Best PlacesSouthwest Garden, St. Louis, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Southwest Garden, St. Louis, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Southwest Garden, St. Louis ranks 4,017th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Southwest Garden, St. Louis
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Southwest Garden, St. Louis' strengths and weaknesses
Where Southwest Garden, St. Louis ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than 85% of neighborhoods
- Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 83% of neighborhoods
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$908 a month, better than 76% of neighborhoods
Where Southwest Garden, St. Louis ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than only 13% of neighborhoods
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of neighborhoods
- Low property taxBetter than only 32% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Southwest Garden, St. Louis
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Southwest Garden, St. Louis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,135, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Southwest Garden, St. Louis' effective rate of 1.13%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Southwest Garden, St. Louis
Southwest Garden, St. Louis runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Southwest Garden, St. Louis.
Who works in Southwest Garden, St. Louis, and how
Work in Southwest Garden, St. Louis centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Southwest Garden, St. Louis
Southwest Garden, St. Louis has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of neighborhoods. That concentrates in some parts of Southwest Garden, St. Louis and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Southwest Garden, St. Louis, month by month
Southwest Garden, St. Louis sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Southwest Garden, St. Louis
St Louis Lambert International sits about 11 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Southwest Garden, St. Louis
Schools across Southwest Garden, St. Louis average an F, better than 1% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Premier Charter SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Shaw Visual/perf. Arts Ctr.F · 9% proficient
- Nahed Chapman New American AcaF · 3% proficient
Top middle schools
- Acad Of Entre Stdy@louvertureF · 5% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Visual/perf. Arts HighD− · 11% proficient
- Carnahan Sch. Of The FutureF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Southwest Garden, St. Louis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Southwest Garden, St. Louis measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Southwest Garden, St. Louis against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Southwest Garden, St. Louis
Is Southwest Garden, St. Louis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Southwest Garden, St. Louis ranks 4,017th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on a stable housing market, fast internet, and short commutes, and lowest on the schools and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Southwest Garden, St. Louis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $252,004. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $78,135 median income, cost of living beats 70% of neighborhoods.
Is Southwest Garden, St. Louis safe?
Southwest Garden, St. Louis is safer than 5% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,187 per resident a year.
Compare Southwest Garden, St. Louis with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Southwest Garden, St. Louis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Southwest Garden, St. Louis represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Southwest Garden, St. Louis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Southwest Garden, St. Louis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Southwest Garden, St. Louis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Southwest Garden, St. Louis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Southwest Garden, St. Louis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Southwest Garden, St. Louis detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.