St. Louis, MO Reviews

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 Read More

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 Read More

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.  Read More

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 Read More

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 Read More

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 Read More

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.  Read More

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 Read More

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? Read More

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. Read More