The St. Louis metropolitan area is such a mixed bag. I bring this up due to a recent study that listed two St. Louis suburbs among best places to live in the US.
It placed the St. Louis suburb we live in, Chesterfield, as 19th on their list, and another St. Louis suburb, Brentwood, which is closer to the actual city of St. Louis, as 18th on their list.
Chesterfield is undoubtedly a nice place to live. We have a school system with one of the better reputations in the state, the crime rate is reasonably low, all the conveniences are within easy driving distance. The city authorities are striving for growth, but they are doing so in a fashion that does not impact the quality of life here. In fact they are doing many projects that increase that component. We already have a very nice, large park, Faust Park, that is very popular. Within the last few years they have built another large park, Central Park, that is also well used that also includes an outdoor amphitheater. Both parks host many concerts and other events throughout the year. Culturally, Chesterfield is a bit of a desert, although that is changing, especially with the “defunctation” of an outlet mall and a regular mall, entertainment venues have moved in. We also have several nice restaurants. Generally, though, for ethnic dining, museums and other forms of entertainment we drive into the city.
I do not know a lot about Brentwood, except I try to avoid it as the traffic is so horrible. It is the suburb that contains many of the pricey stores like Whole Foods, Saks Fifth Ave, Neiman Marcus, etc.
There is a lot to do in the actual city of St. Louis. All the sport stadiums are there. There are a multitude of museums, dining opportunities from around the globe, and a plethora of entertainment venues. On the other hand, the city of St. Louis frequently tops the list for murder rates in the USA: Cities with Most Murders 2024. I worked in downtown St. Louis for years. When I left the office a little late, especially in the winter, I was always a bit on my guard from the office to the parking garage. For that matter, especially so in the parking garage. The crime in downtown St. Louis always makes me hesitate to attend a Cardinals game or other events in that part of the metropolitan area. Plus the city of St. Louis has more than a few areas that can only be described as blighted.
Blighted and poor areas are also common themes in the northern suburbs of St. Louis. One of them, Ferguson, was made infamous due to the police shooting of a young, black man, Michael Brown, and the subsequent riots and demonstrations.
But on the whole I find the area a more than a reasonable place to live. I am not sure where I would move to if that became necessary.
I suppose the St. Louis metropolitan area is like a lot of other large metro areas, it has multiple personalities and more than a few urban problems that should be addressed, along with such obvious highlights as a world class zoo and botanical garden, along with the many museums.
Being a bit cynical, I do wonder about these types of surveys. I worked for a very large company that consistently was ranked near the top in the list of best companies to work for in the USA. I could never understand it. Then I discovered that companies paid to be in this survey. I would hope that after self-selecting to be surveyed the rest was done fairly and scientifically. That little fact makes me wonder about surveys such as this one that comes out from time to time.
And so it goes.
I’m with you about going into the city for nighttime events. But, I expand that to not wanting to go into the city for much of anything. After experiencing The Factory in Chesterfield, I’d love to see more concerts and events there.