could keep you away from a lot of related crimes. There are many things to do to steer away from crimes. First off research the neighborhood you want to live in before you move in. Understanding your neighborhood can keep you away from all the crime. Also you can inform your kids on what to watch out for, and deciding on where they go and on what they do to keep them away from high risk crime areas. There are also many places here to get away from all the crime that does occur.
The list of activities to do in Evansville is very long. There are many great places to take your whole family to. Things like going to our great zoo, the movie theaters, malls, museums, and events at the stadium are all great things for you and your kids to enjoy. Sports in Evansville are taken very seriously. There are multiply organizations your kids can get involved in to participate in sports. This will help you kids social skills improve by working with other teammates.
For a smaller town like Evansville we get a lot of big shows and concerts at our stadium. The main reason is because were also called the crossroads of America. Also entertainment for the adults is very well too. Adults can enjoy going to the Evansville’s riverboat, or many of the local clubs and sports bars around town. The selection of restaurants down here is also very good. The argument may come up that there is the same thing in the other big cities around Indiana, but around Evansville most of these attractions are not always crowded like other big cities because we don’t have such a great number in population. Another great thing about Evansville is that you are in really close distance to a lot of major cities in the mid-west. This allows you to be hours from top-notch entertainment.
With all of these great activities and places to visit most people would think the cost of living would be fairly high but it is not. Compared to the rest of the country, Evansville cost of living is 29.30% lower than the U.S. average. In Evansville there are a lot more affordable homes then most places around the U.S. Also the jobs around this area are very plentiful. With many big power plants and manufacturing companies it creates many job opportunities to the surrounding areas.
Some other reasons people find Evansville a great city is because of the frontier leagues that include the Evansville Otters baseball team, and the Evansville Blue-Cats indoor football league, also including Evansville Aces basketball team which are great to watch. All these games are cheap and really fun.
Overall Evansville is a great place to raise your children and also live compared to most places around the mid-west. With the crime low, many attractions, great schools, and low cost of living who wouldn’t want to live in Evansville. This is a great place to get started. Evansville has the atmosphere of a big city and the atmosphere of a small town at the same time. So this is a great place for people that want to have the big city picture but at the same time have a small hometown feeling. The kids will enjoy the sports, activities, and being able to bond with all the different kind of minorities throughout growing up.

Works Cited


Evansville Indiana Schools, Education March 6, 2009. Copyright 2007, http://schools.iaf.net/schools_by_city/Evansville.IN.html

Evansville city, Indiana, U.S. Census Bureau 2005-2007. March 1, 2009. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFac ts?_ event=search_state

Crime Report for Evansville Crime Statistics. March 7, 2009.
http://www.homesurfer.com/crimereports/view/crime_report.efm?state=IN&area=Evansville

Evansville Courier Press
University of Southern Indiana’s Shield