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My husband (35M) and I (33F) are considering moving there.
Background: I grew up in Memphis, TN. I've lived mostly in the South - Atlanta, GA; Raleigh, NC; Houston, TX. I visit St. Louis once when I was 17 went to Six Flags and Lambert's. There was a tornado warning and I was terrified because it sounded serious on the radio. I remember we hurried back to the "safety" of Memphis lol.
My mom recently turned 60 and I would love to be closer to her, but I am not planning to move back to Memphis anytime soon. Though, I might retire in North Mississippi.
I am so over Houston. I feel that the city is too big so I asked my husband to list some mid sized cities and St. Louis seems like a winner. The majority of our Houstonian friends have also left for places like Denver CO, North Carolina (mainly Charlotte), and Richmond VA.
What I do like about Houston is the diversity. Our friends are of every ethnicity but mostly Hispanic or Asian.
We are wondering what are the best neighborhoods for young professionals? We do not have currently have children so we don't care about school districts. I don't care for new construction homes with open concept either. I would love a home built in the early 1900s. If the mailbox is on the porch by the door, I would most likely love it. My dream home is a colonial or federalist home. I hear a lot of good things about Central West End. We are approved for $680,000 but I want to stay around the $300,000-$460,000 price range for a house. I don't mind the extra 1% tax (I've read that somewhere) Where should we start?
The Central West End is nice and its on the east side of Forest Park. It's a dense neighborhood and single family homes may be in short supply or too expensive. Parking is tight, and the universities and hospitals ensure that the CWE is consistently busy.
DeMun is on the west side of Forest Park, along Skinker Blvd. Similar density to the Central West End, but is predominantly residential. Beautiful area for sure. Probably my favorite neighborhood in the City.
The neighborhoods around Tower Grove Park are popular: Shaw, and Tower Grove South. South Grand is one of the most diverse corridors in the City. Soulard is another beautiful, close-in neighborhood, almost feels European in form.
Outside of the City...
Clayton is the premier urban suburb, but may be beyond your budget. For other suburbs, look at Maplewood, Richmond Heights, University City (south of Olive), Webster Groves, Kirkwood. If you want to be further out, look at old St. Charles or Edwardsville.
Earning tax...
Is a flat 1% local payroll tax levied on individuals who either live in the City, or work in the City. It's been in-place for as long as I can remember.
The Central West End is nice and its on the east side of Forest Park. It's a dense neighborhood and single family homes may be in short supply or too expensive. Parking is tight, and the universities and hospitals ensure that the CWE is consistently busy.
DeMun is on the west side of Forest Park, along Skinker Blvd. Similar density to the Central West End, but is predominantly residential. Beautiful area for sure. Probably my favorite neighborhood in the City.
The neighborhoods around Tower Grove Park are popular: Shaw, and Tower Grove South. South Grand is one of the most diverse corridors in the City. Soulard is another beautiful, close-in neighborhood, almost feels European in form.
Outside of the City...
Clayton is the premier urban suburb, but may be beyond your budget. For other suburbs, look at Maplewood, Richmond Heights, University City (south of Olive), Webster Groves, Kirkwood. If you want to be further out, look at old St. Charles or Edwardsville.
Earning tax...
Is a flat 1% local payroll tax levied on individuals who either live in the City, or work in the City. It's been in-place for as long as I can remember.
Thank you so much for this. I'm definitely taking notes and will search all these places.
I also see that a lot of homes in St Louis have basements. That's a huge plus.
I've lived in Raleigh Durham area and Memphis. Not too familiar with Houston. Of course, St. Louis is going to give you a different feel when compared to other areas you've lived in. Whether or not its positive or negative depends on you and your ideals.
St. Louis is very midwestern and has a middle America, rust belt feel. It comes across as being clean and organized. Its very easy to get around with a great freeway system. (many locals refer to this as the 20 minute city) There is also a decent grid. The area is served by 40 miles of LRT so that will only benefit you if you live, work and play in certain areas. St. Louis is also known as the city of neighborhoods. Each one is different in its own way.
St. Louis doesn't have the diversity of Houston. Not even close. St. Louis is also segregated. With that being written, my neighborhood is ultra diverse in every way. So there are options to live and play with people who are from diverse backgrounds but you will have to purpose your life for that. The areas mentioned and that fit your criteria shouldn't be very hard to find diversity.
Another thing to be mindful of it will be easier to make friends in the city and the I64 corridor. Some areas less transient are known to be a bit more standoffish than others based upon what I've been told but that hasn't been my experience.
I hope this helps. This is just my take on St. Louis
Last edited by mjtinmemphis; 12-02-2020 at 10:19 AM..
Reason: grammar
I am so over Houston. I feel that the city is too big so I asked my husband to list some mid sized cities and St. Louis seems like a winner. The majority of our Houstonian friends have also left for places like Denver CO, North Carolina (mainly Charlotte), and Richmond VA.
What I do like about Houston is the diversity. Our friends are of every ethnicity but mostly Hispanic or Asian.
We are wondering what are the best neighborhoods for young professionals? We do not have currently have children so we don't care about school districts. I don't care for new construction homes with open concept either. I would love a home built in the early 1900s. If the mailbox is on the porch by the door, I would most likely love it. My dream home is a colonial or federalist home. I hear a lot of good things about Central West End. We are approved for $680,000 but I want to stay around the $300,000-$460,000 price range for a house. I don't mind the extra 1% tax (I've read that somewhere) Where should we start?
1) St Louis is not a very diverse place. We moved here from NYC for work and the greatest source of culture shock the most was the lack of diversity + extent of segregation. Everyone is either white or black, and they mostly live in completely separate parts of the city (whites in west and south county, south city, and central corridor; blacks in north city, north county, and pockets of south city), go to different restaurants, bars, concerts, etc. There are some small Asian and Hispanic communities but very small and very isolated from the rest. Very few transplants. Some foreigners mostly thanks to WashU and European/South American-owned companies.
2) With that budget it won't be hard to find what you want. CWE probably ticks all your boxes, but we found it to be a bit bland overall. In my opinion, neighborhoods such as Benton Park, Shaw, Tower Grove South, Tower Grove East have a bit more character. The bulk of the homes were built between the 1880s and the 1920s in those neighborhoods.
I've lived in Raleigh Durham area and Memphis. Not too familiar with Houston. Of course, St. Louis is going to give you a different feel when compared to other areas you've lived in. Whether or not its positive or negative depends on you and your ideals.
St. Louis is very midwestern and has a middle America, rust belt feel. It comes across as being clean and organized. Its very easy to get around with a great freeway system. (many locals refer to this as the 20 minute city) There is also a decent grid. The area is served by 40 miles of LRT so that will only benefit you if you live, work and play in certain areas. St. Louis is also known as the city of neighborhoods. Each one is different in its own way.
St. Louis doesn't have the diversity of Houston. Not even close. St. Louis is also segregated. With that being written, my neighborhood is ultra diverse in every way. So there are options to live and play with people who are from diverse backgrounds but you will have to purpose your life for that. The areas mentioned and that fit your criteria shouldn't be very hard to find diversity.
Another thing to be mindful of it will be easier to make friends in the city and the I64 corridor. Some areas less transient are known to be a bit more standoffish than others based upon what I've been told but that hasn't been my experience.
I hope this helps. This is just my take on St. Louis
Since you've lived in Memphis before, would you say STL is similar to Memphis? Growing up in Memphis, I thought it was segregated. I could go a long time without seeing a nonblack person. I didn't interact with nonblack people until I went to Bellevue Jr High (at the time) as a honors student. It still seems to be that way. The majority of African Americans live in the city, with the exception of East Memphis...think White Station... while everyone else live in Shelby county like Bartlett, Germantown, Collierville, etc.
1) St Louis is not a very diverse place. We moved here from NYC for work and the greatest source of culture shock the most was the lack of diversity + extent of segregation. Everyone is either white or black, and they mostly live in completely separate parts of the city (whites in west and south county, south city, and central corridor; blacks in north city, north county, and pockets of south city), go to different restaurants, bars, concerts, etc. There are some small Asian and Hispanic communities but very small and very isolated from the rest. Very few transplants. Some foreigners mostly thanks to WashU and European/South American-owned companies.
2) With that budget it won't be hard to find what you want. CWE probably ticks all your boxes, but we found it to be a bit bland overall. In my opinion, neighborhoods such as Benton Park, Shaw, Tower Grove South, Tower Grove East have a bit more character. The bulk of the homes were built between the 1880s and the 1920s in those neighborhoods.
From what I've seen so far, Tower Grove South seems to the place for me. I've found a few realtors on Youtube and those homes have the character I'm looking for in a house. Of course, I will research all areas mentioned on the forum.
Since you've lived in Memphis before, would you say STL is similar to Memphis? Growing up in Memphis, I thought it was segregated. I could go a long time without seeing a nonblack person. I didn't interact with nonblack people until I went to Bellevue Jr High (at the time) as a honors student. It still seems to be that way. The majority of African Americans live in the city, with the exception of East Memphis...think White Station... while everyone else live in Shelby county like Bartlett, Germantown, Collierville, etc.
Memphis and St. Louis have different vibes. As a Black male, I could never identify with Black culture there and Whites where very different.
Memphis has more Black and Whites living near each other but they very seldom would want to deal with each other. When I lived in Memphis, I would not run into Blacks who would want to interact with Whites. There was a lot of hostility for some reason that I could never figure out. I found it very difficult to socialize with Blacks and Whites in Memphis due to the negative energy.
I am now 50ish and I can recall having both Black and White friends growing up in St. Louis. There was never any type of hatred taught by my parent nor in my predominantly Black north county neighborhood. I went to a well mixed high school being nearly half Black and half White.
As I stated before. St. Louis has options for those who want to interact with different races in different income brackets. Memphis was more segregated in that regard. The biggest difference between St. Louis and other places you've lived in is more Black and White without a significant amount of other races. Another shocking difference will probably be South St. Louis county, St. Charles County (that seems to be changing) and other areas outside of St. Louis is over 90 percent White.
St. Louis takes on segregation patterns of other Great Migration cities in the Midwest. Houston on the other hand was totally developed since then. I hope this helps in painting the picture of segregation in St. Louis.
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