Safest neighbourhood to live for a couple (St. Louis, St. Charles: apartment complex, to rent)

[StanChapman]

Hi guys,

I am moving to St Louis in 2 weeks from bay area with my wife. I am not familier with thisnew town, so I started googling about it. Please tell me is it really so unsafe place to live? Now while searching for apartments to rent, I am more focused on security. Please guide me, which places and apartments are like supersafe?

Thanks.

[chicagobear]

St. Louis is not particularly unsafe as long as you stay out of neighborhoods that you are unlikely to go anyway. It really isn't the same as Detroit or Gary. If you want to be close in, apartments in Clayton are going to be the safest. Otherwise you can get an apartment in the western or southern suburbs which would also be extremely safe.

[StanChapman]

Thanks for replying.
Well, I don't mind driving 15-20 miles to my office(it's on Jefferson ave). So I am ok living a little outside the city. Can u pls name few areas/apartments u think that match my requirement?

[billiken]

You're going to need to be a little more specific than "I want it to be safe" and "I don't mind driving 15-20 miles." Most of the area is very safe, you're likely overreacting to google searches showing it's the most dangerous city in the country.

[flynavyj]

As stated, you'll need to give an idea as to what you're willing to spend monthly on rent. The St. Louis metro as a whole is very very safe, the numbers you see in "Most Dangerous City" reports are inaccurate because it focus' on the population of the City of St. Louis, which is separate from St. Louis County, St. Charles County, Madison County, Jefferson County, etc....all of these very very large geographical areas make up St. Louis as a whole. At a minimum, the area which consists of St. Louis City and St. Louis County should be thought of as one, which would limit the size of St. Louis to the geographical boundaries of two rivers, and would also get St. Louis off the "Most Dangerous" list.

So in short, what do you want to spend...and besides safety, what do you want from an apartment complex, or area?

[jribe]

Hi Stan,
by Jefferson Ave - are you going to work for WFA? If so, i recently relocated from California for my job their too..

I picked the Dorchester Apartments (665 S Skinker Blvd) which is across from forest park and i believe a street away from the official city limits of Clayton. Very safe, and there's quite a few professionals that live in the building; also a good amount of students. I know of a few other WFA employees that live here as well- and the nice thing is you can take surface streets (versus the highways) into work. It's about 6 miles from WFA on jefferson via surface streets and probably 15 minutes.

Good luck!

[glamatomic]

The 'unsafe'/ crime reputation of St. Louis, I think is totally overblown. I lived in the county (Maryland Heights) and never, ever had a problem there or felt unsafe. Plus, it was only a 25 minute commute to downtown.

Honestly, I feel more unsafe walking around San Francisco (way more homeless/hobos) than I do walking around St. Louis. I think you'll find that the STL is perfectly fine. Like any move, it will take a bit of adjustment at first, but once you've got it figured out, you'll (hopefully) love it!

Where in St. Louis will you and your wife be working? And how do you plan on commuting to work? What (apart from safety) is important to you in a neighborhood? Do you prefer urban or suburban areas? This info will help us suggest apartments for you

Also check out reviews on apartments (search apartment reviews or ratings on google)- that is usually a pretty good indicator of what apartments are good / safe.

Additionally, what will your budget be?

Good Luck!