As a life time resident, I have mixed feelings... - 2/5/2024

I'm 65 and lived here my entire life. Growing up in St. Louis I've learned there is a like to like about it. Lots of first class Hospitals and Doctors, LOTS of great Restaurants and Shopping, LOTS of Public Parks, places to walk, trees and hills, nice old neighborhoods with great architecture, world class Zoo, Museums, Arts and Music, and lots of great Universities... The biggest down side is the weather and the taxes! HUMID sweltering Summers, freezing dreary gray Winters, Spring and Fall are way too short and filled with pollen, pollen and more pollen. While St. Louis has a relatively low cost of living, our property taxes are some of the highest in the country, as are the sales taxes and state income tax. Crime is hit and miss and while you can feel safe where you are, a mile away there may be gang violence and car-jackings. The difference in crime rates from municipality to municipality are ridiculous due to the racial and economic segregation. Mostly St. Louis and much of St. Louis County is liberal, but in general the state of Missouri is pretty far right wing.

[Comment on this Posting]

St. Louis is a diamond in the rough... - 12/26/2022

This is an outsider's perspective on St. Louis. Sometimes a fresh perspective looking in from the outside is helpful. I don't live there as of this writing (Dec 22) but will be moving there from CO's front range in 2023. Initially it was our plan to move to KC, but we found that KC lacks good ground water. St. Louis has excellent water wells for those who want to live on the outskirts of the city on some acreage. As for the city itself, I find it very appealing. It's cleaner than KC. Has less homelessness than KC, Denver, and Colorado Springs (for now). The people are healthier and happier than the people in KC for sure. There's a lot of money going into the city, both federal/government and private... New bars, new venues, new government facilitys, but government is always spending obviously. There's a conscious effort to unify the various pockets of the city through the new soccer stadium among other efforts and investments and I get the impression it's actually working. We drove the infamous N side of the city and while it was rough it wasn't filthy or scary and it's a fraction of the overall metropolitan area. As for the E side in IL... well, forget it's even there... it honestly doesn't feel like part of the city anyway with the mighty Mississippi running through it and has little to offer in my opinion other than misery, despair, and taxes. But what really makes St. Louis a great town is its storied history. The fact this city was once on the forefront of the world stage shines through to this day with endless architectural diversity for mile after mile. On top of that it still has a ton of ethnicity/culture which makes the food scene FAR better than any of the three cities I mentioned above. If you're a foodie, this town is a hidden gem! The bars and breweries are great too of course. And it’s still a sports town for those who are into that sort of thing, just without an NFL team. Taxes are a tad high compared to many places, be that income, sales, or property, but not outrageous either and certainly better than both KS and IL. Home prices are obviously cheap, but can be more expensive in many of the nicest pockets as in any city. Weather is nearly identical to KC with a bit less sun but also a hair warmer in winter. Sure, summers are humid, but your body adjusts, they invented air conditioning, and with all that money you saved on a house you can now afford a pool! At least the area is green and not water starved like CO. Many of the museums and attractions are free or cheap compared to CO which is great for families. They have a number of excellent parks as well. Head out to the W and SW of the city and you’ll find seemingly endless suburbs that are clean, safe, affluent, affordable, attractive, and loaded with shopping options. Most of the best rated suburbs in the state of MO are found within 30 min of downtown St. Louis… and some of those are consistently rated some of the best suburbs in America. The supermarkets are nice and quite varied. There are plenty of farmers markets around. And the airport is close in to the city unlike Denver and KC. So for us it was a surprising, and easy, choice over KC. We almost never looked at St. Louis for the bad rap it gets, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s a diamond in the rough and I kinda hope it stays that way… All the cities that get too popular go to hell in a handbasket within 20 years. Let’s hope this one avoids that fate…

[Comment on this Posting]

Great friendly city - 10/12/2022

I have travelled extensively and have lived in several other cities around the country. I chose to live in St. Louis city because it has many big city amenities with an easier lifestyle that is affordable. St. Louis has a bad reputation, mostly for crime, but it really is an entertaining, beautiful, and friendly city. There are wonderful parks, sports, business climate and jobs, great architecture, wonderful food, and plentiful and inexpensive housing. Yes, there is winter and it is hot in the summer but so what, it is nice to have some changes. The city metro area is 2.8 million, but the city center voted to separate itself from the county in the 1800's resulting in the actual "city" of St. Louis being 300k and only about 10% of the overall metro. This is what makes the crime statistics awful and misleading compared to other city metros the same size. There is work to do, for sure. A Lot of investment is happening though and things are improving.

[Comment on this Posting]

PEAKED IN HS VIBES. A CITY OF COMFORT. - 12/22/2021

PEAKED IN HS VIBES. A CITY OF COMFORT. Good city for middle-aged people who have kids and are settling down and want a white picket fence life. If you're young here- it is brutal. Nightlife can be very dangerous depending on ur crowd and if it's not that you will just be drinking with people from your highschool... This city is the definition of 'Peaked in HS'. People always ask what school you went to because they can judge how you grew up. STL is a big fish in small pond vibes. But the "Big fish" here, are not big. Very segregated as well. Many residents have a view of North county being dangerous when its just a black suburban area..Yes there are some bad areas but there are plenty of bad areas in south county too. Racism is real here. The School districts here have vibes of "If your black we don't want you here so we are going to target you and try to get you in trouble for every single thing" If you were raised in the city vs county, it is two completely different worlds. Pros- Affordable Good service Nice genuine people--- (But you will also meet the biggest snakes) WONDERFUL FOOD!!! That is the one thing I will give STL. the food is good and affordable. Imos, Chinamen, Mexican(you have to go out ur way to find it authentic, but when u do, so good.) Vess Sodas. Stl does have a culture to it Pretty parks. Stuff to do for little kids. CONS- Compliant people. It is the city of comfort. No opportunity's. Nobody travels outside of Stl or wants to see the world. Small minded. Need a car Same old same old- This is the place where people who like to eat at the same chain restaurant every Friday night live. I NEVER ONCE FELT ENERGY OF AMBITION IN THIS CITY! If I'm in NYC-MIA-ATL-LA, I feel the vibes of the city that motivate me, but I never felt that there. Overall, Good for people who wanna live a white picket fence life and like baseball. If you cannot get over highschool and miss it, move to STL, you will be right at home. It is a good city to work a decent job while you watch tv when you get home and go to a baseball game on the weekends. What people do here is watch baseball, sit on the couch all day, eat imos pizza, and repeat the next day.

[Comment on this Posting]

Best city in the world! (for me?) - 9/26/2020

Of all the places in this country, I have decided to move to St. Louis. It just seems like a wonderful place to live and call home. I found the cutest loft downtown for $100k, right in the heart of Washington Ave. It is right on top of the coolest bowling alley I have ever seen (flamingo bowl). I am the world's biggest baseball fan and now I can walk to "baseball heaven" in less then 15 min. I go to Catholic church a lot and downtown has two of the most beauitul churches anywhere! They are Vatican city Rome nice. I can take evening walks right down my street to historic Leclede's landing or the casino, I got my own national park 15 mins walk. If I walk the other way the most awesome fun museum ever (city museum) and the fox theater. Walk the other way, Enterprise center and opera house to watch some world class hockey and cultural events. Free (and gorgeous) public library .2 miles away, sculpture parks, historic courthouse, the most awesome train station ever with aquarium. Soon to be a new soccer/xfl stadium with even more fun stuff. Bars, clubs, restaurants and nitelife everywhere. The biggest river and great bridges etc.etc.etc. That is just my walking neighborhood! Lots of people say it is'nt even the best one. I got a train (and bike) that will take me to a lot of other cool spots. It is like Disneyland, you got downtown land, forrest park land, soulard land, tower grove land, delmar loop land, the hill land, etc. etc. Such an interesting place, it is not east coast, not west coast, not Europe, not the south, or north. It is an awesome combination of all that and more. With the best baseball/sports fans and very very affordable. I'm changing the nickname from the gateway city to the ugly duckling city! Such a beautiful place that does'nt realize it. Just a few of the reasons I choose STL over everyone else.

[Comment on this Posting]

Sad City that Could be Great - 9/6/2020

I've lived here and keep coming back for family. This city could have been great and is changing but has been a ghetto for some time. The crime is high; property values depressed. Family bought a home in a gated neighborhood (3 story historical mansion) for $350k. You can barely get a townhome in Colorado for that price. There is a reason. Pros: 1. Food. Way better than Denver. Ted Drewes, Rigazzis, it is the home of the toasted ravioli. The Italian market with the greatest coffee in the country. There are a ton of good brunch places. 2. Parks. Like Denver, this city loves its parks. Forest Park is great. A new greenway is going up over the former projects (why you shouldn't do anything St. Louis does for black people is in the cons section and [hint] it was racism) 3. Museums and Culture. Not on par with Chicago which is better than DC when it comes to museums but pretty great. You still have the Dread Scott courthouse (Seeing the theme yet), Arch, old Budweiser Brewery, the Omni, and more. 4. Universities. SLU literally bought half the dang ghetto. Its med school is among the best. Wash U in St Louis is a top 20 in the world school and you have respectable state school campuses. 5. Tech. The city has a decent tech employment sector. Wash U is the school for biotech after all. You have fintech, brew tech, recruiting companies, the works. Boeing was moving back at least until the whole debacle too. The city really prided itself in Lindbergh (theme of impending doom continues) 6. Nice suburbs. Chesterfield and some of the suburbs are really nice and mostly affordable compared to Denver. 7. Housing prices. The pro in the con. My relatives bought a 100+ year old $350k mansion in a gated neighborhood with three stories near forest park for the price of a 600 sq ft town home in all of Colorado except the plains and Pueblo (although.... Pueblo is gentrifying and Jesus I thought I'd never say that) 8. People. The people are mostly nice. It's like a cross between Southern charm and Midwest hospitality. Like your neighbor friend letting you use his pool. 9. Lakes, dams, and fishing are so close. MO is really the land of lakes. Avoid Mark Twain though it is filled with oil and God knows what. Cons: 1. Racism. It destroyed the city. With Ferguson, it literally has. If you walk into the area where (yep this apparently happens in the US) the blacks were relegated you will be met with spite from centuries of abuse. It's real here and it really made this city a complete disaster by the 2000s. 2. This is the city that could have been. Downtown kinda turned around a little but man did this place fall apart since the time my grandparents were kids. The stories of St. Louis as a world class city are depressing. 3. Crime. My aunt recently saw a police officer get killed by being pinned between 2 cars. She lives in an areas that was middle class when she was a kid. New Yorkers talk like they live in St. Louis County, New Orleans, or West Chicago. 4. Sports. Hockey is great (my favorite) but no basketball or anything else outside of college sports now. Guess why they don't have a basketball team. Yup, racism.

[Comment on this Posting]

You Can't Gloss Over The Bad Aspects Of St. Louis - 8/7/2020

8/7/20 I left St. Louis, MO (University City) in 2006 and haven't looked back. It continually becomes more dangerous to live there. Property taxes are high. Traffic noise is unabated.

[Comment on this Posting]

St. Louis : A Renaissance City - 4/28/2019

St. Louis is a city on the brink of becoming great again. I’ve been a resident of St. Louis since 2001, living just about every where (North County, St. Charles, South County), but now make my home in the beautiful Benton Park neighborhood of the City of St. Louis. The city gets a bad wrap for crime, but people fail to realize that crime happens everywhere! The media sensationalism is ridiculous. I feel safe, my wife and 2 daughters feel safe. In relation to violent crime, if you go looking for trouble, you’ll probably find it. St. Louis has ton of free cultural things to do, with more amenities being built as we speak. It’s a great place to raise a family in that regard. Schools are ok, better if you can get your child into a magnet school, if you live in the City. My philosophy on schools is that teachers don’t show up daily to not teach children. There is a degree of learning that has to happen at home to make your child successful, so I don’t typically fall into the “school ratings” crap. The job market is great here. There is a growing tech scene. Foodies will enjoy it here. Housing is plentiful and affordable to buy or rent. Beautiful brick! Don’t fall into the trap of believing what the media says about this great town. Plan a trip or move your family here. You’ll love it!

[Comment on this Posting]

Undiscovered Gem - 2/11/2017

So much culture, either completely free or very low cost, and of a quality that you would expect in a much larger city. Major food city, James Beard award winners every year, crossroads of cuisine types. Huge theater scene. Botanical Garden one of top 3 in the world. It just goes on and on. Many lovely neighborhoods in the city and in the inner ring suburbs. People are SO friendly. Inexpensive. What's not to love?

[Comment on this Posting]

ST Louis is The worst place to live. EVER!!!!!!!!! - 7/27/2016

ST Louis is The worst place to live, especially if you have young children. Your children 3+? you Ok, but there is only so many times you can go to the zoo, Magic house or museums. 0 to 3.. NOTING to do at all!!!!! Summers are so horrible hot and hummed that you fell like a prisoner. Another this is Electricity black outs. LOOOONG ones too. 24hous + min. During the summer or winter. OMG. Can you belie it? In this day and age St Louis till runs on steam!!!!Violent weather, tons of bugs .UGH People: All stairs.... What school did you go to.???? Who cares. They are born and almost never get out .The only few people that move around see that there is better life out there. Its is NOT in St Louis. Sorry.

[Comment on this Posting]

St. Louis City - 4/13/2015

Best kept secret. Incredibly affordable and accessable. Beautiful neighborhoods with tree lined streets and quality historic brick homes. Art galleries, theatre and live music is more than abundent. World- class universities (over 20 colleges in the city). I doubt that there is a city in the U.S. that can match the cost of living, conveniences & amenities of St. Louis City.

[Comment on this Posting]

Saint Louis - 11/4/2014

Saint Louis sucks for black people. Yes, a lot of places sucks for black people, but Saint Louis really sucks for black people. If you are young, black & educated, I don't really think I need to advise you not to move to the STL area, but in case you didn't know..don't move to the STL area. The racism here is just along the lines of uncomfortable & altogether stupid. Also, if you are a single black female, especially over the age of 27, finding a half-way suitable mate is next to impossible.

[Comment on this Posting]

The St. Louis METRO area is not No 1 in crime - 11/1/2014

The St. Louis METRO area is not #1 in crime, not even close. Crime stats are being reported for the St. Louis City only and then compared to the metro stats for everyone else. That is comparing apples to oranges. Anyway- St. Louis Rocks!

[Comment on this Posting]

St. Louis - 1/5/2014

It's great.

[Comment on this Posting]

DONT - 12/26/2013

Lived here all my life. I'll keep it short and sweet. Dangerous, Poor housing market, sorry race relations, racism, sagging job market, brutal winters, lazy cops (want to get away with a crime? Move to Ain't Louis, Misery). Plan to move when I can unload these two homes (had to rent one because the market was too bad to sell and the cops didn't put an end to the harassment from a neighbor, though they arrested her several times and she's had over 30 restraining orders). It's trying to grow, but why try to entice people to move here when they'll just get robbed/beaten/murdered anyway? Anytime a white person comments on how bad race relations are you know the city has a problem. People steal the shine off of spit. Porch plants, Xmas bows on doors, you name it.

[Comment on this Posting]

Believe the stats - 12/26/2013

Born and raised here, and looking for a place to relocate. Problem is, I have two homes I'll need to unload in a dismal housing market. Was being harassed by a neighbor and the cops did nothing, so I (and many others) had to rent our homes because we couldn't sell. Now I have two homes. I'm surrounded by renters because owners lost their homes, which means the neighborhood is declining. Therefore I HAVE to wait for the market to improve (4 bedroom next door sold for under $50,000). Violence is horrible. Dumb, senseless crimes by bored young adults and the legal system is a joke. Want to get away with a crime? Move to St. Louis. Only good thing about it is the cost of living. Otherwise it's like living in quicksand. And don't get me started on the racial tensions. When white people talk about how racist a city is you KNOW you have a problem.

[Comment on this Posting]

Looking for a 3 bdr house, 1 bath in the city - 8/31/2013

Is it possible to find a house for under $16,000 in the inner city, if it's not in a gang area? Thanks for your comments.

[Comment on this Posting]

St. Louis - 6/25/2013

Love St. Louis, Love the Cardinals, Love the River front around the Arch. Great City.

[Comment on this Posting]

Schools - 3/31/2013

For secondary school education in St. Louis, there is a wide variety of choices. In addition to day schools, there are also boarding school options. There are large schools and very small schools. All-boys, all-girls, and co-ed are all well-represented. Some schools are secular, others have a religious affiliation. The amazing thing is that each school has something very special to offer. This is a great place to raise children!

[Comment on this Posting]

Depends on your goals and part of town you're in.. - 2/11/2013

I've lived in St.Louis my entire life and planning to make a change very soon! I'm 31, an African American woman, business owner, and single mother of two. I do pretty well for myself, (we live in a LARGE town home 2bd 3bth for $800)in South St.Louis, the best part of St.Louis if you asked me. It's more cultured and the people in the area don't carry that racial tension on them as they do in some other parts of St.Louis. The con of growing up in St.Louis is the school system. If you're African American and grew up in a low income part of the area, your education will be low budget! Sure they have magnet schools, but if you're child is Af.Am...look forward to be put on the BOTTOM of the list! St.Louis city is becoming more diverse and with the mixed incomes, it seems that "other" ethnicities get the first available classroom seat for their child. It was even mentioned to me when filling out the magnet school form for my youngest child, to put he was "other" on the application instead of Af.Am!! An advantage of living in St.Louis is that if you want your name to be well known and you love to network...this is the perfect city. It's soooo small that it's easy to get in front of the right people to help you launch almost anything. Meet one person... tell them what your plans are... and they know somebody that knows somebody. South St.Louis has amazing neighborhood restaurants and pubs. Just walk out your door and you can enter a cafe or enjoy fine dining. I'd end by saying with all my pros, I still want to leave St.Louis because I believe that in my profession I have reached my full potential here...it's time to take my show on the road so that I can be exposed to more opportunities!

[Comment on this Posting]