quote:
Depends if you are talking about St. Louis CITY or the metropolitan area.

St. Louis has a rather unique situation in that the City and the County are separate entities. St. Louis CITY has a population of slightly less than 300k. The metropolitan area sans the city is around 2.5M. When you see crime stats about St. Louis it’s usually limited to the urban area of 300k.

The St. Louis area in general is quite safe if you know where to hang and where not to go. I’ve lived in the area all my life from apartment buildings to eventually a nice house and have never experienced so much as a car break in. I’m out to restaurants and bars in both the City and County quite a bit and also a Cardinal season ticket holder (so regularly in the City). No problems.

I spent 12 months on an assignment years ago in Houston and was robbed at gunpoint in my driveway in a “nice” part of town in the first couple of months I was there. Gotta know your surroundings.

True of almost any big city. I didn't find St. Louis especially dangerous or sketchy compared to other big cities. I do think it's not a particularly friendly US big city, much like Boston. St. Louis is a prettier place than Kansas City, for instance, but people in KC are a lot friendlier. People in New York are friendlier, actually.