Traffic better from St. Louis to Mo. or Il Suburbs? (Chesterfield: lease, low crime)

[dlh3]

We are relocating to St. Louis area and are looking for the best area to live in for our family. My husband will be working in St. Louis near the Arch and he would like not to drive too far. But we do want a town that has great schools, great neighborhoods and not too expensive. Could someone tell me if Mo or Il is best for traveling back and forth and what highways he should avoid? Also if anyone knows a great area for us to live in with our family, please let me know. We will be moving in May of 2010.

[billiken]

MO side is much better in terms of traffic. Coming from IL, the bridges are a mess at rush hour. There are many highways into downtown St Louis on the Missouri side. In my experience, traffic is never very bad.

Not sure what "not too expensive" means, but I can recommend the Webster Groves/Kirkwood area. Webster and Kirkwood both have nice downtown areas with a nice community. I'm told the schools in the area are good. There's good highway access and lots of very nice older homes. The drive to downtown would probably be only ~20 minutes.

Although not my taste, Chesterfield is very popular as well. To me, it's more your typical suburb. Lots of new construction, chain restaurants, etc. I know schools are good here too. It's a bit further from downtown, although I've never lived there so I'm not sure on how long it takes during rush hour to get downtown. I feel like half of Chesterfield is built on flood plains, so I've never understood the appeal, but still, very popular.

My knowledge of St Louis suburbs is pretty limited, but pretty much all the locals I met in school are from the Webster, Chesterfield, or St Charles (only been out there twice, so hard to comment) area, and I live in the Webster area currently.

[zach_33]

without knowing your target home price it is tough to make a recommendation. We have some friends who moved to Edwardsville IL and they rave about the schools and convenient trip to downtown. I think homes there probably center around 250k, but I'm sort of guessing. You could probably get in at 200 or slightly less. Fairview Heights and parts of Collinsville on the IL side also get pretty good reviews from my acquaintances who have kids. I would guess $250 will buy a nice family home in any of those communities and your commute to downtown would be 30 minutes or less. You can also buy a nice family house for that price in the Rockwood School district (Fenton and some points south). People I know in that district cannot say enough about how good it is. It is also mostly within 30 minutes of the arch assuming decent traffic. Parkway Schools are also considered top notch, and in Ballwin (Parkway South for the most part) you can get a nice place for 300 or a little less but you are definitely pushing the 30 minute rule in parts of Ballwin. In the 300+ category your options open up a lot - Chesterfield is a hike, but Parkway Central has a great reputation. Its a 300-500+ kind of area. Webster Groves and Kirkwood are also 300-500+ kind of areas, and they are mostly well within 30 of downtown, a little closer in, more established suburbs so the housing is older, and there are some run down areas within these districts - but by and large, people consider both to be very good school districts and communities with a lot of amenities, conveniences, and character. There are definitely some other good districts on the MO side. Lindbergh has a good rep - which includes parts of Fenton, Sunset Hills, and Crestwood I think. Clayton and Ladue are perennial favorites close in to the city, but both are relatively expensive (although you can find some bargains in Ladue schools for 300+).

Blah blah blah. I just spent a couple years researching schools and houses so I could sort of ramble on at length about the subject, but without knowing more about your circumstances and community preferences the info is of questionable utility.

I feel like aragx (whatever happened to her?) but I will go ahead and ask:
- how much would you like to spend?
- do you like older homes with walkable neighborhoods or are you more partial to new builds and strip malls?
- any specific amenities that are more or less important to you (apart from good schools)?
- how many people in your household (i.e., how much space is going to make you happy)?

[zach_33]

Corection to my last post. Edwardsville looks more like 40+ minutes to downtown (didn't realize how far out Edwardsville is).

[CarrieNeno]

I worked downtown in the MetOne for awhile. My coworkers who lived on the Illi side enjoyed their daily low drama commute. While I was at the mercy of Highway 40 and/or 44 during construction coming from West County, Ballwin/ Chesterfield area. My commute was 25 minutes on the PERFECT day... and upwards of an hour PLUS on the days that there was a little fender bender that gummed op the highway for MILES. Very frustrating and an impossible juggle with the timeframe for my childrens' school.

Less distance to travel from the Illi side= better commute. If commute to downtown is a HUGE concern for you and you are considering the MO side, possibly seek a more southern burb with access to 44 or 55. THey tend to be more predicatable and less traveled than 64/40, which is HIGHLY affected by I-170 and 270. Perhaps search Webster Groves, Kirkwood, Parkway South, Lindbergh, and the southern part of Rockwood schools. They will all give you access to 44 and more highly rated schools.

[STLMetro]

When I was younger my father commuted from O'Fallon into the city. He hated it, but mostly because of the Mo side (he worked in North city). If the job were downtown, it would have been much easier. O'Fallon is very similar to Edwardsville for schools (same Southwestern conference, regualrly one of the best in the state) and home prices (mid 100Ks will get a decent house).

[DeBaliviere]

I work downtown (by the Arch as well) and live in the Webster School District, one of the tops in the area. My commute is an absolute breeze down 44, and will get even better once 40 opens up and some commuters start taking 40 instead of 44.

I like not having to cross a bridge twice a day.

[dlh3]

I am sorry I didn't give more details. We are looking for 4 bedroom 2+ bath, at least 1800 sq ft. We would like a friendly neighborhood with kids with a low crime rate. We have 3 kids, 12, 10 and 8 yrs old. We are going to rent for the first year there and then buy a house. We would like to stay under $1600 a month. We are not moving there until May 2010. I am trying to get ideas of places now because the company my husband works for is flying him there on Nov 23rd to see the office and the areas to live in. He starts his new position in Jan or Feb. His future boss wants to take him around to places to look at areas and I am trying to figure out where they should go. His future boss lives in Dardenne but I am not sure I want to live that far out. We have been checking out houses in Ofallon, Mo and Ballwin, Mo. But I have also checked out O'fallon, Il. I am up for other suggestions for areas too. I am just not sure which state to focus on. I hear good and bad of both Mo. and Illinois. That is why I thought I would check out the traffic to St. Louis from both sides. We are now living in the Dallas area and my husband has to drive in horrible traffic to work which is downtown Dallas. We live over an hour drive away from work during rush hour. I know he would like to be closer to work when we move.

I appreciate all the help you guys are giving me. I have been checking out threads and getting so confused.

[zach_33]

I would steer clear of O'Fallon MO. Anything west of the Daniel Boone Bridge (the Missouri River) is going to be a pretty long commute. Based on your cirteria I would probably focus my search on Ballwin MO, O'Fallon IL, Fairview Heights IL, Fenton MO - all very well regarded, family-oriented, low crime cities with virtually no crime. These places I mentioned are all pretty low on the diversity scale, I might guess 95% or more caucasian, but diversity is pretty hard to come by anywhere in and around St. Louis. Anyway, you could find something in Webster Groves or Kirkwood, both highly desirable inner-ring suburbs, but the house would likely be older (50+ years), smaller than would be had in the aforementioned communities, and have some deferred maintenance. It's a premium many folks, especially those who are born and raised in this area, are willing to pay-- Webster/Kirkwood have cachet because of their historic quality, quaint downtowns, convenient locations, etc.

As far as the IL vs MO debate, I think there are separate threads on the subject. I think taxes are higher in IL, but housing is generally less expensive. Some people in MO seem to have an attitude about "East County" (i.e., the Illinois side), but it's not like people from MO won't go to a cocktail party with people from IL. I think the geographically based hostilities of one toward the other are negligible and largely made up. Traffic is probably a little worse on the MO side since that's where the vast majority of the metro area lives.

Good luck on your move. sounds exciting. St. Louis should be an easy transition coming from Dallas.

[CarrieNeno]

A good friend of mine lives in the Dallas suburbs, and I know that it is more affordable than here... so be prepared for that! In addition, you also have a lot more new construction available.

You would have more choices on the Illinois side, as housing tends to be more affordable and new construction (with the bedroom space and sq ft you desire)... more plentiful. That being said, here's the MLS lease inventory under $1,800/month (3+bd/2+ba) in the mentioned Southern suburbs of StL, to give you an idea of what you can get for your money in these areas:

MLS Client Detail Report(294) (http://maris.rapmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Gstl&PRGNAME=MLSLogin&ARGUMEN T=CYgvZiNManhbae4gJZcXDBfn%2FuoSCzJ1hQH8Z35B0W0%3D &KeyRid=1&Include_Search_Criteria=on - broken link)

Minimum of 4 bedrooms is a tall order to fill in this price range in the county. This is the list when min. 4 bdrms is added into the search:

MLS Client Detail Report(294) (http://maris.rapmls.com/scripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Gstl&PRGNAME=MLSLogin&ARGUMEN T=CYgvZiNManhbae4gJZcXDKVl1IvL1stkbteDMmd3Xr0%3D&K eyRid=1&Include_Search_Criteria=on - broken link)