Eureka vs. Chesterfield (St. Louis, St. Charles, Wildwood: how much, houses, neighborhoods)

[Florida2Missouri]

Between Eureka and Chesterfield which place would you rather live in?

How about areas such as

Wildwood
Ballwin
Fenton
Arnold

[RickMG]

Well, I'd rather live in Ballwin, Wildwood or Chesterfield. I say this because, first, I do live in Ballwin, but I like the proximity to what my needs are for saying that. This is really a personal question because I would say that four of those five cities mentioned are pretty much the same for the types of homes you'll find. Arnold, has a lot of new building going on of both homes and businesses but it is in far south county where the others are in west county (with Fenton being on the south end of west county, or the north end of south county, depending on how you look at it. )

I love Eureka, but it's proximity to the St. Charles and Creve Coeur areas, where I go quite a bit, is a little too much of a drive for me to live there.

So what I guess I'm saying is, this is a question that you can get many different answers, and none of them are going to answer the question for you as you will have to answer this yourself.

[MoNative34]

Hi. I grew up in Ballwin and what is now Wildwood and there is plenty to offer in choices in homes and neighborhoods. Ballwin and Chesterfield cover parts of the Parkway and Rockwood school districts and Eureka and Fenton are in the Rockwood District only. Both are good schoold districts.

Small town feel. -Eureka
Semi-rural. -Wildwood. (Lots of 3 to 10 acre wooded lots and a ton of public forest land)
Middle Class 'burbs. -Ballwin
Middle to Upper Class 'burbs. -Chesterfield

There is something for everyone's prefernences in these places. I hope I have been of help. Let us know if you have any other thoughts, OK?

MoNative34

[Juice13610]

Eureka? Yuck. If I wanted to move out into the sticks I'd move to West VA. I really hate that place.

[RickMG]

Originally Posted by MoNative34

Hi. I grew up in Ballwin and what is now Wildwood and there is plenty to offer in choices in homes and neighborhoods. Ballwin and Chesterfield cover parts of the Parkway and Rockwood school districts and Eureka and Fenton are in the Rockwood District only. Both are good schoold districts.

Small town feel. -Eureka
Semi-rural. -Wildwood. (Lots of 3 to 10 acre wooded lots and a ton of public forest land)
Middle Class 'burbs. -Ballwin
Middle to Upper Class 'burbs. -Chesterfield

There is something for everyone's prefernences in these places. I hope I have been of help. Let us know if you have any other thoughts, OK?

MoNative34

I second this post. Very easily described the style of living most people find in these areas.

[Florida2Missouri]

If we were commuting to Fenton. How far is it from Chesterfield during rush hour?

[MoNative34]

Chesterfield covers a pretty big area. If you are in the eastern part of Chstfd. near HWY 141 (It's a four lane highway now) It would be no longer than 20 to 30 minutes. From the western part, add 10/15 minutes to get to 141 via I64. This would be rush hour time. From Eureka, the Fenton exit on I44 at 141 is 10 minutes (pretty drive)

[LAangel9190]

Eureka and Chesterfield are both great towns, but are very different. Eureka has a population of only about 8,000, while Chesterfield's is around 45,000. Chesterfield (generally speaking) has more expensive and newer homes, and many new subdivisions. Also, it has several huge shopping centers. Chesterfield mall is very nice, and the Chesterfield Commons, known by most as "The Valley" has Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, and basically every restaurant imaginable. Eureka is smaller, so it obviously does not have as many stores and amenities, but it still has a Wal-Mart, a brand new Schnucks (grocery store) and a lot of restaurants and antique stores. Eureka is a bit more of a country town. The houses are smaller, and less expensive (ranging from 150,000 to about 300,000 on average) but a lot of the houses have larger lots and some have acreage. It basically depends on what you want. If you want to live in a larger city sort of town, and don't mind spending a bit more on a home, then definitly go with Chesterfield. If you want a more of a small town, country atmosphere, go with Eureka. I live in Eureka and go to a Catholic high school in Chesterfield, Gateway Academy, so I felt compelled to comment on this. Hope i could help!

[LAangel9190]

Oh and also, in response to the rest of your post
Wildwood is a relatively new city, and it is beautiful. They are building a 'town center' that includes a lot of shops and restaurants, as well as offices. It is kind of a mix between Chesterfield and Eureka, which makes sense seeing as Eureka is directly to the south, and Chesterfield is directly to the north. The houses are mostly newer, and some have a lot of land to them, and prices range from abou 250k to over 500k.

Ballwin is, in my opinion not as nice as Chesterfield or Wildwood. There isn't as much green space (chesterfield, wildwood, and eureka have lots of parks, and even have 2 state parks and a nature reserve). There are a lot of businesses, but it is a bit closer to the City. At the same time, it is further from interstates than Chesterfield and Eureka are.

Fenton is a nice area. It is only about 20 minutes from downtown St. Louis. It only has about 6,000 residents, but it has a surprising number of shopping centers for a town of so few people. It is near Jefferson County, which is considered to be a bit 'hick' by some people, but it's not to bad.

Arnold is in Jefferson County. Homes there are much cheaper than in any of the other areas you mentioned, but it is considered to be lower class, and it is further from the city.
Out of any of the towns that you mentioned, I'd go with Wildwood. The home prices are still in the reasonable range, and it is only a 10 minute drive to the shopping and dining in Chesterfield.
All of the areas you mentioned, except for Arnold, are in Rockwood School District, which is one of the best districts in the state.

[RickMG]

Originally Posted by LAangel9190

Ballwin is, in my opinion not as nice as Chesterfield or Wildwood. There isn't as much green space (chesterfield, wildwood, and eureka have lots of parks, and even have 2 state parks and a nature reserve). There are a lot of businesses, but it is a bit closer to the City. At the same time, it is further from interstates than Chesterfield and Eureka are.

Arnold is in Jefferson County. Homes there are much cheaper than in any of the other areas you mentioned, but it is considered to be lower class, and it is further from the city.

Here I was loving your first post. Thinking how much you already knew about the area being you're still in high school. Anyway, I have to greatly disagree with the two descriptions quoted above. I might be a little biased here because I live in Ballwin, but have been here 10 years after living the 20 years before that in Chesterfield. First I have to explain to the people who don't know the geography of the area, the cities are connected for many miles so proximity to the city are pretty much the same. The only difference is that Ballwin was developed first, and thus the majority of newer homes are in the Chesterfield area, but I will put the beauty of the lots of say, Oak Tree subdivision (over 600 homes), where I live, against any lot in Chesterfield...any lot. Ballwin also is home to Castlewood State Park. A large and wonderful park. We also have many smaller parks all around the area, and I must say, we definitely have better recreational facilities for residents. We have a great community golf course, two swimming parks, including an indoor rec center, and large lighted ball fields. Same school district, and I could go on and on. Hey, and the good thing about every town mentioned is you can go use all the parks everywhere. Heck, I walk the trails around Creve Couer Lake everyday and I have to drive through Chesterfield to get there (not being smart, just showing how close everything is).

Now for Arnold. Sure it has some older and smaller houses, but it also has some new million dollar homes. Arnold is far from "lower class". Truthfully, that's the mentality that "Jefferson County" is inferior. Arnold is also closer to the city than Chesterfield, Ballwin & Wildwood. 19 miles from Arnold compared to 20 miles from Chesterfield, per Google maps, and much easier to get to with I-55 having much less traffic than I-64.