St. Louis County Best (safest) Neighborhoods (St. Charles, St. Peters: real estate, condo, crime)

[dirivera]

Maybe I will be moving to St. Louis County next year. I'm a little bit worried about crime in the area. Somebody told me that St. Charles (O'fallon area) it's a very safe place to live. I have a child with autism and I don't know which county offers better services and better schools. I'll appreciate any recommendation about the safest places to live in St. Louis County and St. Charles County, best schools, and better autism services. Thanks !!!

[STLCardsBlues1989]

I wouldn't worry too much about crime. There's only certain neighborhoods in the city that are really unsafe, and the suburbs are generally fine.

Different people have different comfort levels, but most cities in St. Louis County or St. Charles County are probably fine. St. Charles itself is good, too.

But I don't know about schools.

[stepka]

Most neighborhoods in St. Louis are safe, esp as you get into the suburbs. Even Kirkwood is safe, despite the crazy news lately. That and Webster Groves, Clayton, Ladue, Brentwood--I could walk around any of those at night. For special schools, do a search on any of the schools in the neighborhoods you're looking at but note that most of the county schools (all the ones I listed) have their special ed services thru the Special School District. Your child will probably go to the school in your district, but have teachers assigned from SSD, so include Special School District in your search.

[aragx6]

If you end up looking in St. Charles County you should hook up with this group for suggestions of the best services for your child: St. Charles County Autism Support Group

[eric_harris_76]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

I wouldn't worry too much about crime. There's only certain neighborhoods in the city that are really unsafe, and the suburbs are generally fine.

Different people have different comfort levels, but most cities in St. Louis County or St. Charles County are probably fine. St. Charles itself is good, too.

But I don't know about schools.

School districts pretty much go with the neighborhood. It's no guarantee of course, but high-priced real estate and better schools tend to go together, as do abandoned building and lousy schools.

One of the larger districts (Hazelwood) has (or had) a problem in the east end, I'm told. A co-worker said he moved because Kirby Middle School has significant gang activity, and even in the elementary schools that feed Kirby they're pressuring kids to join.

Apparently some of the families in the east end of the district recently moved from the City of St. Louis and don't "get" education as a concept the way that the more-established families do. That's how it was explained to me, anyway.

This was about 4 or 5 years ago, so things may be different there now. I live in the west end of the Hazelwood District (much further west and I'd be in St. Charles or at least the Missouri River), and things are very different here. -Eric

[Newcomer 09]

Is anyone familiar with Chesterfield area and the elementary schools there? What about the St. Peter's area in St. Charles county, are there good elementary schools there? Should I be worried about gang activity in these elementary school districts?

[aragx6]

St. Charles county will likely put you in one of three large districts -- St. Charles City, Francis Howell or Fort Zumwalt. All are considered solid schools -- Francis Howell being the best, followed by FZ and StC. Gangs would not be worth worrying about -- crime is pretty much non-existent in the area -- I mean it's the exurbs. I grew up in the area if you have questions.

Chesterfield is considerably more expensive and the schools are extremely well regarded.

What's your budget?

[Newcomer 09]

First I need to sell my home in Greensboro, NC (IF anyone is moving to GSO and looking to buy contact me separately) then I will be ready to consider buying in STL. I would say my budget is upto $220K although I would consider buying a condo/townhome in Chesterfield if I can find one in the price range of $190-210K. Since I have 2 young kids I'm looking for YMCA close buy, soccer fields, Parks with bike trails and neighborhoods with kids. Will I find this in St. Charles county?

Again thank you very much for the information.

[aragx6]

St. Charles sounds like it will offer you everything you are looking for, and with your budget you'll find many homes that should work for your family -- If you want to see what's out there, check out Coldwell Banker Gundaker's Web site. There you can search by schools -- I would suggest starting out by looking at homes in Francis Howell North and Fort Zumwalt East.

St. Peters has a great rec facility, the Rec-Plex with pool, skating rink, basketball etc. etc.

[wustu87]

You can find a 2 or 3 bedroom condo/townhouse in Chesterfield for $220K and under, but do not expect to find anything too large or too fancy. As aragx6 already mentioned, you can get a lot more for that same amount of money in St. Charles and their schools will hopefully be fine (I am personally unfamiliar with St. Charles county schools).

I liked your question about "gang activity" in St. Charles and Chesterfield, especially posted on April 1. That actually gave me an April Fool's Day chuckle thinking of seeing suburban county kids pretending to be "hip", urban gangsters. I've seem their imitations of gangsters, and they are about as good as mine!