anyone from St. Louis area?

[cjnix29]

DH just called about a potential job relocation to St. Louis, MO. My DIS peeps were very helpful when we moved to Grand Rapids Michigan, so hoping the same holds true for St. Louis! Expensive housing? Schools? I think he will be working downtown, so he will want as painless a commute as possible (yeah, I know, there will be pain, but if it is at all possible to minimize this, that would be great.) Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Hi neighbor!

I'm actually about 60 miles West of Downtown, so defintely not where you want to be (commuted in for many years). But, I'm sure some folks can help. What are you wanting? City life? Suburbs? A little acreage?

 

[taylor1293]

DH just called about a potential job relocation to St. Louis, MO. My DIS peeps were very helpful when we moved to Grand Rapids Michigan, so hoping the same holds true for St. Louis! Expensive housing? Schools? I think he will be working downtown, so he will want as painless a commute as possible (yeah, I know, there will be pain, but if it is at all possible to minimize this, that would be great.) Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

We used to live in the area before we moved to FL. Look on the Illinois side too. O'Fallon, Shiloh, Belleville. The commute isn't too bad from these locations to downtown. Good schools and affordable housing.

Good luck .

 

[alymae1010]

I live in O'Fallon, IL and work dowtown. There is construction going on because they are building a new bridge, so the commute can vary from 20 minutes to 45 minutes currently. Hopefully that will be done soon, and alleviate some of the congestion. There is also a light rail system that runs from IL to the airport, so a lot of people take advantage of that.

Edwardsville and O'Fallon were actually just named the 2 top cities in IL to raise a family. Good schools, and growing. I'm sure there are some great spots in Missouri too, I'm just not as familiar with them.

 

[NotUrsula]

There have been a couple of large threads on this topic over the past couple of years, here are links:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3091212

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2510505

 

[Maddies Mama]

I lived on the IL side for several years, commuting past downtown a few additional miles. I felt the commute to the downtown area was easy-peasy, but maybe that's because I had to keep going past downtown an additional 15-20 minutes! Lived in Fairview Heights and Mascoutah, plus for about a year we lived at Scott, the military base there. The commute from IL is so easy IMO, it's a straight shot down I-64. I've since moved from the area 3 years ago and am not sure how the new bridge will affect getting into downtown (aside from the obvious initial construction phase that's ongoing right now) but I would urge you into looking into the metro east. O'Fallon has excellent schools and is right off of the interstate. Ample shopping, restaurants, things to do and areas of O'Fallon are just rural enough that you're still close to everything but far enough away to get some space if that's more your style of living. St. Louis is a wonderful place to raise a family and I was bummed we moved away when my daughter was getting to the age where she could appreciate all of the amazing kid-friendly attractions around town - the world class zoo, science center, museums. I lived in Missouri for a while and just never felt at home on that side of the river...guess I'm definitely an Illinois girl. Good luck with the potential job. If it works out, you're moving to a wonderful area.

 

[jm-mom]

My husband works in downtown St. Louis and commutes from the northwest part of St. Louis county every day. We live in Florissant which is an easy commute to downtown, good housing prices, pretty ok schools, lots of shopping and restaurants, etc. Another good option for an easy trip into downtown would be far south county, communities like Mehlville or Oakville. If you are looking for a little more upscale and some of the best schools you would have to go west of the city about 30-40 minutes, places like Ballwin or Chesterfield. A commute during rush hour out to west county could take 50 minutes and housing prices out there are more than other areas. But, anything and everything you could ever want is out there in terms of retail, restaurants, parks, etc. and some very good schools.

If you have any specific questions, I'm happy to answer them. We relocated to St. Louis about 18 years ago and have gotten very familiar with the area.

 

[Jill2150]

I have lived in various parts of Stl, mostly St. Charles co. Would be about 40 min downtown but tons of new homes/kids. I live in Wentzville now ( awesome schools and one of the fastest growing cities in the US). The are also opening 2 new outlet malls in Stl county this month

 

[Lilliputian]

We just relocated to St Louis this spring. It does seem expensive to us, but we came from Dallas, which is a very low cost of living area. It's all relative. Our new house here is almost twice as expensive as our old house outside of Dallas, while only being about 200 sf bigger (plus an unfinished basement), and the new house isn't as nice when it comes to the quality of the building (e.g., squared entrances instead of arches, no rounded corners on the walls, smaller baseboards, etc.).

My husband's job is on the west side of the city, so we moved to the western part of St Louis county, which people call West County (took me a while to figure that one out). He has a commute of about 35 minutes into work because he has to take a lot of roads with stop lights, but it's not too bad. The closer you get to the city, the older the houses will be. You can find nice, updated houses that are really, really nice, but they come at a price.

We do like living here. It's gorgeous with lots of trees and hills. People spend a lot of time outdoors, and there are a lot of great trails, parks, and other ways to help you spend time outside. There are a lot of great museums, a wonderful zoo, and tons of other great things for kids, too. We're really enjoying the summer because it's so much cooler than what we're used to, but that's because we're used to extremely hot summers where it doesn't cool down at night.

 

[kjpotter]

Another IL person here. My commute from Edwardsville to downtown usually takes 35-40 mins. It can be up to an hour if there is an accident or major road construction. Edwardsville schools are excellent and housing isn't too bad.

 

[jmelenbrink]

We love in Jefferson County (just south of St. Louis) and I commute from Imperial to the city every morning in about 25 minutes. There is very little traffic going northbound on 55 and I love the area we love in. Affordable housing and Fox C-6 is a great school district! Welcome to St. Louis!

 

[amyngary]

I grew up on the IL side and commuted to downtown, so that is definitely a viable option if you think your DH will always work downtown. However, the schools on the MO side are better rated, so we now live in Sunset Hills. We are in the Lindbergh district now (we recently moved here from Kirkwood), which is a top-rated district - it consistently wins awards. Realtors generally steer transplants to Chesterfield, which is pretty far from downtown.

Sunset Hills sits near two major highways, and is about a 15 minute drive to get downtown.

Another area that people love here is Clayton/Ladue. The top schools in the area are: Lindbergh, Clayton, Ladue, and Kirkwood. Kirkwood has older homes with mature trees, wood floors, etc. Clayton and Ladue have a mix of old and new houses, as does Sunset Hills. Webster Groves is also a great place with older houses.

I hope this helps!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We're really enjoying the summer because it's so much cooler than what we're used to, but that's because we're used to extremely hot summers where it doesn't cool down at night.

Unfortunately, it's not always as nice as this Summer. Granted, it's not TX hot, but it CAN be nasty

 

[cjnix29]

I appreciate all the information. We are still waiting on more job details, hoping to get those today. Just saw a House Hunters episode from St. Louis and I about had a heart attack with the cost of the houses! He better get a big raise!

 

[NotUrsula]

I didn't see the ep, but St. Louis is actually a very affordable housing market. Last year it ranked fifth most-affordable nationally, with a median single-family home price of $128K for the metro area.

Of course, we also have 63124, the heart of Ladue, which is in the top 500 for most-expensive zip code. The median price in 63124 is $557K, but that is absolutely NOT representative of the entire metro area.

It all depends on what you want and where you want it, of course, but there are PLENTY of well-priced homes in the St. Louis area.

 

[SarahKate]

There are lots of great suburbs in the STL area. But I will ditto what others have said about the IL side. My cousin lives in Ofallon and they love the schools there. It's a really nice community and such an easy drive to the city.

 

[pooh4evr]

#1 priority when moving to The Lou, become a Cardinal Fan.

I have always lived (except for college) in St. Charles MO. So of course I love it here. Housing is affordable, schools (Francis Howell) are great, plenty of parks, shopping and with the newer highways ( Page extension(364), and 141) we can be anywhere in about 30 minutes. The zoo is wonderful, Magic House, The Muny, Grants Farm, Botanical Gardens...all,great places for family fun. Of course there are some areas that can be questionable but every city has that (Do Not Leave anything in your car downtown!), but there are many great communities here from the Illinois side all the way out the Wentzville, down to Fenton, and up to Alton! Good Luck!

 

[NotUrsula]

... [snip] ...

I have always lived (except for college) in St. Charles MO. So of course I love it here. Housing is affordable, schools (Francis Howell) are great, plenty of parks, shopping and with the newer highways ( Page extension(364), and 141) we can be anywhere in about 30 minutes.

I'm always hearing that in developer advertisements, but I have to dispute it. I live less than two miles from Forest Park, and even at 5 am on a weekend, it takes me a minimum of 30 minutes (and usually closer to 45) just to reach the eastern end of the Page extension, let alone get across the river.

IME, from downtown, anywhere in St. Charles is about a 60-minute drive at rush hour, even if you do use the Page extension. From my neighborhood, getting out to I-270 takes at least 12 minutes on I-44 at any time of day, and 44 is the quickest of our area Interstates.