Choosing a St. Louis Community Based on Commute Time to Work

Where is the best part of St. Louis to live?

It’s a question that gets asked often when we work with people moving to St. Louis or who are buying their first home.

The truth is that there isn’t just one answer.

There are a lot of great parts of town. The area which is best for you depends on a number of factors.

After working with relocating and local buyers for years, we have a pretty good idea of where most buyers will choose to live once we know the answers to these 6 key questions.

6 Questions to Answer When Deciding Where to Live:

Where is your office located?
How long is an acceptable commute time to work?
What is your price range?
Do you strongly prefer newer homes or historic homes, or are you open to the age of a home?
Do you prefer urban, suburban or rural communities?
Do you have children who will be attending the public schools?

Did you notice that the 1st two questions have to do with your commute time to work?

It doesn’t matter if you are moving to St. Louis and are unfamiliar with the traffic patterns or you are a long-time resident who is willing to consider homes in a number of neighborhoods.

The first step in narrowing down the options of where to live is to decide how long you are willing to spend in the car to get to work every day.

Of course, there are other factors that may be important to you such as:

If you plan to commute via train, where are the MetroLink stations and which ones have a parking lot?
Where are local dog parks?
Which communities are walkable?
Where can you get a large yard?
Where does a particular racial, religious or ethnic group live?
Which areas are up & coming, and offer the best investment potential?
Where can you buy a 2 or 4 family building so you can live in one of the units and have rental income?

The list can go on and on.

Clearly, there isn’t a single answer to the question “Where is the best place in St. Louis to live?”

While there will always be exceptions, we’ve found that commute time is the best place to start when buyers haven’t selected a community where they want to live.

Popular Places to Live If you Work…

To help you get started, we have identified some of the most popular areas to live in St. Louis based on where you work.

Downtown:

Major employers include: Ameren, Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield, AT&T, Bank of America, CPI Corp., Fleishman Hillard, HOK, Ralcorp, NestlePurina, Peabody Energy, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo Advisors

Urban: Downtown Loft District, Central West End, Soulard, Lafayette Square, South City
Historic Suburbs: Clayton, University City, Webster Groves, Kirkwood
Suburban: Creve Coeur, Town & Country, South County, Florissant
Affordable: South City, South County, Florissant
Luxury: Central West End, Clayton, Ladue, Frontenac, Town & Country

Clayton:

Major employers include: Centene Corporation, Armstrong Teasdale, Brown Shoe Company, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Washington University, Rubin Brown, Graybar Electric Company, Barry-Wehmiller Companies and Husch Blackwell Sanders

Urban: Central West End, Tower Grove Park area
Historic Suburbs: Clayton, Ladue, University City, Richmond Heights, Brentwood
Suburban: Town & Country, Des Peres, Frontenac, Chesterfield, Creve Coeur, Ballwin
Affordable: South City, Tower Grove Park area, Maplewood, Rock Hill
Luxury: Clayton, Ladue, Frontenac, Town & Country, Huntleigh, Des Peres

Chesterfield:

Major employers include: Pfizer, St. Luke’s Hospital, Parkway School District

Urban: South City
Historic Suburbs: Kirkwood, Webster Groves, Richmond Heights, Brentwood
Suburban: Chesterfield, Wildwood, Ballwin, Ellisville, O’Fallon
Affordable: Ellisville, Ballwin, Valley Park, O’Fallon
Luxury: Chesterfield, Wildwood, Clayton, Ladue, Town & Country

Creve Coeur:

Major employers include: Monsanto, Microsoft, Reuters, Mercy Hospital (formerly St. John’s Mercy Hospital)

Urban: Central West End
Historic Suburbs: University City
Suburban: Creve Coeur, Chesterfield, Ballwin, Maryland Heights, Olivette
Affordable: Maryland Heights, Olivette, Florissant
Luxury: Chesterfield, Wildwood, Clayton, Ladue, Town & Country, Frontenac, Huntleigh

Airport Area:

Major employers include: Lambert International Airport, Boeing, Covidien, GKN

Urban: Central West End
Historic Suburbs: University City, Florissant, Bel-Nor, Pasadena Hills
Suburban: Creve Coeur, Maryland Heights, St. Charles, O’Fallon, St. Peters, Wentzville
Affordable: Florissant, Hazelwood, Bridgeton, St. Charles
Luxury: Chesterfield, Clayton, Ladue

O’Fallon:

Major employers include: MasterCard, CitiMortgage and True Manufacturing

Historic Suburbs: St. Charles
Suburban: O’Fallon, St. Peters, Cottleville, Dardenne Prairie, Defiance, Weldon Spring
Affordable: O’Fallon, St. Charles, Wentzville
Luxury: Chesterfield, Wildwood

For each of the areas above, there are more options that fit into each category. I also left out some areas with big employers including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Maritz, Emerson Electric, Charter Communications, and many more.

If the area you work is not listed, or you would like assistance in identifying the best places to live, contact us for a personal consultation.