Thoughts on St. Bernard? (Cincinnati, Norwood: rentals, crime, houses)

[LilMinion]

Hello,

My wife and I and our two little minions are considering a move from another Cincinnati suburb to St. Bernard. We found a couple great houses, and the commutes to work would be significantly shorter.

As most of the postings on St. Bernard are several years old, can anyone provide a sense of how things are more recently? For example, how are the schools? Any parks or other amenities nearby that may be overlooked? How is the crime rate? In walking through the neighborhood, it seems like there are lots of well-maintained houses, many of which have families with kids. Is St. Bernard still a good place to raise children?

Thank you!

[jmecklenborg]

It seems stable (housing values have definitely ticked up at least 10% in the past three years) and the business district is healthy. You can walk to the business district from any street within the city and it has pretty frequent bus service to UC and Downtown on the #78. The athletic fields that are in the city limits are all pushed up against I-75 which is unfortunate because of the noise.

I think St. Bernard is one of the best housing deals in the Cincinnati area and right in the center of the county. It's a bit safer and less run-down than nearby Spring Grove Village, Avondale, Norwood, or Elmwood Place but the houses are incredibly cheap. I don't think that the city ever had a really low point where there was a mass exodus.

[censusdata]

I don't live in Cincy so I'll let the natives confirm or disprove my opinion. I dated someone that lived near STB a few years ago and went through there often. My take was that it is a nice middle class area surrounded by not as nice neighborhoods. Had I stayed up there and worked in downtown Cincy it would have been a top choice to look for rentals, it's only 2.5 miles to the hospital / university area and 4 to downtown. STB has a shared school district with Elmwood Place and EP is not nearly as nice looking. I noticed on Google Streetview that the main part of Vine St through there just got new streetlights and sidewalk improvements.

[jlawrence01]

St. Bernard has always been one of the best funded cities and school districts due to the payroll taxes from Proctor & Gamble facilities.

[soozycue520]

My Mom's family have lived in St. Bernard for many generations. Most have moved out, but some still remain. In fact, a cousin just moved back, and loves it. Elmwood Place has always been "a step below" St. Bernard.

When my children were teenagers (@15-20 years ago), I moved there briefly, and the school system was excellent. In fact, they had an incentive program that rewarded good grades and behavior with "school bucks" (or something like that) that students could spend on school supplies in the school store. That saved me money! But, that was when P&G still had their main operations in St. Bernard. They have since moved the main operations elsewhere, so that tax base was lost. I don't know anyone with children in that district at this time, but I visit family still living in STB, and the schools are still in great shape. Also, if you are into Catholic education, St. Clements and Roger Bacon are great schools.

There are other perks living in STB. We hold all of our family reunions at the St. Bernard Community Center building. If you are a resident, you put down a $50 deposit (at the last one we had, that was the price) and you get to use of one the rooms. They are very nice and large rooms with a kitchen area, tables & chairs, AV equipment (although dated), etc. If you clean the room, you get your deposit back, so FREE. They have a couple of festivals in the community parks that I always loved going to, but haven't been for years. They have July 4th fireworks and a summer pig roast. The rental of the shelters in the park are mega-cheap if you are a STB resident. My niece swims on the STB swim team, and if you live there, a pass to the pool is inexpensive.

As with any "city" neighborhood, there have been some problems. The house that my Mom grew up in (not in the family anymore) is showing it's age, without the care & upkeep needed. But, right around the corner, on the land that once housed the Our Lady of Angels High School campus (the female counterpart of Roger Bacon, before the schools merged and became co-ed) is a newer housing development. I have seen some news stories recently that some kids have been hanging around the Wendy's on Vine St. and supposedly causing some trouble (standing in the middle of the street/not moving on when asked). The gas station on Mitchell and Vine Sts. have had big problems, but they built the new government building on that corner, and I think the gas station is closed.

STB has always been close to bad neighborhoods, but they have their own police department. I have family that still lives there, and work for the STB government (one works in the garbage collection division :-) ). St. Bernard is also adjacent to one of the most affluent areas of Cincinnati; the Rose Hill area of North Avondale.

Hope this information is helpful. If you have other questions, I will help if I can.

[kconns]

I have a pending offer on house on St. Bernard so here are my thoughts. We have a little one, but not school age.

We had a big list of "wants" but not the budget to back it up. We wanted walkable neighborhoods, safe area, close to the city, a little hip/progressive, 3 bedrooms and a garage. At the end of the day we checked off a few of those boxes and we settled on St. Bernard for the house rather than the desire to live in the village itself.

We did get a walkable neighborhood, but it will never be confused with Clifton/Northside/Pleasant Ridge as far as restaurant options and being hip in any way. On the flip side it is significantly safer than those areas. We also got a beautiful well maintained 3 bedroom home with a large unfinished basement and 2 car garage for close to 60% of what it would cost in those other areas. The kitchen does need re-modeled.

After eating at a few places and meeting a few neighbors It appears to be a friendly place. A very blue collar and salt of the earth vibe.

You get a lot of bang for your buck and it's centrally located to other areas of town we frequent.

[CinciFan]

^ I agree with the above posters. St. Bernard is a great place to live, it just gets overlooked because it is small and is not a part of the city of Cincinnati. It also rarely makes the news (which is good!), so many people have never heard of it.


I just bought a house here in early 2016 and I love it. I know several people who are buying in this area as well (mid to late 20s). Many of them have families. St. Bernard has historically been a blue collar town, but its affordability and proximity to UC and Xavier is attracting doctors, nurses, medical researchers, and some grad students to the area. The housing stock is similar to Oakley but much less expensive.


The location can't be beat. 10 minutes to downtown, 5 minutes to UC or Xavier, 5 minutes to Northside, 15 to Kenwood, and 10 minutes to Oakley/Hyde Park/Rookwood. I-75, I-71, I-74, and the Norwood Lateral are all within minutes. The city services are also great. Trash is picked up TWICE every week, the police and fire departments are large/well funded for a town this size, street sweeping is regular, and amenities such our city pool, city parks, and brand new library are all very nice. The only downside is the school rating. It suffers because of the shared school system with Elmwood and that it is open enrollment. That being said, it's still a good school system, and I think any involved parent could easily obtain a top notch education for their children in the school system.


I hope this helps!