St. Louis, MO Reviews

garden variety midwest city - 6/23/2008
Somewhat centralized city population. Stay away from northern half of city & East Saint (across the river) Louis if possible. These are Higher crime run down or less desirable areas. There are pockets of revamped areas which are now relatively safe starting in since about 2005+?. There is a lot of 'city flight' to myriad of new quickly built housing developments. There is still much perfectly good neighborhoods & school districts. Saint Louis Children's hospital is a fantastic hospital located west of downtown as part of a massive Barnes medical complex. Great science Read More

Typical Mid-west city with lots to offer - 6/12/2008
Basically, STL offers decent big city shopping and activities, an excellent Washington University with top-ranked graduate programs, a top 3-4 medical school (depending on the year of the rankings), in a VERY affordable package with pockets of high crime that you can easily avoid (because you can actually afford to live in a nicer neighborhood).

Whether you like it or not largely depends on where you are from. My friends who are from the Northeast hated it there because it's too laid back and quiet and did not have enough night life or restaurants (but they admit people are so friendly and drivers are so well-behaved). My friends from the midwest or south like it just fine.

The details:


I lived in St. Louis for 8 years. Like any other city, if you live in shady parts of town, there's a lot of crime. But guess what? You can choose to live in safe areas that are still affordable. I live in Brookline, MA now; very very safe area, but Read More

Power Lines Everywhere - 6/4/2008
I moved here recently and, having previously lived in many different cities, I have to say that I have never seen a place with so many visible power lines. They are everywhere--streets, yards, even connected to houses. Most cities bury these lines underground, but for some reason, that is not done here, at least for the most part. This really takes away from the beauty of the city. Also, I have to agree that the roads are in bad need of repair. Go visit a 'newer' city, like Phoenix, and you will see a vast difference in both of these Read More

IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO COME LIVE HERE DON'T DO IT. - 6/1/2008
Saint Louis is a Mid American city. St Louis is a mid western city. St. Louis is a middle to low brow city with very little to offer culturally which has any stimulating quality. You will read about the architecture and the parks; you will read about the universities and colleges; you will read about the night life. Please do not believe a word of it. A grain of salt, please.
(You will also read about the high crime (tue)and poor schools (also true). But those are issues beyond the scope of this comment).
Yes, there is fine architecture in St. Louis, though you most likely won't be able to buy it. There was much more fine architecture before the low brow politicians and even lower browed developers pulled it down,wiping out a vast architectural history from Victorian to Art Deco to 50's moderne and destroying the soul of the downtown and the city proper, as well. It was destroyed for two reasons: to shift the black population and to get white people out of the city Read More

STL & Schools - 3/15/2008
Great private schools but the public schools are Read More

St. Louis - Pros/Cons - 2/16/2008
Pros:
1. A lot of things to do, including visiting the Gateway Arch
2. Diverse economy
3. Low cost of living and housing
4. Affordable place to live
5. School system is better than in many big cities

Cons:
1. Very high crime rate
2. High unemployment
3. Very polluted
4. Huge problems with gangs and drugs
5. Russian Mafia presence
6. One of the worst places to live in the Read More

Wasteland City, U.S.A. - 2/10/2008
If people truly, in their heart, feel safe in the City of St. Louis, then something is definitely not right with them. According to the FBI, St. Louis has an amazing 2,000 violent crimes committed per 100,000 residents (where 450 is the national average and a 700 is considered high). I have visited St. Louis several times, and I think it is a wasteland ridden with crime, trash, gangs, and drugs. But that's not the whole story! A friend of mine told me that he knew this woman who worked for this guy in St. Louis, but she quit after finding out that he worked for the Russian Mafia. You heard that right -- St. Louis not only has generic street gangs, but the Russian Mafia as well!

St. Louis, being the wasteland that it is, does have a few positives. The school system, while not exactly great, is better than in many big cities. The cost of living and housing is low. The economy is very diverse, and there are plenty of things to do (such as visiting the Gateway Arch), but Read More

Response to Sifur - 1/10/2008
Chicago, a city I lived in for around one decade, is far more segregated than this would-be Jim Crow bastion of hatred 300 mi to its south, the much-maligned STL. I live in an upper middle class 'burb, and my block is as racially diverse as they come, and I've been everywhere (Mr Cash, RIP: I apologize). I'm out of touch with the city, perhaps? No: My block is about one mile north of the city limits, and I frequent the city often. The phenomenon I describe is common down there too, and is present in working class neighbourhoods. In fact, it is present in most STL n'hoods. Compare that to Chicago, where entire blocks are limited to ethnic/racial groups, and we have a refreshing phenomenon: STL, a mere 300 odd miles N of the Deep South (the MS line) is more integrated than its Northern "enlightened" big brother. Yes, it's true: In Chicago, there are virtually exclusively Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Palestinian, Black, South American, Central American, Pakistani, Orthodox Jewish, more Liberal Read More

Rebuttal of Another Review - 12/21/2007
I ran across this website the other day with loads of information to compare the cost of living, economics, schools, crime, etc. of all kinds of cities around the US. I thought it was an interesting site. It's www.bestplaces.net

While looking at the information about St. Louis, I noticed the list of reviews for the city. Of course, they were mixed with some people liking it and others hating it. I would expect that for any city. I found one review very interesting. It was written by a lady with a screen name Lady Bug.

There are so many things I'd like to say about this review. The first thing is, that this lady lives in Wentzville. Yes, WENTSVILLE and is giving her opinion on St. Louis. So, here is my rebuttal to the uniformed suburban view of this city:

"one of the ugliest cities in America" - Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This city is a wealth of architecture and old housing stock. Someone from the Northwest surely can't Read More

A Rebuttal to LadyBug's Screed (Sperling wouldn't - 12/18/2007
This is a melancholy, put-down-STL review. And that's okay, because this is how LadyBug feels. However, I am not originally from here. I was born on Lake Ontario: That's very very far from here and mighty different in every way. The commute?! Now give me a break: Compared to any city of even medium size (and STL borders on the "large") the commutes here are an absolute joke. The roads ARE being repaired, and now plenty of people whine and gripe about the resultant road closures. So you cannot make everyone happy; that's axiomatic. I find plenty here to make me happy. I have lived in Chicago, DC, Baltimore, you name it and wow, to me this is just the right place, with just the right balance. Ugly?! You must be taking the wrong roads: Try Forest Park Parkway, and even that highway that should be called I-64: The views are breathtaking year round. The parks are nothing special?! Forest Park is INTERNATIONALLY renown as one of the greatest parks in the US. No, it's not Central Park, but Read More