Anybody moved from New England area to STL? ever regret for that decision? need your advice for our decision... (St. Louis: best neighborhood, apartment)
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Hello guys, here's our situation.
There's a job promotion for my husband which offers him much better benefits. But in the meantime, we need to relocate to STL which I don't really look forward to...
We live at Connecticut area currently. We actually just moved here from Midwest a couple years ago. I started to love here since the first day we moved here. Just because of the beautiful nature resources in different seasons. I know I will definitely miss the cool summer, color leaves on highway if we leave here. Not to mention the proximity to the ocean, mountains and two major big cities. I feel I wanna live here for at least 3 more years(maybe after we got a baby) then consider to move somewhere else. However, the promotion opportunity really sounds great for his future career development...I don't know...struggling...
anybody has the experience of relocating from the east to STL?
btw, I heard STL has the highest crime rate in the country. really not that safe to live?
Hello guys, here's our situation.
There's a job promotion for my husband which offers him much better benefits. But in the meantime, we need to relocate to STL which I don't really look forward to...
We live at Connecticut area currently. We actually just moved here from Midwest a couple years ago. I started to love here since the first day we moved here. Just because of the beautiful nature resources in different seasons. I know I will definitely miss the cool summer, color leaves on highway if we leave here. Not to mention the proximity to the ocean, mountains and two major big cities. I feel I wanna live here for at least 3 more years(maybe after we got a baby) then consider to move somewhere else. However, the promotion opportunity really sounds great for his future career development...I don't know...struggling...
anybody has the experience of relocating from the east to STL?
btw, I heard STL has the highest crime rate in the country. really not that safe to live?
I moved from Ohio to New Hampshire in September 2007 and stayed until September 2008. Then I moved back to Ohio and then got a job here in Saint Louis.
I liked New Hampshire because of how easy it was to get to different states and the ocean and I was close to Boston. However, I felt like an outsider. It was harder to make friends in the Northeast. My wife and I were in a church in Bedford, New Hampshire and we never really clicked with anyone.
Once we settled down in Saint Louis (Calverton Park to be exact) our neighbors were so friendly and we instantly had friends. They are older than us, but still we hangout with them quite a bit. We currently go to a church in Chesterfield and it only took a few months for my wife to start helping out with the youth group and we feel like we've been at that church forever even though we only started going in August.
There are only certain areas of Saint Louis that are bad. If you live in Connecticut you could probably easily afford some of the nicer suburbs and have no issues with crime.
I've read this post a lot of times on other cities forums...essentially saying "I love where I live now, I don't want to move where you all live, so convince me it doesn't suck". This might be the first one I've read on the St. Louis board.
I think your experience will vary. Some people seem to not care too much for St. Louis, others really do like it. If you read posts around here and other St. Louis-related message boards you will see a trend of people who live in or near the CITY of St. Louis tend to be more positive, while the ones who move 30+ miles out, but still in the St. Louis area tend to be more negative.
We don't have mountains or oceans so if you don't think you can live without those things then you might be in for some suffering. Nothing St. Louis can do about that. We do have a beautiful autumn season, many beautiful tree lined streets, nice areas for rafting, canoeing, hiking, mountain biking, and such outside of the city.
Crime isn't the issue here that it's made out to be. The high crime rate applies only to the city proper. The city does have some dangerous neighborhoods, concentrated mostly on the north side. Outside of north city and some parts of north St. Louis county, I would count the St. Louis area as pretty safe. In fact, I believe St. Louis is in the top 20 safest metro areas when you control for the fact that St. Louis city and county are seperate.
Now let me tell you why I think St. Louis is a great place.
1) There is always a ton of things to do here, in the summer there are festivals every week catering to different interests and such.
2) The cost of living is low, which means you can have a nice house, cars, and vacations while still having a lot of big city amentities.
3) Great restaurant scene.
4) The city itself has many amazing neighborhoods that you can spend days exploring.
5) Metrolink is a pretty good light rail system.
6) Great baseball and hockey tradition here, if you are into those sports.
7) People here are very friendly and down to earth, usually.
8) Traffic isn't bad at all
9) FOREST PARK!
10) A ton of options for every lifestyle to move to
What I personally don't like about St. Louis...
1) Negative attitude towards our city from some suburbanites
2) Backwards thinking often prevails
3) Wish we were a bit closer to an ocean or some mountains
Other than that, I think this place can really grow on you. The areas close to or in the city are the most similar to the east coast culturally, therefore that is where I hope you end up. I hope you don't let some negative people influence you away, because I truly think this is a wonderful place to live.
Sure there will be adjustments but you are moving to a major city with major attractions, entertainment, and shopping. You will find that your money here goes much farther and you maybe able to live like a king here compared to the northeast. We have no nearby mountains or ocean but you are a reasonable drive from many large recreational lakes and the ozark "mountains." There are several rivers within an hour drive that are popular for floating, canoeing etc. Biking is very popular here.
The crime thing is certainly misleading but I can assure you much of the area is safe. What type of lifestyle are you looking for? Suburban? Rural? Urban and walkable? Let us know and we can help you choose the best neighborhood.
Hello guys, here's our situation.
There's a job promotion for my husband which offers him much better benefits. But in the meantime, we need to relocate to STL which I don't really look forward to...
We live at Connecticut area currently. We actually just moved here from Midwest a couple years ago. I started to love here since the first day we moved here. Just because of the beautiful nature resources in different seasons. I know I will definitely miss the cool summer, color leaves on highway if we leave here. Not to mention the proximity to the ocean, mountains and two major big cities. I feel I wanna live here for at least 3 more years(maybe after we got a baby) then consider to move somewhere else. However, the promotion opportunity really sounds great for his future career development...I don't know...struggling...
anybody has the experience of relocating from the east to STL?
btw, I heard STL has the highest crime rate in the country. really not that safe to live?
I am a transplant from upstate NY. I left New York State after graduating college in 1980 and have lived in several other states before ending up here.
Last question answered first: There are very specific areas in the CITY of St. Louis, just like NYC and Boston, that you don't want to venture into. Those areas are primarily in the north part of St. Louis CITY. It's no different than avoiding the crime ridden areas of Boston or NYC.
There is a vast suburban culture west of the city if that floats your boat. If you're into real culture, STL has an amazing array of ethnic restaurants because of large populations of Vietnamese, Thai, Latino and Bosnian (and I'm forgetting some, too) people. Russian, Lebanese, Indian, etc. You'll never have to eat at a chain restaurant again if you live in proximity to the city.
We have a world class symphony orchestra, and many clubs that host a gajillion live bands. Check out the Riverfront Times online to see the music scene offerings.
We have Washington University, an Ivy League class school along with St. Louis University. Both have first class medical schools partnered with Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis University Hospital, both top rated teaching and research facilities.
We have many beautiful parks and the Art Museum and Zoo within Forest Park offer FREE admission. Forest Park is bigger than NYC's Central Park. BTW - we had an amazing fall foliage season this past year, very 'New Englandy'.
As a result of that devastating fire, building codes were changed to require dwellings built of brick and stone.
You said, "I feel I wanna live here for at least 3 more years(maybe after we got a baby) then consider to move somewhere else." I can sense how attached you are to where you live right now. I don't think that feeling is going to change and that's OK. How does your husband feel about moving to another state? How much job security will this promotion/relocation provide for your family? That's an important consideration in these economic times. How about your extended family and their location? Si that a factor in this decision?
How much house do you desire? Housing stock and COL is cheaper in STL than in a lot of the populated areas of the Northeast.
I grew up in the mid-Atlantic but finished high school and earned my undergraduate degree up in the northeast. We moved here to St. Louis when I started graduate school and have been here ever since (a looong time ago, but at least I am a tad bit younger than inahandbasket! ) We definitely did miss a lot of things initially from back east like the mountains and the proximity to the coast and big cities, but over the years have learned to love the place and call St. Louis our home.
I know some of my family members on either coast think I live in some cultural vacuum here in a crime infested, dying "industrial" town, but that is more a problem of their distorted perceptions from afar. St. Louis certainly does not have a favorable reputation on the coasts, but once you move and live here, you definitely see how much those views are distorted. I feel far safer in most parts of St. Louis than in certain parts of Boston, NYC and even Syracuse or Buffalo (I had some scary experiences there!)
When we first came here we thought we would just stay until I finished graduate school and then move back east, but that never happened. We are now in our fifth residence in the area, having raised two St. Louis children, and we plan on staying here for good.
I think it's hard to move somewhere else and love it when you really have your heart set on staying where you are. To enjoy a new place, I think you need to have an open mind.
To me, crime in St Louis is like any other city. Just avoid the bad areas. I don't think St Louis is scary or dangerous.
I get what you mean on the waterfront deal...going to the beach in the summer is probably the biggest thing I miss about where I'm from. Other than that, the housing and parks in St Louis make it beautiful. In terms of "major cities," people often go on weekend trips to Chicago here. It's about 5 hours.
I think it's hard to move somewhere else and love it when you really have your heart set on staying where you are. To enjoy a new place, I think you need to have an open mind.
To me, crime in St Louis is like any other city. Just avoid the bad areas. I don't think St Louis is scary or dangerous.
I get what you mean on the waterfront deal...going to the beach in the summer is probably the biggest thing I miss about where I'm from. Other than that, the housing and parks in St Louis make it beautiful. In terms of "major cities," people often go on weekend trips to Chicago here. It's about 5 hours.
It really depends. I mean I really wanted to stay in Ohio and so did my wife, but we both love it here. I went to school at Syracuse University and loved it, so I've lived in parts of the Northeast and liked it and like I said I really liked New Hampshire, but I just felt like an outsider... it was a little different and you couldn't find a decent apartment for under $800.
Thank you all, guys! That's very kind of you to give us so much advice and useful information.
Anyway, we've decided to move to STL now...after a thorough cosideration, I decide to put his career at the first place, although I know I will definitely miss here some day. Well, he's totally OK to leave this area since he's not quite satisfied with the current work status. Afterall, he's getting 40, I can understand he really looks forward to take this step for further development.
Anyway, thank you all for your posts. I'll start the online research for a house over there. I'll update with you guys when the new question comes up. Thanks again!
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) We definitely did miss a lot of things initially from back east like the mountains and the proximity to the coast and big cities, but over the years have learned to love the place and call St. Louis our home. 
