Considering moving to St Louis for job (St. Louis, Columbia: real estate, school districts)

[FrankMiller]

Couple more notes:
The best school districts are largely along/between I-64 and I-44.

Finding walkable, complete suburbs becomes mostly impossible outside of the I-270 loop (you can walk around Ballwin, but you can't walk to anything).

Spoede is pronounced "SPAY-dee".

[chicagobear]

Note that I-64 is also commonly known as Highway 40.

[Angus215]

I just moved to STL (from Philadelphia). What I found is that STL is much more expensive than I think most people would expect, at least if you want to be in the better parts of St Louis County. I was looking at the I-64/40 Corridor, from I-170 west to Chesterfield. Just about anything in that area is going to be expensive, relative to most parts of the country, unless you go far to the North or South. Also, there wasn't much inventory to chose from and houses that were priced correctly and updated moved very quickly. We ended up buying in Creve Coeur, which is a nice area and conveniently located, but isn't cheap. I wouldn't even look at areas like Ladue and Clayton, unless you are looking to spend $1M+ . . . and there are a lot of million dollar homes throughout the entire area.

[RisingAurvandil]

There are large areas of St. Louis County that are safe, affordable, and have great schools. Nearly all of South County meets this definition. Almost all of St. Charles, Jefferson, and Madison County also meet this definition.

You don't have to live along Highway 40 to be in an excellent area.

[BubbyBobble]

Originally Posted by Angus215

I just moved to STL (from Philadelphia). What I found is that STL is much more expensive than I think most people would expect, at least if you want to be in the better parts of St Louis County. I was looking at the I-64/40 Corridor, from I-170 west to Chesterfield. Just about anything in that area is going to be expensive, relative to most parts of the country, unless you go far to the North or South. Also, there wasn't much inventory to chose from and houses that were priced correctly and updated moved very quickly. We ended up buying in Creve Coeur, which is a nice area and conveniently located, but isn't cheap. I wouldn't even look at areas like Ladue and Clayton, unless you are looking to spend $1M+ . . . and there are a lot of million dollar homes throughout the entire area.

That's the myth about St. Louis. It isn't exactly affordable if you're going to live in a ''nicer'' area. There are parts of South City and North County that are relatively safe and affordable...but you're also not extremely close to a lot of the good shopping centers. Meh.

[chicagoerin]

Totally agree with the misconception around affordability. If you don't care about schools, then there are some safe and affordable areas, but in the better school districts the housing prices are higher than you would expect .

[pianist1972]

I think it would be a mistake to think that all city schools are poor, because it's simply not the case.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by kp8888

thanks for the tips! I've been reading other posts and surprised that there so many lot of good public school options in these areas. Where we live now, most go to private/catholic b/c public district is so large. Based on past posts, it looks like areas w/good schools are Kirkwood, Brentwood, Olivette, Richmond Heights, Chesterfield, St Charles, Webster Grove...it's just confusion which are the inner ring/urban vs and which are suburbs around big box stores? Also any I should rule out that is over budget...from what I've read Clayton will be too expensive. Is Ladue reasonable?

You might add Crestwood to your list. Lindbergh schools are very good, maybe more reasonable on price than Kirkwood/Webster.

You give on some of the walkability, but it is mostly brick.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by FrankMiller

Kirkwood would be perfect, but for that price you'd probably be looking at 1500 sq ft. Or 2300 sq ft for $450k.

You could live in Ballwin/Manchester area, but that area is mostly cul de sacs with sidewalks; no walking to the stores, no Main St. Probably closer to your price range tough.

I hardly see brick outside of the city, which has nice neighborhoods but the public schools are not well-regarded.

There are brick houses all over: Glendale, Crestwood, parts of Kirkwood/Webster, Shrewsbury, to name a few.

[carloslevy]

Originally Posted by Angus215

I just moved to STL (from Philadelphia). What I found is that STL is much more expensive than I think most people would expect, at least if you want to be in the better parts of St Louis County. I was looking at the I-64/40 Corridor, from I-170 west to Chesterfield. Just about anything in that area is going to be expensive, relative to most parts of the country, unless you go far to the North or South. Also, there wasn't much inventory to chose from and houses that were priced correctly and updated moved very quickly. We ended up buying in Creve Coeur, which is a nice area and conveniently located, but isn't cheap. I wouldn't even look at areas like Ladue and Clayton, unless you are looking to spend $1M+ . . . and there are a lot of million dollar homes throughout the entire area.

Concur.
I moved here from Albuquerque in 2012 (nice first STL summer that year heh heh :-), and while the housing costs in Oakville (far South County for our non-resident posters) were reasonable to an extent, I found the utilities, food and taxes to be much more expensive than my relocation agent told me.

To the OP - like moving anywhere else, just ensure you make detailed and calculation of your salary v COL in various STL areas, and you should be fine.