Crime in St. Louis (Washington: neighborhood, schools, living in)

[megonow]

Hi,

I was surprised to learn that St Louis has one of the highest
crime rates in the country.

Being an older woman, it gives me pause about moving to
the city.

I can't afford the luxurious suburbs.

What do you think about the situation? Do you feel safe
in the city?

Thanks

[wustu87]

As many people will tell you in this forum, the high crime rate often given to the city of St. Louis in those lists of "dangerous cities" is based on the amount of crime in the city relative to the population of the city which is a misleading statistic due to the relatively small population within the city compared to the whole metropolitan area. Without a doubt there are very dangerous areas within the city, but there are also many safe areas within the city. You can definitely find safe areas in the city, but since I am a "mid-county person" who is not as familiar with specific city neighborhoods to live in very well, someone else can tell you which are the safer areas (which I know do exist). I can say I have visited friends and acquaintances who live in the city and I feel perfectly safe in their neighborhoods (Soulard, CWE, South city, etc.), just as safe as in my "luxurious" county suburb. And many of those city neighborhoods makes our mid-county suburb not look that luxurious at all!

Your other option is to not live in a "luxurious" suburb, but to live in a more affordable but still safe neighborhood within a neighboring suburb. Within a mile from our home in Richmond Heights you can find very safe places renting for under $600/mo and also places renting for ten times that much.

[oscottscotto]

Just as anywhere, it depends on where you live in the city. There are sketchy parts and there are completely safe parts. And as the poster said above, there are plenty of "suburbs" that are very inexpensive.

[joanie55]

I grew up in St. Louis but have been away for a number of years now. I've heard the city is much safer now than it used to be. CWE is very nice but pricey. There are areas in the south city that are very safe and affordable. I wouldn't rule out the suburbs either. Webster Groves, Glendale, Kirkwood, Brentwood and Richmond Heights are all very nice and you can find affordable housing there also.

[DeBaliviere]

Statistically speaking, the southwest portion of the city is incredibly safe. Check out the 63109 and 63139 zip codes; my wife lived in SW city (63109) on her own and would recommend it to anyone. You can get a great house at a great price in many of the southwest city neighborhoods, with tons of historic charm and proximity to all kinds of great shopping and restaurants.

[stlsmoore]

Like wustu87 mentioned, the statistics for St. Louis is skewed because unlike pretty much every other city in the country St. Louis CITY is separate from the St. Louis county areas. So when these companies come out with statistics they only include the St. Louis city area (which has the most pockets of crime in certain areas) instead of the metropolitan area as a whole. I honestly believe some companies do this on purpose, I remember when they released a statistics report like a day after the Cardinals one a few years back!

[STLCardsBlues1989]

I don't want to pry, but if by "older" you mean "Senior" there are plenty of senior apartments across the city. The Homer G. Phillips complex is a large one. It was the first black hospital in St. Louis (when hospitals were segregated), and is now a senior citizen complex.

The history of the hospital
Built St. Louis: Homer G. Phillips Hospital
Homer G. Phillips Hospital (1937-1979) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed
In 2005 Homer G. had a waiting list. I'm not sure about now. Homer G. Phillips senior center has waiting list - St. Louis Business Journal:

If you're not older I don't want to insult you, I just didn't know if you had considered that option.

Other than that you could certainly buy or maybe rent a great home in St. Louis Hills. Many people avoid the city due to schools, but I'm guessing that's not an issue for you. I think a suburb like Richmond Heights is also moderately affordable.

If you can give us things like budget, are you buying or renting, loft/apartment/duplex/single family home. Anything like that would help us narrow down your search for you.

[GC_boy]

how can I find out about metropolitan areas as a whole? I agree that statistics are skewed, I grew up right across the river in Granite City, IL and know STL pretty well. i know there are dangerous parts, such as ESTL and Washington Park to the south of my hometown and North STL right across but there are many nice areas like Ladue, kirkwood, clayton, creve coeur and so on. anyway i live in arizona now going to school and am about to graduate and want to find out about entire metro areas to possibly move to. finding info by county or metro area would be helpful. thank you

[ajf131]

St. Louis County I believe has ranked among the safest places to live of any part of the country. St. Louis City has crime in mainly isolated pockets...I would say that the crime picks up north of Lindell, where the ghetto starts, and is also in East Saint Louis. Crime is only a problem generally if you go into these areas (and most people rarely do...the only crimes committed in these parts are generally against people who live there...unless you want to live in the ghettos in North City or across the river in East Saint Louis, crime is very unlikely to happen to you.) This is a characteristic shared by most Midwestern cities, especially besides St. Louis, Midwestern cities that share these characteristics are Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee...the dangerous crime doesn't go outside of the ghetto areas generally of these cities and the suburbs all rank as among the safest places to live in the United States.

[aragx6]

Central West End, Washington Ave loft district, Soulard, Dogtown, Southampton, Holly Hills, St. Louis Hills, Tower Grove Heights, Tower Grove South, Lafayette Square, the Hill and more are all safe neighborhoods in the city.

They're all varied, so we'd need to know what you're looking for a little more: Apartment or single family home? Family neighborhood or active social scene? Budget?

If you answer some of those questions, we can give you more tailored advice.