moving to St. Louis (Chesterfield, University City: apartments, rentals, crime)

[J&P]

We're moving our family of 4 to St. Louis and need help! What are some good areas to check out to live in? We're looking for a rental for now since we don't know the area very well. We're looking to spend around $1000/month for a 2-3 bedroom. I'm hoping we can find an area we can stay in for a while. We'll be thinking about preschool immediately and kindergarten in a little over a year. (and we won't be able to afford the high price private school tuitions) We're hoping for a walkable area with a park nearby and hopefully an area with other families with young kids.

[stlcitygirl]

Welcome! I highly suggest Kirkwood or Webster Groves. Good location, good schools, walkable, family oriented

[flynavyj]

Welcome to the Forums, and soon St. Louis, it's a pretty awesome city.

The biggest questions would be are you looking for a more urban environment or a suburban one?

I saw that good schools are high on the list, and private schools are out of the question (for financial reasons). I will say that the majority of private grade schools (typically religiously affiliated) aren't nearly as expensive as their high school alternative (perhaps about the price of a car payment a month, depending on the type of car you're expecting. lol.). The city's public school system isn't very well received, but they do have some charter schools, i'm just unaware of the requirements for acceptance into them. If good public schools are a requirement, i'd look towards the county.

Check craigslist for homes, apartments, etc. And for schools i'd concentrate in St. Louis County...Some nice areas to consider would be Webster Groves, Kirkwood, Creve Coeur, Maryland Heights, Bridgeton, Hazelwood...probably in that order (least if it was me). An awful lot will also be considered based on your work location, desired commute time, and affordability of the housing.

Creve Coeur might be a bit steep for the price range, but some of the unincorporated areas might have something in your range...and keep you in the parkway school district.

[Ch_K]

In STL rockwood is the best public school district and then comes parkway and in parkway from this year kindergarden is free of cost and full-time too..(very good news for everybody). So if you move to parkway school district in Chesterfield (high price in apartments or homes),or clayton or ballwin area , you dont need to think about money for your children and parkway school are really good and they take care for children's academic and other activities a lot. My son goes for 1st grade in parkway and i m happy for him. But again it depends where your office / workplace located.But in STL, traffic is not so bad..

[Creed Bratton]

I think the previous poster is forgetting a couple of school districts. Clayton and Ladue are generally considered the best public schools in the area.

[flynavyj]

Didn't forget Clayton or Ladue for me...just thought it'd be difficult to find things in the sub $1000 category over there...However, i could be wrong.

[grubbyhubby]

Try Maplewood / Richmond Heights. Decent schools, diversity, fairly walkable, and affordable rent. RH has lower crime than MW though, but is a tad more expensive.

[aragx6]

My top county suggestions would be Brentwood, Webster Groves, Kirkwood, University City (They have several elementary schools of varying quality, so you'd want to do some further research), Maplewood, Richmond Heights and Clayton (if you're OK with an apartment).

There's tons of information on each of these areas on the forum, so I would suggest doinga search and doing some more reading and then asking any follow up questions you might have here.

And given that you have a year before Kindergarten is concerned, you could still get in the lottery for the magnet schools. There are some really good options (and some others who aren't so worthwhile) so additional research and planning is necessary, but I would highly suggest giving them a look.

St. Louis Public Schools | Magnet and Choice School Guide (http://www.slps.org/1962109299111867/site/default.asp - broken link)

Charters have caused more controversy in St. Louis -- specifically because of the union issues -- but a recent article from the Post-Dispatch has some useful info about the path we are headed down on the Charter front:
St. Louis Public Schools to offer plan for charters

If you do think you're interested in going that route, let us know and we can suggest some great city neighborhoods!

[bobbypin]

There are also many nice areas just across the river in Illinois. It is a 15-20 minute drive or less to get from Collinsville/Edwardsville/Troy to downtown St. Louis. Troy has a very nice school district. All taxes in Illinois are higher, however.

[Caldus]

Originally Posted by J&P

We're moving our family of 4 to St. Louis and need help! What are some good areas to check out to live in? We're looking for a rental for now since we don't know the area very well. We're looking to spend around $1000/month for a 2-3 bedroom. I'm hoping we can find an area we can stay in for a while. We'll be thinking about preschool immediately and kindergarten in a little over a year. (and we won't be able to afford the high price private school tuitions) We're hoping for a walkable area with a park nearby and hopefully an area with other families with young kids.

Personally, I would choose Clayton. It would be the most exciting choice and you would be close to everything in the city, especially Forest Park.

Originally Posted by flynavyj

Didn't forget Clayton or Ladue for me...just thought it'd be difficult to find things in the sub $1000 category over there...However, i could be wrong.

Nonsense ... I was looking at some really nice homes for rent in that area a year or two ago for a little over $1000. $1000 should get you pretty far in St. Louis as far as rentals go. Go for the nicer areas with that kind of money.