“You’ll find out this is one of the greatest cities in the world. It’s a great time to be a part of St. Louis.” – Wayne Gretzky

Living in St. Louis rocks! Jetsetter magazine recently listed St. Louis as one of the most underrated cities in America. I agree. Here’s a previous IFOD on reasons why living in St. Louis Rocks. Here are some additional reasons why this is so:

1. The Cost of Living is Reasonable and the Standard of Living is High. As noted in this article, “If you’re looking for a place with good salaries and a high standard of living, it’s tough to do better than St. Louis.” The Federal Reserve ranked St. Louis as having the 7th highest standard of living for cities with over 1 million people.

Housing is relatively inexpensive. Case in point: I can see the skyline of Clayton from my backyard yet our house costs about as much as a 900 sq foot studio walk-up in Brooklyn or a crackerbox an hour plus from San Francisco. The real estate site Redfin ranks STL as the most affordable area for millennial homebuyers.

Here’s Clayton (where our office are located):

2. Lack of Traffic/Commuting Time. My work commute is six minutes. While we do have traffic jams it’s nothing compared to what goes on in a lot of other cities. Check out the IFODs on The Commuting Paradox and How Much Commuting Can You Tolerate?

3. It’s a Speeder’s Paradise! The St. Louis area is a very special place for speeders. Not only is the traffic reasonable enough that you can speed your ass off, in addition pretty much every traffic violation can be “amended” to a non-moving violation with the help of a lawyer (a big reason I went to law school was so I could fix my own tickets!). That means no points on your license and no increase in insurance premiums.

4. Good for Foodies. Sometimes people from the coasts when visiting St. Louis will assume they’ll just be eating at a steakhouse if they come to St. Louis. Not true! St. Louis has an amazing restaurant scene. Food and Wine Magazine Recently ranked St. Louis as the fifth best place to eat out in the entire United States.

5. Great Place to Visit: Conde Nast Traveler on Why St. Louis Needs to be Your Next Weekend Getaway.

6. STL is a top-ranked city for startups. Given the low cost of living and educated workforce, St. Louis is a great place to start a business. STL was Ranked number 1 city for startups by Popular Mechanics, number 2 by Forbes, number 2 by Fit Small Business, number 1 in terms of female founders, and Business Insider tagged STL as the 7th best big-city for starting a business.

7. World-Class Attractions for Free! Livability.com ranks STL as the No. 2 city in terms of freebies. Here’s a list of some of them:

• Saint Louis Zoo (listed as the number 1 zoo by USA Today)
• St. Louis Art Museum
• Science Center
• Grant’s Farm
• Missouri History Museum
• Gateway Arch National Park
• Contemporary Art Museum
• Pulitzer Arts Foundation
• Laumeier Sculpture Park
• City Garden
• World Chess Hall of Fame