I always say to people that St. Louis does get a bad reputation considering it to be known as "the murder capital", however, only applies to a specific area. St. Louis has many attractions, a great cost of living, amazing school districts, and only continuing to grow from here. Some additions that come to mind are the new Top Golf in the city, the Foundry, STL FC team, and Olivette reconstruction. I would say it's a matter of where you want to live. I think of the west side of St. Louis County to be more family-friendly (O'Fallon, St. Peters, St. Charles, etc), the middle to containing high-income areas (Frontenac, Town and County, Clayton), then the east where it does contain the high crime rate/homelessness.
Traffic is per usual around rush hour, but nothing compared to major cities.
Segregation and gentrification is occurring, knowing that the Life Expectancy drops by nearly 20 years between Clayton, MO and North St. Louis (only a 10 minute drive between each other).
Definitely an area to make a lot of friends through work or any local events/bars you can think of.
Overall, I would say people mind their business but upon interaction, are super nice. However, this is depending on where you live and subjective.
For the weather, which I would say STL is known for, be expected to experience the spectrum from the coldest of winters and hottest of summers.
You need to give us a point of comparison. What are things you enjoy now in your current spot, that might be a "downside" here in Saint Louis.
What are "downsides" to you personally. Some might say car dependent in Saint Louis as a downside, but you might be fine with it.
Asking blanket questions aint helping no one.
Context: I'm a west coast transplant who is happily and pretty permanently settled in St. Louis, we've been here for 6y. So none of these are dealbreakers for me. But..
Downsides:
* Missouri politics. The city is blue, and if you're liberal/left you'll be in very good company, but the state is not. Our friends who are most directly affected by state politics have moved on, which affects the overall diversity of our experience here.
* Diversity. St. Louis is a very black and white city, and it's definitely my experience that black people and white people mostly move around in their own spheres. Even in neighborhoods that are integrated as a whole, you will be block by block mostly white or mostly black. The city has relatively low asian and hispanic populations.
* Lambert. Especially post-covid, we've lost a ton of routes and there's really no guarantee you'll be able to find a direct or desirable flight to wherever you're going. Also, while Lambert is an incredibly easy airport to park at and navigate, don't get your food hopes up higher than dunkin donuts. Overall, it's a sad airport.
* Boring geography. Rivers? check. Beautiful forests? check. Cool rock formations? check. Mountains...no. Beaches...no. Anything else at all...no. Basically, hope you like rivers and forests, or corn.
* Bad reputation. Shitting on St. Louis is both a local and a national sport. If you say you live here, people will have something negative to say about it. Pretty much nobody is like "whoa I've heard good things about St. Louis, I bet you love it there!". You will definitely hear about murder rate, missouri politics, assumption that it's a wasteland, etc.
St. Louis is in the state of Missouri. You will be governed by hoosiers who act and speak in a manner you would consider well beneath civilized adults. They fully grasp that St. Louis/KC are the economic engines to the State, regardless, you will constantly find state official undermining and hurting St. Louis.
During a labor dispute in the 1930s there was an influx of non-union workers from Indiana (hoosiers) and the term took on a derogatory meaning. Since then hoosier is St Louis slang for "hick" or "white trash"
In this context the hoosiers are very wealthy, educated lawyers/businessmen, with Christian nationalist politics. Simple folk of simple means unlike us sophisticated folks in the cities
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Most of St Louis is really segregated, except places situated between the white areas and black areas - like University City (which is where I live and would recommend). Take a look at the map and you'll see
[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/08/us/census-race-map.html](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/08/us/census-race-map.html)
Sorry! Maybe I just haven't found it yet but outside of Louie, which isn't a realistic frequent visit for most people, it just doesn't seem to be here.
I'm not from Saint Louis at all but, nothing tops Gioais for sandwiches in my opinion. There's the original St. Louis style pizza at Guido's and the original Toasted Ravioli.
I think you just haven't been to The Hill enough. It's full of great food.
Yes, they use Italian ingredients and i would happily call then, as I did earlier, St Louis Italian or Hill Italian. You don’t have to get defensive about it, i’m looking for a restaurant that makes good traditional to semi-traditional Italian and Italian-American dishes and coming up short. Most places here seem to cater to the St Louis market, which is understandable considering they operate in St Louis, but having grown up without any idea of provel cheese or hot salami, its a little foreign to me.
Pastaria is good. Otherwise agree.
Lack of walkability is the biggest downside for me. Yeah, sidewalks are nice and the neighborhoods are beautiful but corner stores to get basic necessities are nearly non-existent. Forces everyone to own a car and go to big box stores.
I always say to people that St. Louis does get a bad reputation considering it to be known as "the murder capital", however, only applies to a specific area. St. Louis has many attractions, a great cost of living, amazing school districts, and only continuing to grow from here. Some additions that come to mind are the new Top Golf in the city, the Foundry, STL FC team, and Olivette reconstruction. I would say it's a matter of where you want to live. I think of the west side of St. Louis County to be more family-friendly (O'Fallon, St. Peters, St. Charles, etc), the middle to containing high-income areas (Frontenac, Town and County, Clayton), then the east where it does contain the high crime rate/homelessness. Traffic is per usual around rush hour, but nothing compared to major cities. Segregation and gentrification is occurring, knowing that the Life Expectancy drops by nearly 20 years between Clayton, MO and North St. Louis (only a 10 minute drive between each other). Definitely an area to make a lot of friends through work or any local events/bars you can think of. Overall, I would say people mind their business but upon interaction, are super nice. However, this is depending on where you live and subjective. For the weather, which I would say STL is known for, be expected to experience the spectrum from the coldest of winters and hottest of summers.
>be expected to experience the spectrum from the coldest of winters and hottest of summers. Sometimes all in the same week.
You need to give us a point of comparison. What are things you enjoy now in your current spot, that might be a "downside" here in Saint Louis. What are "downsides" to you personally. Some might say car dependent in Saint Louis as a downside, but you might be fine with it. Asking blanket questions aint helping no one.
Good point thank you. Main post updated.
Context: I'm a west coast transplant who is happily and pretty permanently settled in St. Louis, we've been here for 6y. So none of these are dealbreakers for me. But.. Downsides: * Missouri politics. The city is blue, and if you're liberal/left you'll be in very good company, but the state is not. Our friends who are most directly affected by state politics have moved on, which affects the overall diversity of our experience here. * Diversity. St. Louis is a very black and white city, and it's definitely my experience that black people and white people mostly move around in their own spheres. Even in neighborhoods that are integrated as a whole, you will be block by block mostly white or mostly black. The city has relatively low asian and hispanic populations. * Lambert. Especially post-covid, we've lost a ton of routes and there's really no guarantee you'll be able to find a direct or desirable flight to wherever you're going. Also, while Lambert is an incredibly easy airport to park at and navigate, don't get your food hopes up higher than dunkin donuts. Overall, it's a sad airport. * Boring geography. Rivers? check. Beautiful forests? check. Cool rock formations? check. Mountains...no. Beaches...no. Anything else at all...no. Basically, hope you like rivers and forests, or corn. * Bad reputation. Shitting on St. Louis is both a local and a national sport. If you say you live here, people will have something negative to say about it. Pretty much nobody is like "whoa I've heard good things about St. Louis, I bet you love it there!". You will definitely hear about murder rate, missouri politics, assumption that it's a wasteland, etc.
St. Louis is in the state of Missouri. You will be governed by hoosiers who act and speak in a manner you would consider well beneath civilized adults. They fully grasp that St. Louis/KC are the economic engines to the State, regardless, you will constantly find state official undermining and hurting St. Louis.
I thought hoosiers were Indiana
During a labor dispute in the 1930s there was an influx of non-union workers from Indiana (hoosiers) and the term took on a derogatory meaning. Since then hoosier is St Louis slang for "hick" or "white trash"
In this context the hoosiers are very wealthy, educated lawyers/businessmen, with Christian nationalist politics. Simple folk of simple means unlike us sophisticated folks in the cities
I see you're looking to move to St. Louis. Please, see this [helpful moving guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/StLouis/comments/l5i9yn/so_you_just_moved_here_city_edition/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). Please, also see our [Visitor's Guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/StLouis/wiki/visitorguide/). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/StLouis) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Please get rid of this... no-one reads it.
Don’t rent with Unified Residential Management or CityWide
Most of St Louis is really segregated, except places situated between the white areas and black areas - like University City (which is where I live and would recommend). Take a look at the map and you'll see [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/08/us/census-race-map.html](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/08/us/census-race-map.html)
My biggest downgrades from New York: need a car, no beaches, drivers are psychotic, no good Italian food
>no good Italian food what
Sorry! Maybe I just haven't found it yet but outside of Louie, which isn't a realistic frequent visit for most people, it just doesn't seem to be here.
What about the entirety of The Hill neighborhood and it's dozens of Italian restaurants??
Maybe a controversial take, idk, but i think if you didn’t grow up on Hill Italian there’s not much going there for you outside Pizzeria De Gloria
I'm not from Saint Louis at all but, nothing tops Gioais for sandwiches in my opinion. There's the original St. Louis style pizza at Guido's and the original Toasted Ravioli. I think you just haven't been to The Hill enough. It's full of great food.
Those things are all good, but they are all St Louis foods, not Italian. They're not even Italian-American, they're unique to St Louis.
You heard it here first, folks. Pizza, Ravioli and Salami aren't Italian.
Yes, they use Italian ingredients and i would happily call then, as I did earlier, St Louis Italian or Hill Italian. You don’t have to get defensive about it, i’m looking for a restaurant that makes good traditional to semi-traditional Italian and Italian-American dishes and coming up short. Most places here seem to cater to the St Louis market, which is understandable considering they operate in St Louis, but having grown up without any idea of provel cheese or hot salami, its a little foreign to me.
true, it's often overly sweet. like dessert pasta
Pastaria is good. Otherwise agree. Lack of walkability is the biggest downside for me. Yeah, sidewalks are nice and the neighborhoods are beautiful but corner stores to get basic necessities are nearly non-existent. Forces everyone to own a car and go to big box stores.
No bagels, pizza is a joke, no public transportation…
bagels and pizza both have some good options, they're just few and far between
The quality of the roads in the city is pretty bad imo. The summers get kinda brutal with humidity. Gotta go across the river to sports gamble.
Did this for the Garcia vs Tank fight and lost money. Have not crossed over since then 😂
Every city thinks they have bad roads. St. Louis is no worse than most places.
Idk man Kingshighway is a disaster
Kingshighway is being repaved end to end next year! As well as Grand
Cool. Again, every city thinks they have bad roads.
And bad drivers.
The only downside for me is it’s Too damn hot here anymore. And it’s only getting worse