Best PlacesSt. Louis, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Louis, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
St. Louis ranks 28,559th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The schools pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on state finances.
The best neighborhoods in 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.
St. Louis' strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Louis ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 89% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 83% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 77% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 75% of towns
Where St. Louis ranks low
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 11% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Louis
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Louis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,518, 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 St. Louis' effective rate of 0.50%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in St. Louis
St. Louis runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. Louis.
Who works in St. Louis, and how
Work in St. Louis centers on construction and public administration. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in St. Louis
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across St. Louis.
What the weather is like in St. Louis, month by month
St. Louis sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 94° | 82° | 72° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of St. Louis
The nearest airport, Okc Will Rogers International, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 159 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Louis
Schools across St. Louis average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Asher EsD · 19% proficient
- Cross Timbers EsD · 17% proficient
- Macomb EsD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tecumseh MsD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Tecumseh HsD · 20% proficient
- Konawa HsD · 18% proficient
- Macomb HsD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Louis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
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 St. Louis against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Louis
Is St. Louis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Louis ranks 28,559th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, quiet, and fast internet, and lowest on the schools and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. Louis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $257,422. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $79,518 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is St. Louis safe?
Yes, St. Louis is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $300 per resident a year.
Compare St. Louis with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Louis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 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.
St. Louis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Louis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Louis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Louis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Louis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
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.