Wanting to move to Jefferson County? Look Here! =) (St. Louis, Oakville: apartments, hotels)

[MonopolyPieces]

I have lived all over and never realized how heavily people rely on feedback from others who have or do live in an area so I thought I'd share my .02 about Jeffco (that's what residents call Jefferson County for short).

Arnold is, in my opinion, the heart of Jeffco where all the action is (or most of it anyway). There's TONS of shopping, restaurants, retail, etc. You can expect to find places like pet stores, movie theaters, Mc Donald's, Jack-in-the-Box, White Castle, gyms, hotels (and motels), grocery stores (Schnuck's, Save A Lot, etc).

Downtown Arnold (where everyone shops/goes out to eat) is also called "L.A." for "Lower Arnold". I recommend going there to dine or shop, but NOT to live. Most of LA has older homes (think 60's--though SOME have been restored, but most have not) and a lot of apartments (this is where you'll find the trash of Jeffco--hey, don't hate, just keepin' it real). Not everyone who lives in apartments is trash and not all people who live in "LA" are bad, some just have low paying jobs but are otherwise friendly people, BUT this is where you can go to grab a bag of weed or find meth.

Imperial is nicer and has some newer homes (you have to find the right subdivisions) and they are beginning to build up the area a little. There's a bar on Main Street that's "okay". It's been sold and resold more times than I can count. It's just your average little bar where you can go to hang out and have a drink. If you're looking for clubs, hit South County or Downtown (The Landing/Riverfront area).

Going farther south of Arnold/Imperial, you'll run into Kimmswick (tiny little town--wouldn't recommend living there unless you like OLD houses and speeding tickets, but it's mostly retail now anyway), Barnhart (would not recommend, the finer trash of Jeffco live there, especially in "The Village"), Pevely (some of the subdivisions are nice but you'll either run into more trash or really rich snobby people, there is no in between, IMO), then Festus (it's okay, some older houses, some newer and plenty of shopping and restaurants) and then you'll really start getting south in Hillsboro, De Soto and the likes. There's not much going on in these areas and you'll find a mixture of older/newer homes.

I don't know much about Fox school district but I can say Windsor is "okay" (nothing to write home about in regards to quality of education, some of the teachers are nice, some aren't). Seckman seems to have it together. Hillsboro is okay but seems to be declining in some aspects. Overall though, I would recommend any of them (with Seckman at the head of my list followed by Windsor, then Hillsboro and then Fox).

Most people around Jeffco are white and most are educated (the trashy ones not so much and in general, I'd recommend living there). It's a good place to raise kids, start a family or retire. You'll find a wide variety of age ranges throughout the county in any of the cities/towns.

[zach_33]

Interesting post. It is funny how I lived in St. Louis for 12 years and apart from attending a kids sporting event at Fox HS once I don't believe I ever spent any time in Jeff Co. I had some family in the very south reaches of Oakville, so that was pretty close, but not quite there.

It is pretty, flying down 55 toward Memphis, you can see a lot of new development spotted around the rolling hills.

[RisingAurvandil]

It's a long commute, but along with far West County, JeffCo is the most scenic part of the StL metro. I once toured a house in Antonia. It was at the top of a ridge, with a big veranda, and bigger view. You could see for miles. Reminded me of the Appalachians. Not many Midwest cities have such areas.