St. Louis, Missouri

How is it like living in St. Louis

Let me see if i can sum it up for an outsider:

• 3m people in the region

• low cost of living

• great restaurant scene

• good arts and music scene

• great beer scene

• crime is dependent on where you live, you'll want to lock your car everywhere though.

• I'd give us a 5 out of 10 on traffic. (traffic is generally not bad)

• lots of things to do, and places to go, zoo, science, museums, parks

• bad public transportation, you'll need a car

• Missouri has lots of camping/hiking/boating

• easy access to Kansas city, Chicago, and Nashville!

• no mountains

• no oceans nearby, but lots of rivers

• cold winters and hot humid summers. (credit to brational)

• occasional tornadoes

How is it like living in St. Louis

It is very cheap. You will be able to live on a much lower budget compared to Toronto. Especially when it comes to housing prices. You can easily find a great apartment in the city for $1000/month.

Winters are obviously much more mild than Toronto. We get snow, but usually only 4-5 times/winter and it melts quickly. In the summer it will be much hotter and more humid than you are used to.

The crime rate is definitely higher here than in Toronto. You may have to exercise a little more caution to not become a victim. This is highly dependent on where in the St. Louis area you decide to move. I feel very safe here,you just have to be smart and cautious.

Obviously we are a much smaller city. There will be less to do than Toronto, but also still plenty to do. We still have world class museums, restaurants, and parks. There are a ton of free events and things to do.

How is it like living in St. Louis

The Wife and I moved to STL from Alberta 12 years ago.

Day to day life will be comparable in most ways. Being from Southern ON you will have already had experience with humidity. That floored us when we moved. Winters are mild. Most daily highs in January for instance will be above +0c. Cold snaps happen but temps below -10c are not common. Snow is wet and usually just a few dumps of less than 30cm. Melts in a few days.

As others have mentioned traffic and cost of living will be much better. Taxes are lower, the USA is a good great place to be a top income earner. The country is huge and there are so many destinations for holidays (vacations).

Missouri is VERY conservative. Look up abortion for an idea of how things are here. The government is secular in theory but not in practice. Very unfortunate. That said, the cities are much less so.

Violence is much more common in American life. The idea is that you should inact your 2nd amendment rights and protect yourself that way. Personal choice is emphasized. Rather than the Crown providing solutions, you find them for yourself. Healthcare is a great example. Hearing gunfire in urban areas is perhaps the saddest example of this approach. It will feel odd at first but eventually you'll adapt. American's just do things differently. You'll love it or hate it.

All in all we have LOVED IT.

As soon as you land you've received a 20% raise!

You can buy a beautiful historic home in a Victorian neighborhood for peanuts.

People are very friendly.

$ for $ the food and drink situation has developed into one of the best in the country.

The airport is very small and very easy to fly out of. Via Southwest you can fly anywhere directly. West coast ~3h, East coast ~2h, Golf coast ~1.5h. We live in Benton Park and the drive to the airport is 15mins. Park at the terminal, clear security, and your at your gate no more than 45mins after you left your house. Bloody great! There is a direct flight to YYZ.

Traffic is nothing

4hr drive to bourbon country!

Turns out southern MO is pretty beautiful. Definitely explore it.

What is it like to live in St. Louis, MO?

I was born in St. Louis, still have dozens of relatives living in the area, lived there 26 years and still visit at least once a year.

Weather: In the summer -- hotter, more humid & air more ozone-lazen than that found in all seven layers of Hell. That's why air conditioning in STL is not an option; it's a necessity as much as heat is in Minneapolis.

The rest of the year, not bad, especially spring & fall. Those seasons are lovely and pleasant — best times to visit.

Winters can be a pain because STL is often in the border area between snow to the north & rain to the south. That means ICE, which you can't do a flipping thing with (no sledding, skiing, curling, etc.) Major snowstorms cause life to come to a standstill for days due to lack of people and proper equipment to get out there and remove it quickly; therefore owning a 4-wheel-drive vehicle is advantageous, especially in the city itself, where side streets and alleys don’t get plowed at all.

Vibe: Conservative, segregated and very Catholic, especially in the southern suburbs.

The greater metro area of approximately 2 million is conservative once one gets outside the city limits, especially in southern suburbs and points south of that in Jefferson County. This is an area where much of the city’s White Flight settled. The other White Flight bedroom community whose population has been growing faster than any other part of the state is St. Charles County, the county north of St. Louis County.

If you have an advanced degree and your politics are anywhere left of center you’ll probably be happiest living inside the city limits. There are still plenty of nice, reasonably safe and economical neighborhoods to live in there. If you’ve got money to burn, the City’s Central West End will please you as will the suburban corridor that travels due west of the city to Clayton, Ladue etc. The further west you go the more Republican it gets. It will be more of the old money style economic Republicans in the mold of presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, not Pres. Trump.

Cost of living: The best thing about living here. From gasoline to real estate, the St. Louis metro area boasts some of the lowest prices in the nation, compared to other major metro areas. But be advised that the area also features lower-than-average salaries and wages, too.

Arts & Entertainment scene: St. Louis can easily hold its own among U.S. metropolises with its sports franchises, botanical garden, museums, music scene, zoo etc. Just pick up a copy of The Riverfront Timesto get the latest news about arts and entertainment.

Things to Know Before Moving to St Louis