Moving to St. Louis from DC? (St. Charles, Kirkwood: crime rates, house prices, neighborhoods)

[nlm_new]

I am currently living at DC. Recently I received a job offer with a higher title at St. Louis. I think it is a great opportunity and I am seriously considering relocating to St. Louis.

However, when I looked online about St. Louis, I came across some news on radioactive waste stored in several places such as West Lake Landfill around St. Louis county. In the news it also talked about an underground fire is approaching that radioactive waste. I am pretty concerned about it since if I move, this will likely to be a permanent move for my family. Does anyone know anything about it? Should I be concerned about possible contamination i.e. air, water, etc in the future?

[STL74]

I wouldn't worry about it at all in the area as a whole, but I wouldn't move to the immediate area surrounding it.

If you post in the STL section, you can lay out what you are looking for in an area and get advice on the best places to live Housing prices, best schools, what is urban vs. suburban, etc.

[FrankMiller]

Unsurprisingly, the radioactive landfill is not exactly in the nice part of town. It's unlikely you'd live near it even if you hadn't known about it in advance.

[carloslevy]

I recommend you avoid any area in St. Louis County near the I-70/I-270 junction. In addition to the West Lake Landfill, just to the south near the ironically named municipality of "Champ" is another landfill that also straddles Earth City. Another location to avoid for the environmentally-conscious is the Peerless Landfill near Valley Park by MO 141 and the Meramec River. While the latter is a better capped project all three will make the air absolutely disgusting with any wind with a westerly flow.
I hope this helps. St. Louis is a bit of a laggard with regard to environmental responsibility, but it's making progress.

[aliasfinn]

Originally Posted by carloslevy

I recommend you avoid any area in St. Louis County near the I-70/I-270 junction. In addition to the West Lake Landfill, just to the south near the ironically named municipality of "Champ" is another landfill that also straddles Earth City. Another location to avoid for the environmentally-conscious is the Peerless Landfill near Valley Park by MO 141 and the Meramec River. While the latter is a better capped project all three will make the air absolutely disgusting with any wind with a westerly flow.
I hope this helps. St. Louis is a bit of a laggard with regard to environmental responsibility, but it's making progress.

One of my relatives lives over by Champ and he says not only does his eyes water and he gets headaches from the stench at night from that radioactive landfill but his house shakes like an earthquake everyday at 4 pm from the blasting at a quarry over there.

[flynavyj]

Originally Posted by FrankMiller

Unsurprisingly, the radioactive landfill is not exactly in the nice part of town. It's unlikely you'd live near it even if you hadn't known about it in advance.

Wow - must have missed the memo when Maryland Heights and St. Charles stopped being nice parts of town.

Now for good info - there are very few homes IMMEDIATELY surrounding the areas near the landfill. There are some homes relatively close in the small (8 households I believe) municipality of Champ (It's literally a tiny subdivision) and Spanish Village subdivision in Bridgeton. When I was a kid, most of the homes in Spanish Village looked really run down (but that was nearly three decades ago - and from google street view the homes look in really decent shape at present - but i'm going to drive it this week just to see for myself).

Still, the smell over there from the landfill is mediocre to terrible at certain times. I find it sad that this has suddenly become major news in St. Louis, as anyone who lived in NW St. Louis County could tell you for decades that the landfill would smell on cool evenings. The smell normally didn't make its way passed I-270 to the East, but it could be terribly obnoxious if you were driving down I-70 to/from St. Charles at certain hours of the day, especially night.

The Weber quarry is near Pattonville High School off McKelvey Rd. and I'm sure it could be noisy. For reference, my folks live about a mile (as the crow flies) to the East of there, and there's no issues with noise or odors in that area, and I have friends who own a home within blocks of Pattonville and I've heard no complaints from them as well.

All that being said, if you're looking for affordable housing with solid schools and easy access to the entire metro area NW County has a lot to offer for the price...but I'd still say, don't buy one of the 8 homes in Champ, and I wouldn't buy in the small Spanish Village subdivision West of I-270. The majority of Bridgeton, Maryland Heights, or even St. Charles to the West are perfectly safe and acceptable places to locate you and your family...as is the rest of St. Louis County (Well, almost all of it).

[buckaroo17]

Grew up in StL. Lived in D.C.

There are many many many StL areas safely distant from any Superfund sites, so no, that should not be a deal-breaker.

The CoL difference (depending upon where else you have lived) will stun you. For what we paid for a nice-but-basic townhome inside the Beltway, you can land a really nice house with a yard in a good area with good schools. There is more than enough to keep you busy (sports/culture/outdoors/etc.) and good-enough dining.

Climate's a basic trade-off. Both are hot/humid in the summer. StL winters probably linger longer and colder but they also are more prepared to deal with such, unlike D.C. I do not recall five straight snow days in my youth, but it happened in D.C.

StL offers a much-lower-stress-level of living.

Independent of internal factors (proximity to family/need to be near an ocean/etc.), I would take StL in an instant.

[carloslevy]

Originally Posted by buckaroo17

Grew up in StL. Lived in D.C.

There are many many many StL areas safely distant from any Superfund sites, so no, that should not be a deal-breaker.

The CoL difference (depending upon where else you have lived) will stun you. For what we paid for a nice-but-basic townhome inside the Beltway, you can land a really nice house with a yard in a good area with good schools. There is more than enough to keep you busy (sports/culture/outdoors/etc.) and good-enough dining.

Climate's a basic trade-off. Both are hot/humid in the summer. StL winters probably linger longer and colder but they also are more prepared to deal with such, unlike D.C. I do not recall five straight snow days in my youth, but it happened in D.C.

StL offers a much-lower-stress-level of living.

Independent of internal factors (proximity to family/need to be near an ocean/etc.), I would take StL in an instant.

An opinion from a transplant who was stationed at Andrews AFB a few decades ago:

Housing dollar goes MUCH further in STL - selecting the right neighborhood is key. Follow the recommendations from other posters.

Utilities and groceries are about even.

Vehicular traffic flows much better in STL (just a few bottlenecks here and there, nothing like the Beltway Blockade). Drivers suck everywhere in America (speaking as a cyclist).

Weather - STL is noticeably hotter and more humid in the summertime than DC without the moderating Atlantic factor. Tornadoes and severe, damaging storms occur more frequently in STL. Winters are about the same - both STL and DC go into a major panic attack with one inch of snow .

Restaurants/Cultural attractions - fewer and not as grandiose, but much cheaper than DC. Some attractions (Zoo, Art Museum) have free admission.

Diversity - much less diverse than DC, but that is clearly an apples-oranges comparison. Most of the ethnic-themed places are in the city.

Club/Bar Scene - similar scene to DC, more neighborhood tavern-type places in STL.

Sports - STL is definitely tied with the Yankees and SF Giants for strongest baseball support. The Blues are well-attended when they are playing well. Strong soccer following that hopefully will result in an MLS team soon.

Crime - STL is not as bad as the media makes it out to be. Most of the area is safe. STL people generally keep to themselves and won't hassle you. North STL City = SE DC - avoid. Do not leave ANYTHING of value in your vehicle ANYWHERE.

Overall pace in STL is slower than DC. Sometimes this is good, sometimes (restaurant service/checking out at a supermarket/hiring a local contractor) not so much.



Good luck in your relocation!

[Someboyelse]

For a lot of St.Louis, except the huge homes in the central and west area, house prices match school districts.

If I were you, and others may disagree, I would shop by school rather than by municipality. Here is a list from a few months ago:

Rating the region's schools | Special Features | stltoday.com

So in the County, Brentwood (expensive), Ladue (expensive), Lindbergh (reasonable), Kirkwood (kind of expensive), Clayton (expensive), Parkway (reasonable-to-expensive), Rockwood (reasonable), and so forth. Keep in mind some of those schools are in neighboring counties near St. Louis.

Also, where you are going to be working can be kind of important. Do you know which part of the area you'll be driving to everyday?

P.S. As to St. Charles, it's both a city and a county. There are definitely bad parts of St. Charles city! Though, to be fair, Lindenwood is buying up a lot of the subdivisions that were problems. Other parts to avoid include some areas off of Boone's Lick, and Park Charles (when we looked at a Townhouse there, the agent explained we were "discouraged" from sitting on our front porch after dark because the police were trying to shut down drug dealers). Take a look at the actual numbers:
St. Charles MO crime rates and statistics - NeighborhoodScout