Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Missouri > St. Louis
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 11-21-2012, 04:43 PM
 
Location: Northwest Mississippi
1 posts, read 2,869 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

Family of four with a 5 and 10 year old. Will be moving due to job relocation Summer 2013. Looking for some feedback on good subdivisions (family and pet friendly, close to shopping, good schools a must.) St Charles vs Ballwin, what is the biggest difference? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 11-22-2012, 10:28 AM
 
Location: Saint Louis, MO
1,912 posts, read 4,668,544 times
Reputation: 918
St Charles has better highway access, I'd say development as a whole is newer there, and there's a historic main street area. Ballwin has better schools.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-22-2012, 01:45 PM
 
1,185 posts, read 2,207,841 times
Reputation: 1009
St.Charles has faster development and is much larger then ballwin, Overall st.charles is probably more affordable then Ballwin. St.Charles also has a historic main street with many attractions and a good sized hospital. Both are in great school districts however, ballwin's school district (parkway) is much better then st.charles. You will also find St.Charles to be less diverse then ballwin if thats a issue.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-25-2012, 02:00 PM
 
Location: Ridgewood, New Jersey
168 posts, read 298,269 times
Reputation: 100
We lived in Chesterfield for three years and relocated to New Jersey this summer.

What part of STL will you be working? Is commute time important? One of the reasons I'm asking is that Ballwin and St. Charles are not close to each other.

St. Charles is a charming, historic town. However, IMO is not quick or easy to get from St. Charles to other parts of the STL area. While St. Charles is too far out for me to have considered living there, I enjoyed visiting the town.

Part of Ballwin feeds into Rockwood Schools (Kehrs Mill/Crestview MS/Marquette HS) and other parts feed into Parkway Schools. Rockwood schools are very good. The Ballwin neighborhoods that feed into the Rockwood schools are nice. Look at Whispering Oaks (or Oakwood) off on Kehs Mill Road. Mature subdivision with old trees and lots of young familes. Also, that area of Ballwin is close to a lot of grocery stores and not too far from the Valley shopping area of Chesterfield.

Let us know if you have other specific questions. You mentioned two different towns that are not close to each other geographically.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-25-2012, 03:14 PM
 
Location: Saint Louis, MO
3,483 posts, read 8,959,095 times
Reputation: 2480
St. Charles has decent access to most of the county, just not the southern portions of St. Louis County, specifically Arnold, Fenton, etc...

Both areas are nice, and have decent schools. If you're wanting good schools in St. Charles you'll likely stay out of the historic area, because the St. Charles school district isn't as well respected as some of the areas further South and West in St. Charles County.

Your budget will make a big difference on where you live, but if I was moving to St. Louis and had a budget of $250k, I'd be looking at Kirkwood and Webster Groves, both inner ring suburbs, significantly closer to "everything" with great access to shopping, and historic downtown areas. Homes are older, which can be a drawback if you're wanting newer construction, and can't afford $500k homes, but overall, those are the best choices in St. Louis County.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-26-2012, 07:06 PM
 
1 posts, read 2,753 times
Reputation: 10
I would pick Chesterfield over Ballwin or St. Charles. Both of those have a lot of traffic congestion. Chesterfield is nicer and closer to Clayton or downtown if that's where you work. Anywhere in west county is decent but I would seriously consider commute time.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-26-2012, 07:49 PM
 
10 posts, read 14,141 times
Reputation: 10
Ballwin over St Charles no brainer. Safer, cleaner, just nicer. Further away from downtown St Louis, oh yeah that's another BIG plus.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-29-2012, 12:58 PM
 
Location: Tower Grove East, St. Louis, MO
12,063 posts, read 31,485,827 times
Reputation: 3798
Ballwin is not farther from downtown St. Louis than St. Charles is. In fact, it's exactly the opposite.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-29-2012, 01:18 PM
 
Location: 32°19'03.7"N 106°43'55.9"W
9,334 posts, read 20,680,010 times
Reputation: 9852
Per Google Maps:
Ballwin on Manchester Road to Washington Ave and 4th: 23.4 miles 31 minutes
St. Charles on Kingshighway to Washington Ave and 4th: 23.4 miles 28 minutes

It seems like we are splitting hairs when it comes to distance to what many would consider downtown. Then again, someone else might have a different definition of what constitutes downtown.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-29-2012, 01:24 PM
 
Location: St. Louis City
587 posts, read 1,097,612 times
Reputation: 404
West County - which includes Ballwin, tends to be a more desirable area of the metro than St. Charles. Of course, everyone will have their opinion. While St. Charles does have the historic main street area, I do feel that it is more cut off from the metro area in general - due primarily to it's north western location on the map. I does offer easier access to the airport. Having to cross bridges to get into St. Louis County could also an issue - though major steps have been taken to reduce congestion with the additional routes in recent years. West County and Ballwin certainly have their issues with the 270 corridor and Manchester Road (Hwy 100).

Really I think the biggest difference in living in St. Louis County with about 1 million people, or in a neighboring county with about half that. The population difference drives a difference in the availablility of sevices and shopping. Living in St. Louis County you are closer to the centers of business -- Hwy 40 corridor, Clayton, and downtown St. Louis.

St. Charles County tends to be a more of a socially conservative area than St. Louis county.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Missouri > St. Louis

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top