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You hit on some key points. STL is a great value. You don't have to work 40+ hours a week to live comfortably. A great work-life balance is attainable in STL. Discretionary income, time to travel, fewer traffic headaches, are a few of the things that make STL attractive, especially to families. If STL could just solve the crime issue it would be even better.
For the life of me I can't figure out what is so great about Denver. Proximity to mountains are a plus, and the airport offers more direct flights, but that is about it.
Indy is intriguing, especially its northern suburbs. We may be moving back to the Midwest soon to be closer to family. Indy and STL are high on our list.
I live in SWFL and traffic here is worse than St. Louis especially during season. Minus places like St. Charles, and some areas of west county. Stl metro infrastructure is older and more built up where it can handle the large population, down here it's not as old and the roads were not designed for the increase in population. Same with the hospitals and such as well.
Overall driving in St. Louis county is much easier than down here in Florida. Missouri is also cheaper too!
Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee in general are cheap to live in.
I live in SWFL and traffic here is worse than St. Louis especially during season. Minus places like St. Charles, and some areas of west county. Stl metro infrastructure is older and more built up where it can handle the large population, down here it's not as old and the roads were not designed for the increase in population. Same with the hospitals and such as well.
Overall driving in St. Louis county is much easier than down here in Florida. Missouri is also cheaper too!
Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee in general are cheap to live in.
I was just in Orlando for business and had to do some driving around. The locals told me about the population growth. While that's impressive, and has some advantages, it shows with traffic and sprawl. It's beautiful in a way with palm trees but it's the land of never ending strip malls. We have our share of that here too but we also have the quainter older neighborhoods. I'm partial to those.
We moved here in 1989 for DHs job (the company he worked for in Denver was relocating to Southern California and we decided not to take the transfer there). We've always liked being in a city that's not too huge, but has a metro area of one million or more (offers lots of cultural amenities, job opportunities, etc.) We prefer the Midwest or west to the coasts too -- less crowded, less expensive, more open space, a higher standard of living for us, as in our professions and DH's profession in particular salaries are pretty much the same nation wide. Often people need to be recruited from the coasts. Anyway, St. Louis meets all our criteria.
I think the neighborhoods here are charming. I live in a close in older suburb. We love the rep, the zoo, the science center, the concerts that come here, the vast number of fun things to do. We think you get a lot of bang for your buck on housing. There are lots of job opportunities, so for example, it was easy for me to change jobs when I wanted to. There are lots of tennis clubs and people who play tennis. There are lots of churches, and I could find one that worked for me with an adult education group the I really like. There are lots of good schools public and private. And OMG summer day camp opportunities for kids are unbelievable -- great for working parents.
The only thing I really don't like are the hot humid summers. I really like mountains too and we don't have any. Denver, though, FYI has gotten super expensive and traffic has gotten really bad there too. // We aren't sure yet about where to live when DH retires. I think we might stay here in St. Louis. I think it has tons to offer, and we like it. Denver's out for reasons already mentioned. We are, though, going to take a look at Colorado Springs this summer. We'll see. No place is perfect. I started taking a look at other places though we might want to live when we retire and what I found is that there is so much more going for where we currently live than I ever realized. Looking actually made me appreciate where I live quite a bit.
I live in SWFL and traffic here is worse than St. Louis especially during season. Minus places like St. Charles, and some areas of west county. Stl metro infrastructure is older and more built up where it can handle the large population, down here it's not as old and the roads were not designed for the increase in population. Same with the hospitals and such as well.
Overall driving in St. Louis county is much easier than down here in Florida. Missouri is also cheaper too!
Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee in general are cheap to live in.
St.Louis has a certain appeal to me, too. I live in Kansas City, Grandview to be exact, but I'm only 22 miles south of the big city of Kansas City, MO. There are jobs in my field open in Lake St. Louis, MO, and Edgerton, MO. Do any of you know anything about Lake Saint Louis? Or Edgerton? I qualify for the jobs there, though I may have to get a Missouri healthcare license for my profession. It is a pain ta do, but the tradeoff is I probably won't be able to practice unless I get one.
I'm OK here because I have a State of Kansas medical license and I work in Lenexa, KS, and commute from my home in Grandview. But my job is ending here in Kansas City (Lenexa). I am going to need work and this would get my butt over to St. Louis.
Anyone know anything about those two communities? Isn't Edgerton near Florrissant somewhat? I drive but my wife would love to take buses around to work and shop and play. Is there a good bus system in St. Louis? I am just starting to think about where I would like to live and work and there are a lot of things cool about St. Louis. I do wish St. Louis had a NBA basketball team and it's too bad the Rams are gone to L.A. Anyway - how are those two communities?
I had the chance to move to NJ for work and it was like, NJ suburbs look the same as St. Louis suburbs but cost twice as much. Pass. It's closer to NYC, but I can take day trips to NYC by plane and still come out ahead financially.
I read an article last year that said NJ had the highest property tax rates in the country, with IL a close 2nd. I know taxes are just one factor, but ouch! 2X the price and much higher rates would equate to one nasty tax bill. With all the money you have saved you could probably buy your own plane.
I live in SWFL and traffic here is worse than St. Louis especially during season. Minus places like St. Charles, and some areas of west county. Stl metro infrastructure is older and more built up where it can handle the large population, down here it's not as old and the roads were not designed for the increase in population. Same with the hospitals and such as well.
Overall driving in St. Louis county is much easier than down here in Florida. Missouri is also cheaper too!
Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee in general are cheap to live in.
I agree on the traffic. When in FL I spend most of my time in the panhandle area and the traffic is still pretty bad. It seems along the coasts there is only one way to get from point A to point B, and a lot of the roads are just 2 lanes without a middle turn lane.
Not only is the housing cheaper in STL, but the quality of the housing is better too. You can get an older home that will last forever, unlike those cheap ones built on slab foundations.
I agree on the traffic. When in FL I spend most of my time in the panhandle area and the traffic is still pretty bad. It seems along the coasts there is only one way to get from point A to point B, and a lot of the roads are just 2 lanes without a middle turn lane.
Not only is the housing cheaper in STL, but the quality of the housing is better too. You can get an older home that will last forever, unlike those cheap ones built on slab foundations.
Hmm. What part of the Pan Handle? Most places in north FL have not seen the growth the rest of the state has and some counties have been losing population.
Was this in the summer you visited? If so then yes traffic will be bad. Their season up there is in the summer with people on vacation.
It seems Orlando is the dividing line for the seasons. There on south people come down for the winter. The Pan Handle gets way too cold in the winter to swim and do outdoor stuff.
I agree about the quality of houses. Down here they try and build them as fast as possible in order to pump the houses out faster such as what they're doing in my development I live in.
Weather-It's not as bad as some places are believe it or not. It has moderately hot and humid summer, and somewhat cold/snowy winters. I can easily name many places that have worse weather.
Crime rate-It's high in a lot of neighborhoods, but I've been noticing some improvements that I didn't see when I lived here over two years ago. It's definitely nowhere near as wretched as Detroit is nowadays.
Transit-It's surprisingly good for an area of its size.
Dining: Very average.
Downtown: It has a very well developed downtown scene. There's no denying that.
Cost of living: It's extremely cheap at the moment. A little too cheap in my opinion.
Entertainment: You have two professional sports teams, plenty of museums, a lot of parks and the gateway arch. As much as I hate to admit it, there are plenty of decent shops as well.
Education: The high schools were relatively below average, and there aren't that many good universities to speak of.
Airport: Meh. It's okay, but nothing special.
Music scene: It's surprisingly amazing.
Job situation: It has a fairly low unemployment rate believe it or not. It's also not that difficult to afford to live there with most jobs.
Weather-It's not as bad as some places are believe it or not. It has moderately hot and humid summer, and somewhat cold/snowy winters. I can easily name many places that have worse weather.
Crime rate-It's high in a lot of neighborhoods, but I've been noticing some improvements that I didn't see when I lived here over two years ago. It's definitely nowhere near as wretched as Detroit is nowadays.
Transit-It's surprisingly good for an area of its size.
Dining: Very average.
Downtown: It has a very well developed downtown scene. There's no denying that.
Cost of living: It's extremely cheap at the moment. A little too cheap in my opinion.
Entertainment: You have two professional sports teams, plenty of museums, a lot of parks and the gateway arch. As much as I hate to admit it, there are plenty of decent shops as well.
Education: The high schools were relatively below average, and there aren't that many good universities to speak of.
Airport: Meh. It's okay, but nothing special.
Music scene: It's surprisingly amazing.
Job situation: It has a fairly low unemployment rate believe it or not. It's also not that difficult to afford to live there with most jobs.
Overall: It ranks better than I thought it did.
The dining IMO in St. Louis it was better than here in SW Florida. In my area the restaurants are ok but nothing amazing and it's hit or miss a lot the quality of the meal. Overall Stl had more fine dining IMO but being a major city that is to be expect.
One thing for certain is the meat quality is soooo much better in Missouri. I HATE the beef down here and just about everyone down here agrees and complains about it where I work. I don't even like buying steaks at Publix down here because the meat is tougher and more fatty. Same when I go out to eat. Can't compare to MO, OK, TX, KS the meats down here.
The dining IMO in St. Louis it was better than here in SW Florida. In my area the restaurants are ok but nothing amazing and it's hit or miss a lot the quality of the meal. Overall Stl had more fine dining IMO but being a major city that is to be expect.
One thing for certain is the meat quality is soooo much better in Missouri. I HATE the beef down here and just about everyone down here agrees and complains about it where I work. I don't even like buying steaks at Publix down here because the meat is tougher and more fatty. Same when I go out to eat. Can't compare to MO, OK, TX, KS the meats down here.
I just had someone from Miami tell me how great and cheap the Sushi place in Clayton is. Lost on me.
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