St Louis vs Kansas City (St. Louis, Independence: 2010, crime rate, how much)

[razzy]

RE: Crime... I'm not keen on living anywhere in the city in St Louis. Not because there arent some safe areas, but because of the school system and the high taxes. And in KC, I would probably only live in the Kansas City limits if it is north of the river.

Those Illinois cities all seem pretty nice. I've spent time in Edwardsville and thought it'd be a good place to live.

[phattcity314]

St. Louis is a true classic among American cities. Very exciting and engergetic. Lot's of culture and character. Extremely stylish and classy. And the people.... Well, next time you're in town, take a tour to University City and visit the St. Louis Walk of Fame and see some of the people who have called St. Louis home: Red Foxx, Yogi Berr, Jack Buck, Harry Caray, Bob Costas, Joe Garagiola, Jimmy Conners, Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Josephie Baker, Rober Guilliaume, Charles Lindberg, Michael McDonald, Nelly, Chingy, Cedric The Entertainer, J-Kwon, David Sanborn, Dred Scott, Ozzy Smith, Jackie Joyner, Shelly Winters, Marlin Perkins, Dizzy Dean, Miles Davis, Phillis Diller, Dan Dierdorf, Joseph Pulitzer, Vincent Price, and the list goes on. The only city in America to win more World Series Championship than St. Louis is New York. St. Louis is the Gateway to the West, which also makes us the Gateway to the East. Which is why we're so different than Kansas City. Within a few miles drive from St. Louis is Chicago, Indiannapolis, Memphis and of course, KC. The ONLY city within a few miles drive from KC. is the St. Louis. Our Union Station used to be #1 in the U.S. in number of passengers per year before it was turned into one of the most elegant malls in the country, complete with a lake, fine dining and a 4 star hotel. St. Louis was not only the first American city to host the Olympics we were the first city in the Western hemisphere to host the Olympic in 1904. We're an old but elegant city. Or City Hall is an exact replica of a 5 star French hotel (a little know fact), which is why its probably the most gorgeous government building you'll ever see. There are 105 parks within the city limits and countless others in the burbs. In the center of the city is Forest Part, which is 500 acres larger than New Yorks Central Park. This park is home to the world famous St. Louis Zoo, the Art Museum, The Missouri History Museum, The Muny Opera, lakes, restuarants, golf, tennis, trails, boats, you name it. Night life in St. Louis is thriving and has been that way since the turn of the century. Unlike KC we actually have many beautiful brick and stone neighborhoods where we not only live but we also wine, dine and entertain. Also, unlike Kansas City, we are very diverse. We have Italian neighborhoods, German, Irish, Jewish, Asian and very affluent African-American neighborhoods. We've got the finest beer in the world, and I guess, with so many other fine ethnic foods to boast about, we don't make a great big deal about our barbeque, which is better prepared, more refined and far more delicious than anything coming out of KC. Travel is easy on our highways which are ofter 10 and 12 lanes across comapred to the 3 and 6 lane highways in KC. Our mass transit system is far more sophistocated than KC pretty much non-existant transit system. Downtown St. Louis is on a whole other level compared to KC's. We've got LeCledes Landing, the Loft District, Soulard District, Washington District, Casinos on both sides of the river and an extremely beautiful casino/hotel being built only a few blocks from the Gateway Arch (I tried not to mention the Arch, sorry), the magnificent New Busch Stadium (home of the Cardinals), and the Edward Jones Dome (home of Rams) all downtown with blocks of each other. In KC the stadiums are way out in the country away from everything. After the game you can go to the bar at the little hotel across the highway or go eat at the Deny's... That's It! There's nowhere else to go celebrate. Ok as far as crime goes. We won the Worlds Series Championship last year and celebrated all through the night as well as the next day without any violence. No cars were turned over, no guns were fired, no fires were set, no police arrests to mention. Then we woke up the next morning and found out we were the most dangerous city in America. Well, thanks for telling us, because we had no idea. Amazing that the guy that released the report was from Kansas City, or should I say Lawrence, Kansas (a suburb of KC) but is heavily vested in the KC area. I guess in the end, when you've been living in the shadows of a great city like St. Louis for so long, it seems kinda ok to play dirty and slander the other guy in an effort to attract residence and business to your side of the state. We understand and we forgive. No hard feelings, but we will continue to strive to be the best. It's who we are. The Crow Jewel of Missouri... St. Louis

[pedro24]

Phatt,
You had me until I got to the part about Union Station being one of the most elegant malls in the country. Wow. Union Station is the biggest tourist trap in Missouri and currently has a good number of vacant store fronts. St. Louis has a lot of things going for it, but Union station in its current form is not one of them. By the way, I'm not from Kansas City, nor have I ever lived there, but KC is a much more vibrant city than the city of St. Louis at this point in time. Crow Jewel indeed!

[bbarx]

u could always move to east st. louis

[JaySTLouis]

Ha Ha Very funny.....not really.

[JaySTLouis]

Oh and just to answer the question in the thread...Move to where you think you'd feel comfortable. It all depends on personal choices. I'm a St. Louis fan but I have no ill will towards KC. From my visit it was a great city. Of course I'm going to be a little biased towards STL but for me to talk trash about KC or any other city for that matter would be foolish to say the least.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

St. Louis City Public Schools aren't good, but there are some nice suburbs around it with good schools. The crime, in my opinion, is no worse in most neighborhoods than in Kansas City. In fact, Kansas City Metro crime is listed as worse than St. Louis Metro Crime. I forget the name of the company that lists metro crime, though.

I love St. Louis. The history of it. The great old historical buildings. The flavor it has. I even love its rough edges. St. Louis is a great, big real place with its own flaws and triumphs. It has a bad reputation, and it's hard to get to know. But if you take the time to get to know STL, you find little quirks and characteristics that you can't find in other cities. Sure, the city can be seen as grimy and dangerous, or it could be seen as edgy and adventurous.

The city is my favorite, but as far as public schools the suburbs may be better.

I'll admit, I have not been to Kansas City, but I love St. Louis, though I've never lived there. I'm sure either would be fine to live in. My cousin lived in KansasCity and liked it well enough. But I think I would prefer St. Louis.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Originally Posted by razzy

RE: Crime... I'm not keen on living anywhere in the city in St Louis. Not because there arent some safe areas, but because of the school system and the high taxes. And in KC, I would probably only live in the Kansas City limits if it is north of the river.

Those Illinois cities all seem pretty nice. I've spent time in Edwardsville and thought it'd be a good place to live.

From my understanding, Illinois houses cost less, but taxes are higher and gas costs more.

So I guess it would balance out after a while.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Someone mentioned Rockwood schools.

Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate
Here's a 4 BR, 1.5 BA for $139,900 in Rockwood Summit in St. Louis County. It's in Fenton

Looking at real estate listings on cbgundaker, there appear to be plenty of listings in Florissant. I don't know about their schools, though. I think that would be the Hazelwood school district? Maybe someone with more knowledge about it could comment on it.

My favorite house in the St. Louis area has to be this one, but I'll admit it doesn't fit your needs. I just like to show it off.

South St. Louis City, north of Carondelet. 6 BR, 2 BA, $219,900 2582 sq. feet. You could fill it, but it'd probably require private schools, since it's in the city.
Coldwell Banker Gundaker -- Your site for St. Louis Real Estate

[w00lyb00ger]

Originally Posted by brightmidnight

This is not true. The statistics are flawed; they compare actual city limits. STL is limited by law in its city limits-- it can't expand and annex other cities in (such as Clayton, Ladue, etc.) It has remained the same size since those laws were enacted, unlike most big cities which annex the outlying (usually crime-free) suburbs in. St. Louis has city limits of 61 square miles compared to 234 for Chicago and 318 FOR KANSAS CITY. The crime statistics are taken and averaged out by the square mile. St. Louis gets divided 61 times and Kansas City gets divided 318 times. Now are you seriously going to tell me that STL is much more dangerous than KC? Chicago is much more dangerous, as is Kansas City and almost every other big city in America. Being from NJ, you may be familiar with NYC-- it's much safer than it used to be but it's still not as safe as St. Louis. If you avoid the one or two neighborhoods that are bad, you will be safer in St. Louis than almost anywhere.

Chicago covers 234 square miles
Memphis covers 314 squre miles
Kansas City covers 318 square miles
Houston covers 602 squre miles

These cities are all more dangerous than St. Louis. Those studies are very misleading about actual safety and if you're making a decision on where to live based on them, you're honestly making a mistake because they give a false impression.

According to the FBI you're wrong. They don't go by square mileage. They go by crimes per capita. Those cities are bigger square mileage wise and population wise but that's not a qualifiable indicator on how likely you are to become a victim of a crime. You're much more likely to become a victim of a violent crime if you live within the city limits of St.Louis. That's been proven by the statistics gathered by the FBI from all police departments nationwide based on the average crimes committed per 100,000 people. The status of most dangerous city uses those stats and excludes the ones concerning petty crimes in which the victim was not endangered during the commission of it. The FBI is not lying just to **** of people from St.Louis. It's earned the reputation it now has.

However, familiarity is your friend. Just learn where the bad places are and avoid them. There are plenty of places in the suburbs of St. Louis that are very safe. Amongst the safest in America.

Personally, I have no problem with St. Louis as a whole. In fact, I like it. I wouldn't be afraid to live in the area. I'd just do what any smart person would do and steer clear of the rough spots.