Tell me about Florissant (St. Louis, St. Peters: crime rate, houses, neighborhoods)

[SashaBlue]

What's the word on Florissant? Friendy? Schools? Cost of living? Political persuasian? McMansions? White collar or blue collar? Please describe.

[2beamissourian]

I personally would not live there. Its a busy area and I believe the crime rate is up up up.. not to mention meth on the rise!

I suppose it has high $ areas and low $ areas ..

[mstergos]

It is hit or miss. The nice areas, like Old Florissant, are nice. The not so nice areas are not good. Old Florissant is the original town. It has a lot of older homes. The people are friendly, the schools are not exactly the best but they are not bad, it is a blue collar area.

There are areas outside of the city limits that are actually unincorporated that are nicer.

[SashaBlue]

Specifically what about the areas right around the Target and then north of the Target? What kind of homes there?

[northbayeric]

I was born and raised in Florissant, and moved here to California in 1986 right after finishing high school. I've been back to visit Florissant and the rest of the St. Louis area three times since 2003, and have a high school friend whose family lives not that far from Cross Keys. Do you know the nearest cross streets to the Target store you're talking about? With this information, I could give you better feedback.

I think Florissant, despite Mayor Robert Lowery's efforts, is slowly but steadily heading downward. An awful lot of people moved from North County out to St. Peters and O'Fallon in the 1980s and 1990s; the population went from 65,908 in 1970 to about 50,000 today. Democrat stronghold, used to be social conservative, economic liberal with its blue collar union characteristics. Now it seems more across-the-board liberal but not like the city of St. Louis or University City. Ferguson-Florissant School District is not nearly as good as the Rockwood School District in Fenton-Ballwin-Eureka, but much better than Riverview Gardens District in Spanish Lake. Hmmm. The houses around Old Town, where the streets are named after Catholic saints are older and inexpensive. The area north of Lindbergh Blvd and west of New Halls Ferry Rd known as Wedgwood has a lot of nice-looking ranch-style houses that were built in the 1960s and early 1970s. This was a very nice location (going up New Halls Ferry toward Hazelwood Central High School) in the 1980s but I don't know how it is now. There were no McMansions in Florissant, but one-story homes with basements and very nicely-kept front and back lawns. Hope this helps! Can you tell us a little more about what you have in mind as far as what you think would be an ideal location?

[SashaBlue]

Thanks for the info northbayeric. This really helps. What about Old Jamestown Road area? One story houses with basements? Do most of the houses have the garage on the front? I do not like that in a house. What about the neighborhoods just west of the Target? I am not sure of the street names.

[ohnonothimagain]

A lot of Florissant has nice homes-but crime is indeed an issue in all of St Louis suburbs. I lived in North County for over 40 years and saw a lot of nice neighborhoods go bad because of crime and race relation issues. There's no getting around it-Most of St. Louis county has great nice homes, and Florissant is no exception. Myself-if I had the money I'd live in St Peters or O'fallon on the other side of the river simply because it's still a fairly nice area. A lot depends on where you/anyone else has to work-commutes can be a bear on 270-I70-40-55 and you'd be better off living closer to where you work. Not sure if this helps.

[2beamissourian]

The old Jamestown's road use to have a big white farm house ... I remember it since I was young .. I wanted one just like it ..well they took it down and a MCMANSION went up! YUK!

The area that is over by the new walgreens - I have personally seen gang activity there and I have never been so scared in my life!

MY hubbys grandparents live in this area ..20 years ago we stayed the night with them and the house was broke into ..and his grandmother act like it was part of life! There home has an alarm system on it

I wont go over there in the evening!

Do you have a job in this area? Know someone in this area?

[jtgrif]

Is this an area where a first time buyer? They are going to be newly weds soon and are looking for a home.

[bluede78]

I have been born and raised in Florissnt MO. This is a great part of St Louis to live in. I believe that everyone consideres North County (Florissant is in North county) as part of North City. North CITY is where the gangs are and all of the drugs. The city is far from Florissant. I have never encountered any dangerous "Gang" activities. It wasn't too long ago, Florissant was rated one of the Safest cities in the country to live in.

Yes, Florissant is a great area for the 1st time home buyer. Nice affordable ranch homes with at median home price of 139000. However, I do think the school district is horrible. I am a product of the Ferguson/Florissant school district and I feel that I was no where near ready for college. With that said, there are a lot of nice private schools in the Florissant area. Quite frankly, I think the Missouri Dept of Education sucks no matter what school district you live in.

My motto is my a nice affordable home in a middle class area and if you need to send your kids to a private school.

Everyone else is saying that you should move away from Florissant due to so called "gang activity," or drugs. Every school district in or surrounding Florissant has had some type of problem with drugs (street or prescription) in the past. You could either pay $300,000 for that type of enviorment or you could pay at most $175000, you pick...