Indianapolis vs St. Louis (live, state, better, crime)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't recall seeing this two cities compared. They're both on I-70 and neither one seems to get a lot of respect on here. I'm wondering which do you think is better overall?
1. Downtown
2. Walkability
3. Entertainment
4. Bars restaurants
5. Climate
6. Transportation car/public
7. Safety
8. Scenery
9. Suburbs
10. Economy
11. Housing/Architecture
12. Where would you rather live?
I don't recall seeing this two cities compared. They're both on I-70 and neither one seems to get a lot of respect on here. I'm wondering which do you think is better overall?
1. Downtown
2. Walkability
3. Entertainment
4. Bars restaurants
5. Climate
6. Transportation car/public
7. Safety
8. Scenery
9. Suburbs
10. Economy
11. Housing/Architecture
12. Where would you rather live?
Indianapolis has the better downtown. St. Louis everything else with safety being a tie.
1. Downtown - Indy
2. Walkability - Saint Louis as a whole, central Indy for urban core
3. Entertainment - Tie
4. Bars restaurants - Saint Louis
5. Climate - Tie
6. Transportation car/public - Saint Louis
7. Safety - Tie
8. Scenery - Saint Louis (rivers and hills in the county)
9. Suburbs - Saint Louis. They offer urban/suburban/exurban satelite towns. Indy not so much, but Zionsville is nice.
10. Economy - Indy. Their GDP may be the highest in it's tier of 2 million pop. regions.
11. Housing/Architecture - Saint Louis
12. Where would you rather live? - Indy, but because I have family there. I could give Saint Louis a shot though.
Downtown Indianapolis is wonderful, and they're doing a great job bringing the urban core in general, back to life. They've even opened (or soon will) their rapid transit bus line, which should string together their destination neighborhoods quite nicely.
Saint Louis on the other hand, has Indy beat on transit with it's light rail system. Their downtown however, doesn't pack the same punch of being the powerhouse of the region like downtown Indy. This is good and bad, in that Saint Louis offers plenty of other urban options, but it isn't as downtown focused.
Indy doesn't have anything to counter Forest Park/Central West End or the area around SLU. I guess the Keystone on the Crossing is another viable business district, but it's more of a galleria with office towers and a hotel attached. Both could use infrastructure upgrades. Both could work on their issues with racism, but Saint Louis seems to be going through it now. At least from what I've heard from people who actually live there, or used to for that matter.
With no in-state competition, it's central location, and proximity to Chicago, I think Indy has the brighter future. They took over their entire county, instead of separating from it, leading to more cohesive growth, even if it is mostly suburbs.
1. Downtown- Indy. The sailors/soldiers monument is an excellent use of space, and i really wish more towns and cities in America had something like it.
2. Walkability- St Louis. Indy has poor walkability for an older Midwestern city.
3. Entertainment- Not sure, but I'll say it's a tie.
4. Bars restaurants- St Louis.
5. Climate- Tie
6. Transportation car/public- St Louis
7. Safety- Both have very bad 'inner city' crime. Probably a tie
8. Scenery- St Louis
9. Suburbs- Both have very heavy suburban sprawl. St Louis has better inner suburbs such as University City and Clayton.
10. Economy- Tie
11. Housing/Architecture- Old St Louis Architecture is great, though Indy does have some very nice old architecture too. I'd go with St Louis on this one.
12. Where would you rather live?- Neither one appeal to me as a place to live, but if I had to choose I'd go with St Louis. More interesting and better urban fabric.
1. Downtown: Indianapolis
2. Walkability: St. Louis
3. Entertainment: Indianapolis
4. Bars restaurants: St. Louis
5. Climate: Indianapolis
6. Transportation car/public: St. Louis
7. Safety: None
8. Scenery: St. Louis
9. Suburbs: St. Louis
10. Economy: Indianapolis
11. Housing/Architecture: St. Louis
12. Where would you rather live? Neither
I would choose to live in neither. Too dangerous and several run down areas. Indy might turn around once gentrification matures.
Tough one for me...but ultimately Indy wins for location...quick weekend trips available to Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Dayton/Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville, Chicago!!!
Indianapolis has the better downtown. St. Louis everything else with safety being a tie.
Agree. people sell the Lou short. STL is a great town. People are fooled by Indy's convention friendly Vegas style downtown. Outside downtown the city is a shell for miles in all directions. That said, the city has expanded in the last 5 years to gentrify about 2.5 miles in each direction from Monument Circle.
That cannot beat a multimodal, historic city like STL. The CWE and Clayton in particular crush Indy.
1. Downtown: Indianapolis
2. Walkability: St. Louis
3. Entertainment: Indianapolis
4. Bars restaurants: St. Louis
5. Climate: Indianapolis
6. Transportation car/public: St. Louis
7. Safety: None
8. Scenery: St. Louis
9. Suburbs: St. Louis
10. Economy: Indianapolis
11. Housing/Architecture: St. Louis
12. Where would you rather live? Neither
I would choose to live in neither. Too dangerous and several run down areas. Indy might turn around once gentrification matures.
I generally agree with this.
No offense, but crime-wise, Indy is on par with certain I-65 cities to the south that you may be familiar with.
St. Louis really is pretty bad, but the city itself is fairly small and most suburbs are quite good and many of those have a decent amount of character. Even in the city, there are some pretty decent places to live if one’s so inclined. Problem with St. Louis is, it really depends on its suburbs to maintain relevancy more than average.
I don’t know. Flip a coin. I also wouldn’t live in either one.
1. Downtown - Indy
2. Walkability - Saint Louis as a whole, central Indy for urban core
3. Entertainment - Tie
4. Bars restaurants - Saint Louis
5. Climate - Tie
6. Transportation car/public - Saint Louis
7. Safety - Tie
8. Scenery - Saint Louis (rivers and hills in the county)
9. Suburbs - Saint Louis. They offer urban/suburban/exurban satelite towns. Indy not so much, but Zionsville is nice.
10. Economy - Indy. Their GDP may be the highest in it's tier of 2 million pop. regions.
11. Housing/Architecture - Saint Louis
12. Where would you rather live? - Indy, but because I have family there. I could give Saint Louis a shot though.
Downtown Indianapolis is wonderful, and they're doing a great job bringing the urban core in general, back to life. They've even opened (or soon will) their rapid transit bus line, which should string together their destination neighborhoods quite nicely.
Saint Louis on the other hand, has Indy beat on transit with it's light rail system. Their downtown however, doesn't pack the same punch of being the powerhouse of the region like downtown Indy. This is good and bad, in that Saint Louis offers plenty of other urban options, but it isn't as downtown focused.
Indy doesn't have anything to counter Forest Park/Central West End or the area around SLU. I guess the Keystone on the Crossing is another viable business district, but it's more of a galleria with office towers and a hotel attached. Both could use infrastructure upgrades. Both could work on their issues with racism, but Saint Louis seems to be going through it now. At least from what I've heard from people who actually live there, or used to for that matter.
With no in-state competition, it's central location, and proximity to Chicago, I think Indy has the brighter future. They took over their entire county, instead of separating from it, leading to more cohesive growth, even if it is mostly suburbs.
There is talk of St. Louis doing the exact same. They had it on a ballot last year and I think it got approval for further consideration in late 2020, before a final vote is passed in 2021. If the city-county consolidation goes into effect, St. Louis will have close to 2 million people and it’s cohesiveness will definitely improve. That might bring a whole host of other issues to remain to be seen, like class distinction, taxes, and county vs city services.
There is talk of St. Louis doing the exact same. They had it on a ballot last year and I think it got approval for further consideration in late 2020, before a final vote is passed in 2021. If the city-county consolidation goes into effect, St. Louis will have close to 2 million people and it’s cohesiveness will definitely improve. That might bring a whole host of other issues to remain to be seen, like class distinction, taxes, and county vs city services.
I doubt St. Louis will go metro. Too much red tape.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
