St. Louis is a diamond in the rough...
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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…
David | Larkspur, CO