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.
