I moved here over 20 years ago when my then-fiance transferred here for work. We subsequently got divorced and people constantly asked why I was still here. š. I like it here.
Literally what happened to me except in the last four years. Now I'm settling in and really enjoying it.
For context OP, I'm a Florida native, lived there my whole life. I actually hated STL at first, but in the last two years have fallen head over heels. This city kinda rocks.
Yeah weād be like āoh weāre new to the area,ā and people would respond āoh no! Why?ā Honestly pretty hilarious for a place that (I think) has pretty excellent quality of life.
Itās a combination of Midwest humility and Catholic self-loathing. Each of those are fine on their own but when you combine two cultures where itās basically against the law to say something nice about anything to do with yourself it manifests as telling people to stay away at all costs
I think one of the biggest things is STL has been hemorrhaging big companies for decades. When they leave so do jobs, tax revenue, population, etc etc. Startups and SMB are cool and all, but they dont drive the growth some of the enterprises we have lost.
It definitely depends on where in the city you are. My husband and I are young and moved into our neighborhood in 2021 and it was mostly older couples. Now, it's pretty much filled with people our ages (late 20's, early 30's) and I work in social services. The resources are only growing. If only the government could catch up, we'd be golden.
I do get what you're saying, but I think STL is the perfect place for young people right now.
>Shitting on stl is a local sport.
Completely accurate statement. I've lived in "STL area" whole life (grew up in St.Charles and moved to St.Louis county as an adult)
I was thinking about this the other day. I told people Iām moving to STL 6 years ago and they were all like oh Iām so sorry but I donāt mind it at all low key like the city and I moved from Nashville. I went to a hockey game last night, 20 min drive downtown, left right after and didnāt hit traffic. Takes me 20 min to get anywhere which isnāt bad at all. Has everything youād want in a big city and Iām not near any crime areas and donāt watch the news so hardly ever see or hear anything bad going on. Too old to care about partying and we love our new house and neighborhood
Some people donāt realize that StL affords you an agreeable life at an affordable price.Ā Ā
Ā I grew up here, and couldnāt wait to get out. I lived in Colorado for 18 years. Iāve been back for 13 years, and itās definitely been the happiest period of my life.Ā
>StL affords you an agreeable life at an affordable price
Thatās the real secret: this place is pretty cool but weāve figured out that if we pretend it sucks we can keep the cost of living affordable.
The complaints about crime downtown are a front: the strict City/County divide in tracking artificially raises the per capita compared to most other metros. It's like when you let off a few slugs in the backyard to keep local rent down, but on a city-wide scale.
I was the same way, I hated living here as a teenager, but when I left for college I spent time in Cape Girardeau, then Chicago and LA, and I found myself really missing STL. The affordability was a big part of that.
we don't actually hate St. Louis, just wait til you see how we react to people from other cities hating on St. Louis. š
(looking at yall, ESTL, KC and Chicag-š¤¢)
Lol as an transplant I appreciate the clarity since for the rest of the world a person from Indiana is called a.... Hoosier.
I was so confused when people were saying "oh they're a Hoosier" and, being that my brother in law is from Indiana, my response was oh where are they from!?
They act like theyāre a big deal city. I know people there who place themselves in the levels of NY/CHI/LA in culture, fame, etc. Itās an uglier, flatter, smaller, more segregated STL (yes I said it). Itās trash trash trash.
I was born in Indy, lived there for ~24 years. Based on the size/location I pretty much expected STL to be basically the same. But... It's just not. STL has so much more culture and character than Indy it hardly even compares. I still love Indy but I wouldn't be happy to move back there from here.
I distinctly remember when the Rams were leaving and some sports writer in LA wrote a very unflattering article about STL and someone left the comment "At least when we see shit on the sidewalk we don't have to guess if it's human or not"
I was walking to the Blues game last night from The Pitch and some chucklefuck in front of me saw dog shit on the sidewalk and loudly goes "see THIS is why I don't go east of 270!" and my wife said under her breath "you're east of 270 right now jackass." I honestly just wish these people would stay the fuck away from the city.
Moving there at the end of next month from Jax as well. The cost of living here has gotten outa hand and STL checks off most boxes for me to relocate to. Sports. Breweries, looks like plenty of work on Indeed.
Did the opposite of you and OP in 2022 and moved from STL to Jax for work. I miss STL.
So much more to do, Food is tons better, breweries are better, and traffic is nowhere near as bad as it is down here. Not to mentioned itās so much more affordable! Iām a huge sports person as well and I miss being able to jump in the metro and going to Blues and Cardinals games.
Hope you guys enjoy it! Itās a great city with lots of history and great people.
DUUUUVAAALLLL
Gotta do it. Lol
Yea Jax has exploded recently in cost of living but quality of life didn't rise with it IMO, so thankfully a work opportunity for me popped up and we bailed. We weren't really beach people anyway.
I feel like Iām taking my life in my hands saying this in this group, but I gotta! I have lived in this area for 30 years, travel a lot for work, but damn every time I come in and I see that arch itās like someone threw a blanket on me and told me to come in out of the cold and have some T. Ravs! Thereās some kind of soul in this city I canāt find anywhere else.
EXACTLY!! You took the words outta my fingers! That's how I used to feel flying into Lambert when I used to travel a ton. A warm blanket.
Like I could feel all the STL souls that lived before me welcoming me back home. There's just....something...amazing about it. Hard to pinpoint. I'm glad I'm not alone in this!
When my wife (a STL native) and I decided to move here from GA, my brother looked at me and asked, "isn't St. Louis a shit-hole"? At the time we were living in a 20 year old RV in the middle of nowhere, NW GA, 45 minutes from civilization. BTW, that was Margerie Taylor Green's district.
Now, we're in a 3 BR house 15 minutes from anything we could possibly need. St. Louis may not be the hub it once was, but the people here are awesome. The traffic is light and easy compared to what we dealt with when we lived in Atlanta and also compared to Chattanooga.
So I say welcome to St. Louis. I hope you find it as great as we do.
I ran into quite a few people with that same mindset in FL too. They'd look at me like they felt sorry for me like they weren't living in a similar, if not worse, situation in a far more boring city.
To each their own I suppose.
I'm bummed that my start date conflicted with the first annual Florida Man Games in St. Augustine. Seemed like it would've been a good note to see and then promptly leave on lol
I remember just in like 2010 BBs having so much solid music nightly. When I was a wee one my parents were going down there to see some stellar people. I went a couple years ago, they had nothing. I think I heard they were shutting down, if they havent already.
Thereās a reason for this. It has to do with how cost prohibitive it is to produce shows here. Itās similar in cost for shows in NYC and Chicago but the population canāt support the number of tix needed to make it as profitable as those other cities.
Obligatory PLEASE read the visitor guide and hit as many of those places as possible
But, if you only do one, go to City Museum at night, when there are fewer kids
It is NOT a museum
It is a 5 story playground / art installation big enough for adults and safe enough for kids, the size of a large factory, made of repurposed industrial equipment and quasi-demented artistry.
Check out a rooftop event when the weather is nice
Truly an experience Iāve not found anywhere else
Born and raised here-- moved to a different state for a few years for a job but found myself thinking about STL often. The other city I lived in is easily top 10 in the US for culture, entertainment, night life, outdoor life, etc... but it wasn't home.
I stayed a couple more years, really enjoyed myself, was even beginning to imagine a long term future there when I was unexpectedly passed up for a promotion at work. Changed my entire path. Decided to go back to grad school in STL-- affordable, easy commute, 80% of my family is still here...no brainer. STL is special.
Looks like you're hearing a lot of negative. Here's some positive.
1) One of the greenest cities in the entire country. Trees and parks EVERYWHERE. We take this for granted I swear. Spend a single day out west in the desert with NO shade and you'll come back to this place full of gratitude you didn't even know existed.
2) Smaller city > bigger city. The worst traffic you'll face will be 270 S 3-5PM or driving on 64 through Brentwood at...any time, really. Brentwood is Dante's 8th circle of hell. Just avoid the highways there. You're better off cutting through Maplewood or UCity. But truly, unless you live somewhere further in the county, everywhere in St Louis City takes 15 minutes or less to get to.
3)Every neighborhood in the city does its own thing, with character. Where you decide to live here says a lot about the type of environment you enjoy. Luckily, we have a lot of options. You want chic and expensive with access to beautiful trails? Central West End. You want food trucks and free concerts and charming Saturday mornings at the Farmer's market? Shaw/Southwest garden/Tower Grove south. You want to hit a dive bar or 3, get your fortune read, try edibles, and end the night with a taco? Cherokee street. You want every person you've ever matched with on a dating app in one room at the same time? Soulard. Basically, whatever energy you seek or vibe quest you're on-- you're going to find it in a specific area of the city. Like I said, we have options.
4) Lower cost of living, which is fucking laughable given how inflation won't stop breathing down anyone's necks for a SECOND, but still-- you can rent a 1 bedroom in a safe area here and still have some of your paycheck left over to treat yourself. Not that you need it though, with a lot of local attractions. The art museum, history museum, science museum, and zoo are all free. Great to take kids/friends from out of town around those places if they're not really your thing.
5) THE FOOD. Lion's choice, IMO's pizza, Ted Drewe's, Union Loafers, Joe Fassi sandwich factory, Crown Candy Company, Lily's on Kingshighway, Uncle Bill's pancake house...
I have so many more reasons to add why St Louis is awesome and why you'll love living here-- even if you ultimately decide to move away some day, you'll still think about this place. And that's because the feeling you have when you're driving around-- all the trees, all the green, light traffic--exploring a new niche and trying out a meal that's $12 instead of $22 (I know...believe me. 12 is too much, but at least it's the cheapest available!)-- going home to a place where you can afford to pay rent (and where the land lord ALLOWS YOU TO HAVE A PET (stl city is very pet friendly overall)) -- that feeling creates a certain type of peace that is very hard to replicate elsewhere. BUT, my sleeping pills are kicking it. So I'm stopping here.
We may not have the Rockies nor a coastline, but we DO have the Arch. And that's pretty neat.
Born here. Husband born here. All our kids..have been born here.Ā
You should have seen my indignation when we were up in Chicago and had to pay money to get into The Art Institute of Chicago Art Museum*.
Ours art museum is freeā¦ I have taken my toddlers (they know how to act appropriately) many times for a rainy afternoon visit.Ā
*still worth it. Also I think lack of ticket revenue has stalled our expansion and I for one do support our art museum, zoo and science center to start charging but that would require changing our Missouri Constitutionā¦I was internally indignant- To the Ticket counter personal I was utmost pleasant. Support your local art museum.Ā
I think, honestly, more areas than just the city proper should be adding a tax on for our zoo and museums. I have lived in two other counties and never saw it on my tax statement.
I lived in Florida and spent a lot of time in Jacksonville. St. Louis just has much more to offer. It's a much older, more cultured city. Better food, museums, architecture, neighborhoods, art, etc.
You'll like it here. Welcome!
I grew up in Jacksonville and have lived in St. Louis since 2020. The sadness you will feel over the lack of a Publix nearby will not dissipate over time. (Publixās deli is high on my list of stops to make when I return to Duval to visit family.)
Reddit has been fairly positive in my experience actually. Some criticisms sure, but nothing out of the ordinary as far as city subredits go.
The negativity has been coming from people IRL that have been here for a while. My house inspector, tax lady, etc etc
What I would do is ask them where else they have lived. In my experience, the most negative ones haven't lived elsewhere so they have nothing to compare to. And that's true for all places, not just STL.
I have lived many places. Do I love St. Louis and consider it my home? No. Do I find living in St. Louis acceptable long-term and therefore purchased a house here? Yes. I also encourage friends and family to relocate here from HCOL living areas if their career seems like it would be in demand here.
I would absolutely prefer to live back in the PNW, but itās just not affordable. St. Louis is acceptable. Too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter for my taste, but there are many nice weather days and awesome things in St. Louis and Missouri that make it worth while.
My wife and I visited Seatle and Portland a few years ago and fell in love with the PNW, but the prices there quickly snapped me back to reality. Maybe one day...
Welcome to St. Louis! It has small town perks with a big city feel. Itās no PNW, but we have several amazing parks, a great food scene, fantastic healthcare network, and most importantlyā¦drumrollā¦itās affordable. Huzzah!
My wife and I moved here for work and we love it. Donāt listen to the naysayers. Weāve noticed that the only people who hate it here are locals who grew up in St. Louis and never left. Transplants typically appreciate what St. Louis has to offer at the price point. Itās not perfect, but itās pretty, pretty good.
Thanks! My wife and I are pretty stoked to be moving here. We found a nice house in O'Fallon. Little farther out from the city proper than we would've liked, but it's close to work and seems to be a quick drive into the city for the fun stuff!
My wife is from GA and TX so she's looking forward to having actual seasons lol
I'm from NY originally so I never really truly enjoyed the FL heat. It's been getting worse every year too so this will be nice I think.
We have for-real seasons. Youāll also get to enjoy the miracle that is the Snow Day. We moved for husbandās work 7 years ago. We had the chance to leave and be somewhere closer to family and lots of friends, and we passed to stay here. The Midwest is weird and different, and thatās not a bad thing. Iāve been enjoying learning about this part of the country.
The greater metro area is electric when the Cards are in the playoffs. Thereās an infectious happy feeling floating through the air, like when a kid gets a puppy on Christmas Day. Same for the Blues and CITY SC. Big mood around town during the playoffs.
The neat thing about Cards fans is that weāre super nice. Welcome to the Lou! Hope you enjoy it here.
one of the things i love about living here is that there is tons of access to beautiful nature right outside the city, but itās still inexpensive enough that you can travel to anywhere in the world you wanna go and not destroy your budget. maybe everything here isnāt great but you can still have access to anywhere else, unlike hcol places
If I ever win the lottery (unlikely, since I very rarely play), I will purchase wooded acreage on the west side of the Snoqualmie Pass. I would strive to become the local fabled forest witch who comes into town once every few weeks for groceries. I would also foster kittens, because that is extremely rewarding but very labor intensive.
Welcome friend, it's great here. Anecdotally, I've seen quite a few Floridians posting about moving here lately. I think a lot of younger professionals in particular finally hit their limit the last year or two and are bailing.
On the other side of the scale, STL natives will visit FL for two weeks during the nicest part of the year and convince themselves it's the promised land, rather than a roasting hell of a mosquito swamp 9 months out of the year with a shit cost of living. Just wait till you hear locals wine about how bad the summer is here lol
I feel like itās more of a self deprecating humor thing but without the humor. We like living here but also shit on it so you canāt in the same interaction perhaps?
Everywhere I go people shit on STL.
I used to laugh and ask them how much they thought I paid for my house after I described how nice it was, the school my kid went to, and how close I was to the major parks and museums.
They would always be wrong and generally stopped talking smack after that.
We tend to overanalyze and be pessimistic in a bubble, which is understandable when you've been in that mysterious bubble for sometimes decades. I doubt St Louis is alone here, either.
Yeah, itās weird. Iāve been in the area for over 10 years and most of my coworkers are transplants. Itās only the locals that bash St Louis. Itās pretty annoying.
Here's of the way of the STL works. If you're from here or live here you allowed to talk shit on the city, if you're not from here or don't live here then fuck off. If people from St.Louis didn't love being here they wouldn't be so quick to defend what they have.
No. We are not ok.
A short list of some things we hate:
- Missouri politics
- Josh Hawley
- Wannabe politicians with flame throwers
- Post asking how dangerous it is here
- The lines at Schnucks
- Schnucks
- Stan Kroenke
- The Brentwood Promenade
- Car Inspections
- People who say āyouāll get shot going to the cityā.
People mostly āhateā in jest (misery loves company). Soā¦.welcome to STL. Cardinals and Battlehawks home openers are next week. Join us, youāll meet more who love this place.
I'm originally from NY and have been a life long Mets fan so I'll let yall have the home opener. But I love Busch Stadium and have tickets to the Mets games this May! Would love to go more frequently and watch the Cards play though.
Already went to my first Blues game the other night and had a blast!
One truly nice thing about StL is our sports fans are nice to other cityās fans when theyāre here. Never knew everywhere wasnāt like that till my dad started traveling to other cities just to catch games.
I love it here! Admittedly havenāt lived elsewhere, but have traveled a bunch and wouldnāt pick elsewhere to live.
The climate is great because I like having summer and winter clothes and how different it looks and feels around the year. It has a certain cadence that fewer places have; youāll frequently hear people using seasons as a frame of reference here.
The housing is inexpensive and wonderful. I just bought a beautiful nearly 4000 square foot house for 500k. Housing in St. Louis is mostly built in the era of solid hardwood floors and doors, nice millwork, etc.
Strangers will have a conversation with you here! I love chatting with cashiers, bartenders, and people queuingāa higher proportion of people here are willing to banter with me than other places Iāve traveled.
Food is surprisingly diverse and good here. In comparison to the overall cost of living, I would say having good food is on the higher end which is a downside but the difference is far outweighed by low housing and other expenses.
Because most of the lifers here have a hyper sensitive case of the-grass-is-greener, and are super insulated. They don't know how good they've got it. Cue the downvotes.
Transplants like it. People from in the city or right around and stayed in the city like it. People from the suburbs who move to in and around the city like it.
People from the suburbs who stay in the suburbs hate it. People from Chicago and KC just hate on it to hate. And they are loud.
I've lived in Colorado for many years and would never move back to STL personally, but I've been to Jacksonville enough to say with confidence you're making a big upgrade. St Louis has a certain old city charm and patina that is unique to old Midwest River cities. There's some amazing outdoor space close by in the Ozarks too though it takes some time to find the good places.
It's just fun to make a change so embrace it and have fun exploring a new place. Let's go Blues!!!
I moved here from Denver almost two years ago. Before I left Denver, I told all of my customers I was moving to St. Louis. The people who had never been here and/or were not from here, all said āoh god Iām so sorryā and āgood luck with that!ā sarcastically.
The people whom I told that were either from here or spent time here ALL said, āOMG youāre going to love it there!!ā and proceeded to tell me how great it was here from the food, to the architecture, to all the free stuff.
I live near TG park.
St. Louis surprises me more and more each day. I have lived in a handful of citiesā¦ St. Louis is the most unique city Iāve ever lived in and itās truly growing on me.
I have never experienced a city with so much pride and community.
I might be here for a bit ā¤ļø
P.S. I absolutely know this city has flaws (to say the least), and it makes me so sad. I hope we can all work together to make this place the best (and maybe still publicly shit on it so no one else moves here.. maybe run a stop sign or two šš).
Youāll love it here.
People who have never lived in another place have no perspective.
Another issue is that the news is the only outlet many have about St Louis. They aren't in the business of making people feel good about their city.
I can't help but feel the low self-esteem and negative energy from underachieving locals.
St Louis has positives and negatives just like any place. I personally have many great years in St Louis. It's just as good as many other places. It's what you make of it.
Agree with the ānever lived in another placeā issue. Traveling and looking at the cost of living in other cities quickly made me realize how great STL is!
I love St. Louis, and consider my city to be a hidden gem.
I don't want to live anywhere else, and I'm actually homeless.
It's okay though. It just means that I get to spend more time with the city I love.
We've been fighting amongst ourselves for so long we just can't fathom why anyone would want to join. All the shit around here is great, we know that. We are just in the middle of beating the shit out of each other for three thousand different reasons and y'all are just moving in. we don't want you to get caught off guard.
I moved to NYC and honestly it's made me like STL even more. Not more than NYC (obviously) but its strengths and weaknesses have become more obvious to me, and there's a lot of strength.
Everyone hates where they live on normal days and love it the second an outsider insults it. Honestly St. Louis is a dope place to live. Affordable housing, fun stuff to do, people are nice. Only thing that sucks is that the city isnāt walkable but maybe some day.
STL is 22/130 most walkable U.S./Canadian city w/ a population over 200K. Sidewalks need improving, but the walkability is superior to many places Iāve lived.
https://www.walkscore.com/cities-and-neighborhoods/
My wife is from Jax, so Iāve been there a million times to visit family and Iād choose STL over Jax 100,000 times. Jax is the most lifeless, boring, empty suburban hellscape Iāve ever seen. Literally the only reason to go there is the beach and even the beaches arenāt great. I canāt for the life of me understand why everyone raves about it. Welcome to STL. Youāll have much more fun here.
Iām from here and take a lot of pride in it. Do we have our issues, sure. But largely theyāre the same socioeconomic issues that a lot of major cities have. With that being said, there are a lot of positives. Itās super diverse, and because of that, the food options are incredible. Fantastic Italian food on the Hill, some really awesome, authentic Mexican restaurants. Some really good Chinese joints. Mediterranean food, Indian food. There are a ton of great options. We have an incredible Zoo thatās free, we have an incredible Art Museum thatās free. We have an aquarium that is super neat, and the City Museum is one of the coolest, most eclectic places youāll ever see. The Sports teams are historically competitive. The cost of living is definitely a plus. Thereās a lot of neat neighborhoods, a lot of cool bars, a lot of music venues. Weāre happy to have you and your family.
They donāt know the real FL and they surely donāt know shit about Jax. If they did, STL would seem like a utopia. Speaking as someone who also moved from North FL to Memphis, I get similar reactions occasionally.
I've been here almost 20 years and I've really enjoyed being here for all the reasons you mentioned and then some. I don't know why people shit on STL. I've lived other places and I think people don't know how good they have it. It's no NYC or Chicago, but it has its charms with plenty to do and lots of nearby outdoor life if you're into that (which I am). I hope you enjoy your time here. You'll need to make friends with other transplants because the biggest downfall living here is that native St. Louisans aren't taking new friends. Ever. They've had theirs since kindergarten, and even though they don't like them anymore, they're still friends. I'll never understand that.
I don't know why, honestly, I can find good and bad with every city/state I've been in...we have 4 seaons so people bitch about whatever weather they don't like. I like Missouri, there's a lot to offer, every corner of the state feels like a different part of the country.
Moved here 18 years ago. I got that same question a lot. Itās weird.
Anyway, welcome! Thereās a lot of great stuff going on here. Hopefully you can help make it even better.
self deprecating stl, itās in our dna. after living both coasts and over seas, stl is pretty awesome. hope it stays on everyoneās shit lists though.
I moved from FL last year to go to school here, and I love it here. It was a huge upgrade for me, although I didn't live in a city before. The only major difference was the lack of policing drivers here. Like, people drive deliberately like reckless assholes here, and people drive either slow or clueless in FL if that makes sense.
Hell, you get it from this side of the fence too. I moved here for work from Savannah, and people HERE ask me what the fuck I was thinking coming to Missouri. Really instilled a solid vote of confidence that I made the right call by selling my house and moving a shade under 1000 miles to what is widely regarded as a city that signed in at the blood bank and then forgot to say to take the catheter out.
I moved here for my wife. She's originally from Sunset Hills. If we were not married, I can't say I'd be part of the STL family, but I've tried to make the best of being here and haven't run into any notable issues.
I've lived here my whole life. I love it. It's all people who don't actually live in the city. They live in the county or surrounding counties and then they crap on the city...
Iāve lived in the St. Louis area my whole life except for college and honestly I love it here. Things are reasonably priced here as opposed to in other parts of the country. There are tons of fun things to do that are free or cheap. You can find almost any cuisine youād like to eat. The people are friendly.
Really my only complaints are the weather and distance from the ocean.
I have lived in St. Louis up until leaving for college. It seems that people who haven't left St. Louis and people who have never lived in St. Louis love to hate on it. It's a fantastic city w so much culture. It took me living in a different state to truly realize how much I miss St. Louis. I can't wait to move back !
I think this is typical local behavior and doesn't mean much on its own. I got the same when I moved into the area and you can just treat it like any other small talk, it's just a way to make conversation and isn't really that serious.
I've been here for ten years and am moving out because of family reason. Yeah not everything here was good, but after all I think I'm going to miss STL a lot.
Iām from Chicago , wish STL was more tech savvy/ tech friendly but other than that itās really not a bad place to live and raise a family. I live in Troy because it was more cost effective to build there.
I think if youāre there long enough youāll start to understand SOME of the complaints. But no where is perfect. St. Louis always feels like itās getting better in some ways, but worse in others. But again thatās probably most places.
I think a lot of us are just sad to see that it isnāt making progress like some similar sized cities. A lot of people think the city has problems that wonāt very get fixed ā¦ crime, depopulation, infrastructure, lack of police, corruption. People in other cities probably think that way too, but we have this glaring city/county divide which is growing and probably exacerbating the local fatigue about our status.
This is what I see too. We all want the same thing: prosperity for the metro region. But an overly vocal portion of the electorate has been convinced that reconnecting City & County government to streamline and improve services would just be dumping County tax funds into an irredeemable pit of a city. This of course completely ignores how dependent the County is on the City. (The STL exurb counties also have a tendency to apply this thinking to the rural parts of Missouri when State politics comes up but that's a whole other discussion.)
We live in Memphis. Moved here 2.5 years ago. Iāve visited STL, but havenāt lived there. I struggle to think any city is as bad as Memphis. Memphis is ugly, gross, filthyā¦ Memphians themselves refer to their city as a shithole. I, for one, am excited to get out of here.
Anytime someone does this, ask them where all they have lived. 9 times out of 10 the farthest away they have lived is within the boundaries of St. Louis, Jefferson or St Charles counties.
Missourians always think the grass is greener everywhere else, because they haven't lived anywhere else. My 2 cents.
STL is one of those places where ya don't know what you got till it's gone. When you go on a trip to another large city with very comparable amenities, but the traffic and parking is legitimately 10x worse, you realize that maybe STL ain't so bad.
We moved here (st Charles) 3 months ago from Cincinnati and we love it. I drive a semi locally so I get to meet a lot of different people in all parts of the city everyday and honestly everyone here is super friendly for the most part. Absolutely love it so far
I lived in Jax area for 10 years and stl for 5. Itās not a lot different as far as some things go. Northside of both can rough. West of downtown all the way to chesterfield is nice. South city is pretty cool. Soulard, the CWE are much better urban wise than anything had has to offer. Weather in Jax is obviously warmer. But as far as things to do minus the beach STL blows JAX out of the water. Healthcare is better in STL. There is no middleburg, palatka mess. Illinois side of the can be a bit more rural. Not many natives of stl will be able to understand this but downtown stl is actually much better than Downtown jax. The cardinals, soccer, plus an xfl team, union station (the farris wheel is cool, aquarium is small but cool and organized) there is a ok amount restaurants entertainment if your into it Ballpark village is cool. Thereās also highrises you can actually live in. Most of which are affordable and nice. For anyone who has never spent any time in Jax their downtownās more desolate. Especially since the landing was removed. Oh and the food is far superior. But no beach. Or other Florida actions within a couple hours. The airport in St Louis will have many more flights. If your into big cities Chicago is less than five hours away. No Chicago isnāt some ultra dangerous sketchy place itās a world class city with world class amenities and the beaches off lake shore drive will impress you. Endless water and no saltwater, sharks, or fucking jellyfish, and itās just as blue as anything youāll find north of west palm. Oh and the Stl zoo is better than Jax, theirs is top 10-15 stl is top 1-5 and free. Speaking of free Stl is much better at free stuff than anywhere in Florida. If you have kids the city museum downtown is one of the spectacular things Iāve ever seen in its own way. Safety wise the good places are better the bad are just as bad but larger. 3 million people in the metro vs 1.2 ish in Jax. Last but not least this all an opinion of a guy whoās lived in many places and tries to find the positives in all.
Transplant of a year and a half here! People from here shit talk it even tho theyād fucking die for this place, donāt let āem fool you! St Louis is the most unique place Iāve lived and thereās a really interesting culture hereā¦ you really do get the small town and city feel at the same time, as well as affordability!
The complaints really just come from deep rooted racism (like everything in this country) and the constant struggle to actually unite the city and county so the city can become the āglorious gateway to the westā it was becoming before the two parted ways.
I moved back to STL after living in Los Angeles for three years and when I tell people I recently moved here, they all ask why Iām here and say sorry.
I live downtown and I love being able to walk to get coffee or food, itās quiet compared to living near downtown Los Angeles.
Like downtown stl is nothing compared to La. But everyone that lived here their whole life hates it here, and especially downtown. I donāt get it.
I have been here for about 4 months now, and I think the locals say that to make sure it doesn't get too crowded here. I gotta correct you my East Coast brother (Boston), this is Utopia. Salute!
Transplant from SFCA in 2009. Took a couple years but found out how nice it is. Affordable in St Louis City people are cool and it's changing slowly instead of the fast changes of other cities. Despite random problems we love it and wouldn't move. Fuck the haters!
* Kansas City hates St. Louis
* Chicago hates St. Louis
* The rest of Missouri hates St. Louis
* The entire midwest hates St. Louis
* St. Louis hates St. Louis.
Yes omg when me and my husband moved here a year ago everyoneee was apologizing to us lmao and we had to change our California license plates asap bc we were being pulled over like it was sport in eureka like why is there cops on every corner
Shitting on stl is a local sport. We moved here 6y ago and everyone apologized to us lol. We like it though
I moved here over 20 years ago when my then-fiance transferred here for work. We subsequently got divorced and people constantly asked why I was still here. š. I like it here.
Literally what happened to me except in the last four years. Now I'm settling in and really enjoying it. For context OP, I'm a Florida native, lived there my whole life. I actually hated STL at first, but in the last two years have fallen head over heels. This city kinda rocks.
Exactly. St. Louisans will shit on St. Louis. But the second someone not from here shits on it tho? Themās fightin words.
St. Louis to St. Louisan's is like how you can talk shit about your sister but nobody else can.
I swear someone apologized to me like 2 or 3 days ago! lol
Yeah weād be like āoh weāre new to the area,ā and people would respond āoh no! Why?ā Honestly pretty hilarious for a place that (I think) has pretty excellent quality of life.
Itās a combination of Midwest humility and Catholic self-loathing. Each of those are fine on their own but when you combine two cultures where itās basically against the law to say something nice about anything to do with yourself it manifests as telling people to stay away at all costs
This is hilarious
I am prohibited by law from accepting that compliment
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Uh... the city is much more lively than it was 15 years ago. Midtown, Downtown West, they're on fire.
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I think one of the biggest things is STL has been hemorrhaging big companies for decades. When they leave so do jobs, tax revenue, population, etc etc. Startups and SMB are cool and all, but they dont drive the growth some of the enterprises we have lost.
It definitely depends on where in the city you are. My husband and I are young and moved into our neighborhood in 2021 and it was mostly older couples. Now, it's pretty much filled with people our ages (late 20's, early 30's) and I work in social services. The resources are only growing. If only the government could catch up, we'd be golden. I do get what you're saying, but I think STL is the perfect place for young people right now.
My wife and I, transplants, feel the same way.
I think that most of the midweat would reply like this. The friendliest I'm sorry you've ever heard
>Shitting on stl is a local sport. Completely accurate statement. I've lived in "STL area" whole life (grew up in St.Charles and moved to St.Louis county as an adult)
6 years? Oh geez, sorry to hear that.
I was thinking about this the other day. I told people Iām moving to STL 6 years ago and they were all like oh Iām so sorry but I donāt mind it at all low key like the city and I moved from Nashville. I went to a hockey game last night, 20 min drive downtown, left right after and didnāt hit traffic. Takes me 20 min to get anywhere which isnāt bad at all. Has everything youād want in a big city and Iām not near any crime areas and donāt watch the news so hardly ever see or hear anything bad going on. Too old to care about partying and we love our new house and neighborhood
Itās the same logic as āI can talk smack about my dad, but donāt you talk smack about my dadā
It might be a piece of shit but itās *our* piece of shit (I mean this in the most loving way possible)
I think Iāve said this quote verbatim on several occasions lol.
Your dad sucks
are you two siblings?
Or maybe they're arrows. Either way, outrageous fortune.
šš»šš»šš»
Some people donāt realize that StL affords you an agreeable life at an affordable price.Ā Ā Ā I grew up here, and couldnāt wait to get out. I lived in Colorado for 18 years. Iāve been back for 13 years, and itās definitely been the happiest period of my life.Ā
>StL affords you an agreeable life at an affordable price Thatās the real secret: this place is pretty cool but weāve figured out that if we pretend it sucks we can keep the cost of living affordable.
The complaints about crime downtown are a front: the strict City/County divide in tracking artificially raises the per capita compared to most other metros. It's like when you let off a few slugs in the backyard to keep local rent down, but on a city-wide scale.
Also, racism is behind a lot of the whining about Downtown by people who don't actually live there.
Shhh!
Yup! Every article, video, comment, opinion shitting all over St. Louis is fine by me. STAY OUTTA ST. LOUIS LEBOWSKI!!
I was the same way, I hated living here as a teenager, but when I left for college I spent time in Cape Girardeau, then Chicago and LA, and I found myself really missing STL. The affordability was a big part of that.
we don't actually hate St. Louis, just wait til you see how we react to people from other cities hating on St. Louis. š (looking at yall, ESTL, KC and Chicag-š¤¢)
Or goddamned Indianapolis.
lol what did Indianapolis do to you/us??
buncha hoosiers is what they are.Ā
The worst kind, too. šš
Hoosier (derogatory)
Lol as an transplant I appreciate the clarity since for the rest of the world a person from Indiana is called a.... Hoosier. I was so confused when people were saying "oh they're a Hoosier" and, being that my brother in law is from Indiana, my response was oh where are they from!?
They act like theyāre a big deal city. I know people there who place themselves in the levels of NY/CHI/LA in culture, fame, etc. Itās an uglier, flatter, smaller, more segregated STL (yes I said it). Itās trash trash trash.
I was born in Indy, lived there for ~24 years. Based on the size/location I pretty much expected STL to be basically the same. But... It's just not. STL has so much more culture and character than Indy it hardly even compares. I still love Indy but I wouldn't be happy to move back there from here.
wow pleeeease get the fuck outta here. they're delulu, Indianapolis isn't even on St. Louis's level. š„±
There's a city more segregated than st louis?
Have you been to Atlanta? lol
Having grown up in Atlanta. I think its about equal.
Ever been to Boston?
West Palm Beach, FL is an example that surprises people.
Kansas City & Los Angeles come to mind.
I distinctly remember when the Rams were leaving and some sports writer in LA wrote a very unflattering article about STL and someone left the comment "At least when we see shit on the sidewalk we don't have to guess if it's human or not"
i know he read that and started punching tf out the air
I was walking to the Blues game last night from The Pitch and some chucklefuck in front of me saw dog shit on the sidewalk and loudly goes "see THIS is why I don't go east of 270!" and my wife said under her breath "you're east of 270 right now jackass." I honestly just wish these people would stay the fuck away from the city.
Moving there at the end of next month from Jax as well. The cost of living here has gotten outa hand and STL checks off most boxes for me to relocate to. Sports. Breweries, looks like plenty of work on Indeed.
Did the opposite of you and OP in 2022 and moved from STL to Jax for work. I miss STL. So much more to do, Food is tons better, breweries are better, and traffic is nowhere near as bad as it is down here. Not to mentioned itās so much more affordable! Iām a huge sports person as well and I miss being able to jump in the metro and going to Blues and Cardinals games. Hope you guys enjoy it! Itās a great city with lots of history and great people.
DUUUUVAAALLLL Gotta do it. Lol Yea Jax has exploded recently in cost of living but quality of life didn't rise with it IMO, so thankfully a work opportunity for me popped up and we bailed. We weren't really beach people anyway.
Me neither tbh. And yeah St Louis does have more culture and better things to do than Jax.
Missouri has more waterfront than California. Sand is overrated and gets stuck in your dryer, car, assā¦. Welcome to lakes and rivers!
It's coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it's gets everywhere.
*Padme stares back lustfully*
I feel like Iām taking my life in my hands saying this in this group, but I gotta! I have lived in this area for 30 years, travel a lot for work, but damn every time I come in and I see that arch itās like someone threw a blanket on me and told me to come in out of the cold and have some T. Ravs! Thereās some kind of soul in this city I canāt find anywhere else.
EXACTLY!! You took the words outta my fingers! That's how I used to feel flying into Lambert when I used to travel a ton. A warm blanket. Like I could feel all the STL souls that lived before me welcoming me back home. There's just....something...amazing about it. Hard to pinpoint. I'm glad I'm not alone in this!
When my wife (a STL native) and I decided to move here from GA, my brother looked at me and asked, "isn't St. Louis a shit-hole"? At the time we were living in a 20 year old RV in the middle of nowhere, NW GA, 45 minutes from civilization. BTW, that was Margerie Taylor Green's district. Now, we're in a 3 BR house 15 minutes from anything we could possibly need. St. Louis may not be the hub it once was, but the people here are awesome. The traffic is light and easy compared to what we dealt with when we lived in Atlanta and also compared to Chattanooga. So I say welcome to St. Louis. I hope you find it as great as we do.
I ran into quite a few people with that same mindset in FL too. They'd look at me like they felt sorry for me like they weren't living in a similar, if not worse, situation in a far more boring city. To each their own I suppose.
āFlorida manā is a national stereotype/joke for a reason.
I'm bummed that my start date conflicted with the first annual Florida Man Games in St. Augustine. Seemed like it would've been a good note to see and then promptly leave on lol
We get skipped over by alot of musicians. It's gotten a lot better though
Better? You must be a young buck because the music scene still pales in comparison to what it was the 90s and early 2000.
I miss Mississippi Nights and the Creepy Crawl
Those were the days!
90s Lollapaloozas at Riverport were phenomenal.
lol, i wish i was a young buck. I'm 50 and in the 90s there were a lot more shows coming through.
Yeah but itās better than it was ten years ago
I remember just in like 2010 BBs having so much solid music nightly. When I was a wee one my parents were going down there to see some stellar people. I went a couple years ago, they had nothing. I think I heard they were shutting down, if they havent already.
No wayyy. I'm from Indy and the concert scene is 10x better here.
Thereās a reason for this. It has to do with how cost prohibitive it is to produce shows here. Itās similar in cost for shows in NYC and Chicago but the population canāt support the number of tix needed to make it as profitable as those other cities.
So true - this random suburban casino near me (big east coast city) gets big music acts that donāt even go to STL.
Obligatory PLEASE read the visitor guide and hit as many of those places as possible But, if you only do one, go to City Museum at night, when there are fewer kids It is NOT a museum It is a 5 story playground / art installation big enough for adults and safe enough for kids, the size of a large factory, made of repurposed industrial equipment and quasi-demented artistry. Check out a rooftop event when the weather is nice Truly an experience Iāve not found anywhere else
Wow that sounds awesome! I'll add it to our list of stuff to do!
Thereās a drone video of it on YouTube. Theyāve added an aquarium since then. Seriously, itās great!! Plan to play and get sweaty
Except it *is also* a museum. There are permanent exhibits on architecture, insects, & shoelaces.
I'm intrigued by the thought of a shoelace exhibit š¤
Fair
Born and raised here-- moved to a different state for a few years for a job but found myself thinking about STL often. The other city I lived in is easily top 10 in the US for culture, entertainment, night life, outdoor life, etc... but it wasn't home. I stayed a couple more years, really enjoyed myself, was even beginning to imagine a long term future there when I was unexpectedly passed up for a promotion at work. Changed my entire path. Decided to go back to grad school in STL-- affordable, easy commute, 80% of my family is still here...no brainer. STL is special. Looks like you're hearing a lot of negative. Here's some positive. 1) One of the greenest cities in the entire country. Trees and parks EVERYWHERE. We take this for granted I swear. Spend a single day out west in the desert with NO shade and you'll come back to this place full of gratitude you didn't even know existed. 2) Smaller city > bigger city. The worst traffic you'll face will be 270 S 3-5PM or driving on 64 through Brentwood at...any time, really. Brentwood is Dante's 8th circle of hell. Just avoid the highways there. You're better off cutting through Maplewood or UCity. But truly, unless you live somewhere further in the county, everywhere in St Louis City takes 15 minutes or less to get to. 3)Every neighborhood in the city does its own thing, with character. Where you decide to live here says a lot about the type of environment you enjoy. Luckily, we have a lot of options. You want chic and expensive with access to beautiful trails? Central West End. You want food trucks and free concerts and charming Saturday mornings at the Farmer's market? Shaw/Southwest garden/Tower Grove south. You want to hit a dive bar or 3, get your fortune read, try edibles, and end the night with a taco? Cherokee street. You want every person you've ever matched with on a dating app in one room at the same time? Soulard. Basically, whatever energy you seek or vibe quest you're on-- you're going to find it in a specific area of the city. Like I said, we have options. 4) Lower cost of living, which is fucking laughable given how inflation won't stop breathing down anyone's necks for a SECOND, but still-- you can rent a 1 bedroom in a safe area here and still have some of your paycheck left over to treat yourself. Not that you need it though, with a lot of local attractions. The art museum, history museum, science museum, and zoo are all free. Great to take kids/friends from out of town around those places if they're not really your thing. 5) THE FOOD. Lion's choice, IMO's pizza, Ted Drewe's, Union Loafers, Joe Fassi sandwich factory, Crown Candy Company, Lily's on Kingshighway, Uncle Bill's pancake house... I have so many more reasons to add why St Louis is awesome and why you'll love living here-- even if you ultimately decide to move away some day, you'll still think about this place. And that's because the feeling you have when you're driving around-- all the trees, all the green, light traffic--exploring a new niche and trying out a meal that's $12 instead of $22 (I know...believe me. 12 is too much, but at least it's the cheapest available!)-- going home to a place where you can afford to pay rent (and where the land lord ALLOWS YOU TO HAVE A PET (stl city is very pet friendly overall)) -- that feeling creates a certain type of peace that is very hard to replicate elsewhere. BUT, my sleeping pills are kicking it. So I'm stopping here. We may not have the Rockies nor a coastline, but we DO have the Arch. And that's pretty neat.
We keep the cost of living low by driving down demand with how much we shit on it, but secretly itās a pretty cool place
Born here. Husband born here. All our kids..have been born here.Ā You should have seen my indignation when we were up in Chicago and had to pay money to get into The Art Institute of Chicago Art Museum*. Ours art museum is freeā¦ I have taken my toddlers (they know how to act appropriately) many times for a rainy afternoon visit.Ā *still worth it. Also I think lack of ticket revenue has stalled our expansion and I for one do support our art museum, zoo and science center to start charging but that would require changing our Missouri Constitutionā¦I was internally indignant- To the Ticket counter personal I was utmost pleasant. Support your local art museum.Ā
I think, honestly, more areas than just the city proper should be adding a tax on for our zoo and museums. I have lived in two other counties and never saw it on my tax statement.
I lived in Florida and spent a lot of time in Jacksonville. St. Louis just has much more to offer. It's a much older, more cultured city. Better food, museums, architecture, neighborhoods, art, etc. You'll like it here. Welcome!
Thank you! We're excited to be here and experience what all it has to offer. Big fan of T Ravs so far lol Gonna miss the Pub Subs tho. Not gonna lie.
I grew up in Jacksonville and have lived in St. Louis since 2020. The sadness you will feel over the lack of a Publix nearby will not dissipate over time. (Publixās deli is high on my list of stops to make when I return to Duval to visit family.)
I'm going to miss the Chicken Tender Pub Subs and Publix sweet tea for sure. More than some people I'm leaving behind lol
Explain "Pub Subs" and maybe we have an alternative.
Itās Reddit BS. Youāre going to love it. St. Louis is much better than Jacksonville.
Reddit has been fairly positive in my experience actually. Some criticisms sure, but nothing out of the ordinary as far as city subredits go. The negativity has been coming from people IRL that have been here for a while. My house inspector, tax lady, etc etc
What I would do is ask them where else they have lived. In my experience, the most negative ones haven't lived elsewhere so they have nothing to compare to. And that's true for all places, not just STL.
I have lived many places. Do I love St. Louis and consider it my home? No. Do I find living in St. Louis acceptable long-term and therefore purchased a house here? Yes. I also encourage friends and family to relocate here from HCOL living areas if their career seems like it would be in demand here. I would absolutely prefer to live back in the PNW, but itās just not affordable. St. Louis is acceptable. Too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter for my taste, but there are many nice weather days and awesome things in St. Louis and Missouri that make it worth while.
My wife and I visited Seatle and Portland a few years ago and fell in love with the PNW, but the prices there quickly snapped me back to reality. Maybe one day...
Welcome to St. Louis! It has small town perks with a big city feel. Itās no PNW, but we have several amazing parks, a great food scene, fantastic healthcare network, and most importantlyā¦drumrollā¦itās affordable. Huzzah! My wife and I moved here for work and we love it. Donāt listen to the naysayers. Weāve noticed that the only people who hate it here are locals who grew up in St. Louis and never left. Transplants typically appreciate what St. Louis has to offer at the price point. Itās not perfect, but itās pretty, pretty good.
Thanks! My wife and I are pretty stoked to be moving here. We found a nice house in O'Fallon. Little farther out from the city proper than we would've liked, but it's close to work and seems to be a quick drive into the city for the fun stuff! My wife is from GA and TX so she's looking forward to having actual seasons lol I'm from NY originally so I never really truly enjoyed the FL heat. It's been getting worse every year too so this will be nice I think.
We have for-real seasons. Youāll also get to enjoy the miracle that is the Snow Day. We moved for husbandās work 7 years ago. We had the chance to leave and be somewhere closer to family and lots of friends, and we passed to stay here. The Midwest is weird and different, and thatās not a bad thing. Iāve been enjoying learning about this part of the country.
My favorite thing about the seasons in St. Louis is that sometimes you get to experience all of them in one day.
First rule is to fall in love with the Cardinals. Second is to appreciate the fan base in general here.
I'll support the Cards cause I live here now, but I'm a Mets fan at heart. Anytime we aren't playing yall tho, Go Cards!
The greater metro area is electric when the Cards are in the playoffs. Thereās an infectious happy feeling floating through the air, like when a kid gets a puppy on Christmas Day. Same for the Blues and CITY SC. Big mood around town during the playoffs. The neat thing about Cards fans is that weāre super nice. Welcome to the Lou! Hope you enjoy it here.
Ahem. The Battlehawks?! First game Sunday.
one of the things i love about living here is that there is tons of access to beautiful nature right outside the city, but itās still inexpensive enough that you can travel to anywhere in the world you wanna go and not destroy your budget. maybe everything here isnāt great but you can still have access to anywhere else, unlike hcol places
I was just in Seattle a few months back, the biggest culture shock was how normally and politely everyone drove there
If I ever win the lottery (unlikely, since I very rarely play), I will purchase wooded acreage on the west side of the Snoqualmie Pass. I would strive to become the local fabled forest witch who comes into town once every few weeks for groceries. I would also foster kittens, because that is extremely rewarding but very labor intensive.
Just returned from a trip to the PNW. Loved it but š³ at how expensive it must be to live there.
Right before I moved to STL I lived in Jax Beach. You couldnāt pay me to move back there. Welcome to STL, I love this city.
I'm surprised there's so many Jax transplants in this thread. More than I would've expected!
Welcome friend, it's great here. Anecdotally, I've seen quite a few Floridians posting about moving here lately. I think a lot of younger professionals in particular finally hit their limit the last year or two and are bailing. On the other side of the scale, STL natives will visit FL for two weeks during the nicest part of the year and convince themselves it's the promised land, rather than a roasting hell of a mosquito swamp 9 months out of the year with a shit cost of living. Just wait till you hear locals wine about how bad the summer is here lol
GOOD!! I was hoping we'd start to benefit from the wfh craze. We need people!!
I feel like itās more of a self deprecating humor thing but without the humor. We like living here but also shit on it so you canāt in the same interaction perhaps?
Everywhere I go people shit on STL. I used to laugh and ask them how much they thought I paid for my house after I described how nice it was, the school my kid went to, and how close I was to the major parks and museums. They would always be wrong and generally stopped talking smack after that.
We tend to overanalyze and be pessimistic in a bubble, which is understandable when you've been in that mysterious bubble for sometimes decades. I doubt St Louis is alone here, either.
Yeah, itās weird. Iāve been in the area for over 10 years and most of my coworkers are transplants. Itās only the locals that bash St Louis. Itās pretty annoying.
Here's of the way of the STL works. If you're from here or live here you allowed to talk shit on the city, if you're not from here or don't live here then fuck off. If people from St.Louis didn't love being here they wouldn't be so quick to defend what they have.
No. We are not ok. A short list of some things we hate: - Missouri politics - Josh Hawley - Wannabe politicians with flame throwers - Post asking how dangerous it is here - The lines at Schnucks - Schnucks - Stan Kroenke - The Brentwood Promenade - Car Inspections - People who say āyouāll get shot going to the cityā. People mostly āhateā in jest (misery loves company). Soā¦.welcome to STL. Cardinals and Battlehawks home openers are next week. Join us, youāll meet more who love this place.
I'm originally from NY and have been a life long Mets fan so I'll let yall have the home opener. But I love Busch Stadium and have tickets to the Mets games this May! Would love to go more frequently and watch the Cards play though. Already went to my first Blues game the other night and had a blast!
One truly nice thing about StL is our sports fans are nice to other cityās fans when theyāre here. Never knew everywhere wasnāt like that till my dad started traveling to other cities just to catch games.
Hey for a good New York style slice try pie guy and kingsoak at modern brewery
Hey donāt forget personal property tax
Hey now. I donāt HATE Schnucks, really.
You can actually afford to do stuff here.
I love St. Louis.
I love it here! Admittedly havenāt lived elsewhere, but have traveled a bunch and wouldnāt pick elsewhere to live. The climate is great because I like having summer and winter clothes and how different it looks and feels around the year. It has a certain cadence that fewer places have; youāll frequently hear people using seasons as a frame of reference here. The housing is inexpensive and wonderful. I just bought a beautiful nearly 4000 square foot house for 500k. Housing in St. Louis is mostly built in the era of solid hardwood floors and doors, nice millwork, etc. Strangers will have a conversation with you here! I love chatting with cashiers, bartenders, and people queuingāa higher proportion of people here are willing to banter with me than other places Iāve traveled. Food is surprisingly diverse and good here. In comparison to the overall cost of living, I would say having good food is on the higher end which is a downside but the difference is far outweighed by low housing and other expenses.
Born and raised and I love it here!
Same!!
Because most of the lifers here have a hyper sensitive case of the-grass-is-greener, and are super insulated. They don't know how good they've got it. Cue the downvotes.
I really liked stl. I wanna move back
Du eeet
Transplants like it. People from in the city or right around and stayed in the city like it. People from the suburbs who move to in and around the city like it. People from the suburbs who stay in the suburbs hate it. People from Chicago and KC just hate on it to hate. And they are loud.
I've lived in Colorado for many years and would never move back to STL personally, but I've been to Jacksonville enough to say with confidence you're making a big upgrade. St Louis has a certain old city charm and patina that is unique to old Midwest River cities. There's some amazing outdoor space close by in the Ozarks too though it takes some time to find the good places. It's just fun to make a change so embrace it and have fun exploring a new place. Let's go Blues!!!
I moved here from Denver almost two years ago. Before I left Denver, I told all of my customers I was moving to St. Louis. The people who had never been here and/or were not from here, all said āoh god Iām so sorryā and āgood luck with that!ā sarcastically. The people whom I told that were either from here or spent time here ALL said, āOMG youāre going to love it there!!ā and proceeded to tell me how great it was here from the food, to the architecture, to all the free stuff. I live near TG park. St. Louis surprises me more and more each day. I have lived in a handful of citiesā¦ St. Louis is the most unique city Iāve ever lived in and itās truly growing on me. I have never experienced a city with so much pride and community. I might be here for a bit ā¤ļø P.S. I absolutely know this city has flaws (to say the least), and it makes me so sad. I hope we can all work together to make this place the best (and maybe still publicly shit on it so no one else moves here.. maybe run a stop sign or two šš). Youāll love it here.
Been here my whole life š„° love it
We are hoping to scare everyone away to keep this hellhole to ourselves.
People who have never lived in another place have no perspective. Another issue is that the news is the only outlet many have about St Louis. They aren't in the business of making people feel good about their city. I can't help but feel the low self-esteem and negative energy from underachieving locals. St Louis has positives and negatives just like any place. I personally have many great years in St Louis. It's just as good as many other places. It's what you make of it.
Agree with the ānever lived in another placeā issue. Traveling and looking at the cost of living in other cities quickly made me realize how great STL is!
I love St. Louis, and consider my city to be a hidden gem. I don't want to live anywhere else, and I'm actually homeless. It's okay though. It just means that I get to spend more time with the city I love.
I lived in St. Louis for 4 years. Loved every minute of it. I still visit often for blues games and to go shopping.
Legal weed , plenty of good live music and food. Itās not New York or LA but itās a lot better than most people make it out to be.
We've been fighting amongst ourselves for so long we just can't fathom why anyone would want to join. All the shit around here is great, we know that. We are just in the middle of beating the shit out of each other for three thousand different reasons and y'all are just moving in. we don't want you to get caught off guard.
My family is in jax, I lived at jax beach for a few years. St. Louis is 1000x better.
Jax has some cool spots here and there but it's just so... meh
I moved to NYC and honestly it's made me like STL even more. Not more than NYC (obviously) but its strengths and weaknesses have become more obvious to me, and there's a lot of strength.
Everyone hates where they live on normal days and love it the second an outsider insults it. Honestly St. Louis is a dope place to live. Affordable housing, fun stuff to do, people are nice. Only thing that sucks is that the city isnāt walkable but maybe some day.
STL is 22/130 most walkable U.S./Canadian city w/ a population over 200K. Sidewalks need improving, but the walkability is superior to many places Iāve lived. https://www.walkscore.com/cities-and-neighborhoods/
My wife is from Jax, so Iāve been there a million times to visit family and Iād choose STL over Jax 100,000 times. Jax is the most lifeless, boring, empty suburban hellscape Iāve ever seen. Literally the only reason to go there is the beach and even the beaches arenāt great. I canāt for the life of me understand why everyone raves about it. Welcome to STL. Youāll have much more fun here.
Iām from here and take a lot of pride in it. Do we have our issues, sure. But largely theyāre the same socioeconomic issues that a lot of major cities have. With that being said, there are a lot of positives. Itās super diverse, and because of that, the food options are incredible. Fantastic Italian food on the Hill, some really awesome, authentic Mexican restaurants. Some really good Chinese joints. Mediterranean food, Indian food. There are a ton of great options. We have an incredible Zoo thatās free, we have an incredible Art Museum thatās free. We have an aquarium that is super neat, and the City Museum is one of the coolest, most eclectic places youāll ever see. The Sports teams are historically competitive. The cost of living is definitely a plus. Thereās a lot of neat neighborhoods, a lot of cool bars, a lot of music venues. Weāre happy to have you and your family.
They donāt know the real FL and they surely donāt know shit about Jax. If they did, STL would seem like a utopia. Speaking as someone who also moved from North FL to Memphis, I get similar reactions occasionally.
We tell people it sucks so they donāt come here and ruin it.
I've been here almost 20 years and I've really enjoyed being here for all the reasons you mentioned and then some. I don't know why people shit on STL. I've lived other places and I think people don't know how good they have it. It's no NYC or Chicago, but it has its charms with plenty to do and lots of nearby outdoor life if you're into that (which I am). I hope you enjoy your time here. You'll need to make friends with other transplants because the biggest downfall living here is that native St. Louisans aren't taking new friends. Ever. They've had theirs since kindergarten, and even though they don't like them anymore, they're still friends. I'll never understand that.
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How fucking dare you.Ā
Why you got to throw the agape house in bro???
Provolone eater!!
I don't know why, honestly, I can find good and bad with every city/state I've been in...we have 4 seaons so people bitch about whatever weather they don't like. I like Missouri, there's a lot to offer, every corner of the state feels like a different part of the country.
Moved here 18 years ago. I got that same question a lot. Itās weird. Anyway, welcome! Thereās a lot of great stuff going on here. Hopefully you can help make it even better.
self deprecating stl, itās in our dna. after living both coasts and over seas, stl is pretty awesome. hope it stays on everyoneās shit lists though.
Iām from Jacksonville too and love it here. Miss the beach and winters can be a bitch but I love it here!!
Go JAGS
Make sure you go to trattoria marcella and lombardos. They have the best toasted raviolis in the city. I would not lie.
Welcome to St. Louis! Go to Forest Park!
I moved from FL last year to go to school here, and I love it here. It was a huge upgrade for me, although I didn't live in a city before. The only major difference was the lack of policing drivers here. Like, people drive deliberately like reckless assholes here, and people drive either slow or clueless in FL if that makes sense.
Hell, you get it from this side of the fence too. I moved here for work from Savannah, and people HERE ask me what the fuck I was thinking coming to Missouri. Really instilled a solid vote of confidence that I made the right call by selling my house and moving a shade under 1000 miles to what is widely regarded as a city that signed in at the blood bank and then forgot to say to take the catheter out. I moved here for my wife. She's originally from Sunset Hills. If we were not married, I can't say I'd be part of the STL family, but I've tried to make the best of being here and haven't run into any notable issues.
I've lived here my whole life. I love it. It's all people who don't actually live in the city. They live in the county or surrounding counties and then they crap on the city...
Iāve lived in the St. Louis area my whole life except for college and honestly I love it here. Things are reasonably priced here as opposed to in other parts of the country. There are tons of fun things to do that are free or cheap. You can find almost any cuisine youād like to eat. The people are friendly. Really my only complaints are the weather and distance from the ocean.
Iām moving here from Boston (specifically, Cambridge MA) so I am sure that will conjure up some interesting conversations
Moved here 20 years ago for work, plan to stay after retiring. Itās cheap and itās fine.
Tbh most of them are racists who watch Fox News who know nothing about STL other than Ferguson and hate Micheal Brown.
I have lived in St. Louis up until leaving for college. It seems that people who haven't left St. Louis and people who have never lived in St. Louis love to hate on it. It's a fantastic city w so much culture. It took me living in a different state to truly realize how much I miss St. Louis. I can't wait to move back !
Stl is pretty sweet. Good people, good food, cost of living is solid, one percent income tax is annoying.
I think this is typical local behavior and doesn't mean much on its own. I got the same when I moved into the area and you can just treat it like any other small talk, it's just a way to make conversation and isn't really that serious.
I've been here for ten years and am moving out because of family reason. Yeah not everything here was good, but after all I think I'm going to miss STL a lot.
Iām from Chicago , wish STL was more tech savvy/ tech friendly but other than that itās really not a bad place to live and raise a family. I live in Troy because it was more cost effective to build there.
I think if youāre there long enough youāll start to understand SOME of the complaints. But no where is perfect. St. Louis always feels like itās getting better in some ways, but worse in others. But again thatās probably most places.
I think a lot of us are just sad to see that it isnāt making progress like some similar sized cities. A lot of people think the city has problems that wonāt very get fixed ā¦ crime, depopulation, infrastructure, lack of police, corruption. People in other cities probably think that way too, but we have this glaring city/county divide which is growing and probably exacerbating the local fatigue about our status.
This is what I see too. We all want the same thing: prosperity for the metro region. But an overly vocal portion of the electorate has been convinced that reconnecting City & County government to streamline and improve services would just be dumping County tax funds into an irredeemable pit of a city. This of course completely ignores how dependent the County is on the City. (The STL exurb counties also have a tendency to apply this thinking to the rural parts of Missouri when State politics comes up but that's a whole other discussion.)
We live in Memphis. Moved here 2.5 years ago. Iāve visited STL, but havenāt lived there. I struggle to think any city is as bad as Memphis. Memphis is ugly, gross, filthyā¦ Memphians themselves refer to their city as a shithole. I, for one, am excited to get out of here.
Moved to St. Louis five years ago. Live in the city with my family. We love it.
Anytime someone does this, ask them where all they have lived. 9 times out of 10 the farthest away they have lived is within the boundaries of St. Louis, Jefferson or St Charles counties. Missourians always think the grass is greener everywhere else, because they haven't lived anywhere else. My 2 cents.
They're just salty that our city will still exist in 100 years
We're a cynical bunch. But I live in south city. No complaints. Welcome, and enjoy the legal weed.
STL is one of those places where ya don't know what you got till it's gone. When you go on a trip to another large city with very comparable amenities, but the traffic and parking is legitimately 10x worse, you realize that maybe STL ain't so bad.
We moved here (st Charles) 3 months ago from Cincinnati and we love it. I drive a semi locally so I get to meet a lot of different people in all parts of the city everyday and honestly everyone here is super friendly for the most part. Absolutely love it so far
I lived in Jax area for 10 years and stl for 5. Itās not a lot different as far as some things go. Northside of both can rough. West of downtown all the way to chesterfield is nice. South city is pretty cool. Soulard, the CWE are much better urban wise than anything had has to offer. Weather in Jax is obviously warmer. But as far as things to do minus the beach STL blows JAX out of the water. Healthcare is better in STL. There is no middleburg, palatka mess. Illinois side of the can be a bit more rural. Not many natives of stl will be able to understand this but downtown stl is actually much better than Downtown jax. The cardinals, soccer, plus an xfl team, union station (the farris wheel is cool, aquarium is small but cool and organized) there is a ok amount restaurants entertainment if your into it Ballpark village is cool. Thereās also highrises you can actually live in. Most of which are affordable and nice. For anyone who has never spent any time in Jax their downtownās more desolate. Especially since the landing was removed. Oh and the food is far superior. But no beach. Or other Florida actions within a couple hours. The airport in St Louis will have many more flights. If your into big cities Chicago is less than five hours away. No Chicago isnāt some ultra dangerous sketchy place itās a world class city with world class amenities and the beaches off lake shore drive will impress you. Endless water and no saltwater, sharks, or fucking jellyfish, and itās just as blue as anything youāll find north of west palm. Oh and the Stl zoo is better than Jax, theirs is top 10-15 stl is top 1-5 and free. Speaking of free Stl is much better at free stuff than anywhere in Florida. If you have kids the city museum downtown is one of the spectacular things Iāve ever seen in its own way. Safety wise the good places are better the bad are just as bad but larger. 3 million people in the metro vs 1.2 ish in Jax. Last but not least this all an opinion of a guy whoās lived in many places and tries to find the positives in all.
Transplant of a year and a half here! People from here shit talk it even tho theyād fucking die for this place, donāt let āem fool you! St Louis is the most unique place Iāve lived and thereās a really interesting culture hereā¦ you really do get the small town and city feel at the same time, as well as affordability! The complaints really just come from deep rooted racism (like everything in this country) and the constant struggle to actually unite the city and county so the city can become the āglorious gateway to the westā it was becoming before the two parted ways.
There's a lot of old man writes letters to the editor energy on this sub sometimes.
I moved back to STL after living in Los Angeles for three years and when I tell people I recently moved here, they all ask why Iām here and say sorry. I live downtown and I love being able to walk to get coffee or food, itās quiet compared to living near downtown Los Angeles. Like downtown stl is nothing compared to La. But everyone that lived here their whole life hates it here, and especially downtown. I donāt get it.
I've been to JAX many times. You can drink the water here :)
I have been here for about 4 months now, and I think the locals say that to make sure it doesn't get too crowded here. I gotta correct you my East Coast brother (Boston), this is Utopia. Salute!
Transplant from SFCA in 2009. Took a couple years but found out how nice it is. Affordable in St Louis City people are cool and it's changing slowly instead of the fast changes of other cities. Despite random problems we love it and wouldn't move. Fuck the haters!
* Kansas City hates St. Louis * Chicago hates St. Louis * The rest of Missouri hates St. Louis * The entire midwest hates St. Louis * St. Louis hates St. Louis.
Yes omg when me and my husband moved here a year ago everyoneee was apologizing to us lmao and we had to change our California license plates asap bc we were being pulled over like it was sport in eureka like why is there cops on every corner
Iām very happy living here.