Sitting near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers, on the western bank of the latter sits St. Louis is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. If you’re looking for rooms to rent in St. Louis, here’s all you need to know about the city!
Getting to know the story of St. Loius
Before European settlement, the area was a regional center of Native American Mississippian culture. St. Louis was founded on February 14, 1764, by French fur traders Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent, Pierre Laclède, and Auguste Chouteau, who named it after Louis IX of France. In 1764, following France’s defeat in the Seven Years’ War, the area was ceded to Spain. In 1800, it was retroceded to France, which sold it three years later to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The city was then the point of embarkation for the Corps of Discovery on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
In the 19th century, St. Louis became a major port on the Mississippi River; from 1870 until the 1920 census, it was the fourth-largest city in the country. It separated from St. Louis County in 1877, becoming an independent city and limiting its own political boundaries. St. Louis had a brief run as a world-class city in the early 20th century. In 1904, it hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the Summer Olympics.
Finding Rooms For Rent in St. Loius
The city is divided into 79 government-designated neighborhoods. The neighborhood divisions have no legal standing, although some neighborhood associations administer grants or hold veto power over historic-district development. Several neighborhoods are lumped together in categories such as “North City”, “South City”, and “The Central West End”.
Top Neighborhoods in St. Louis
If you’re ready to find rooms for rent in St. Louis, here are the top neighborhoods in the city!
Central West End
Located between Forest Park and St. Louis University, this vibrant locale has it all. Its collection of restaurants makes it a foodie haven, and the business district along Euclid Ave is a walkable shopping destination with boutiques, bookstores, live music venues, and more.
Downtown
Living in Downtown St. Louis means you can choose from all kinds of apartments, lofts, and condos in refurbished buildings with tons of character—and many of those options come at very affordable prices. Downtown is also a great place to find a job, as Nestle Purina PetCare and Ameren are headquartered here, and the Anheuser-Busch Brewery is just a short drive away!
Lafayette Square
Everything centers around Lafayette Park, a 30-acre green space that’s perfect for walking the dog, going on a morning run, or taking a peaceful stroll in the evening. The park also hosts movie nights, food festivals, and a summer concert series, helping give Lafayette Square a strong sense of community. Better yet, this safe neighborhood provides easy access to I-44 and historic U.S. Route 66, so commuting to other areas of the city is a breeze.
Average rent for an apartment in St. Louis.
Not only is St. Louis one of America’s best cities for high salaries and low costs of living, but it’s also a top foodie destination and an excellent place for first-time homebuyers. Here’s what the average rent in the city looks like!
| Rooms for Rent in St.Louis | Average Rent |
| 1 Bedroom Apartment for Rent | $702 |
| 2 Bedroom Apartment for Rent | $1,990 |
| 3 Bedroom Apartment for Rent | $2,254 |
| 4 Bedroom Apartment for Rent | $2,545 |
University life in St. Louis.
Finding rooms for rent in St. Louis is fairly easy for students, as the city is home to three national research universities. Which means each year, hundreds of students flock to the city, and are in search of shared housing.
The main schools here include the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Washington University in St. Louis and Saint Louis University, as classified under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has been ranked among the top 10 medical schools in the country by US News & World Report for as long as the list has been published, and as high as second, in 2003 and 2004. US News & World Report also ranks the undergraduate school and other graduate schools, such as the Washington University School of Law, in the top 20 in the nation.
Top universities in St. Louis include
- Washington University in St. Louis.
- St Louis University
- Maryville University of St. Louis
- University of Missouri–St. Louis
- Webster University
Related: 5 Best Educational Websites For Inquisitive Adults Seeking Personal & Professional Growth
How Transit Friendly is St. Louis?
Metro owns and operates the St. Louis Metropolitan region’s public transportation system, which includes MetroLink, the region’s light rail system; MetroBus, the region’s bus system; Metro Call-A-Ride, the region’s paratransit system.
PRO TIP: Because MetroBus lines can often lead to long wait times, many St. Louis citizens and visitors utilize a combination of the MetroLink light rail train and ride-share services to get around without a private car.
Walkability in St. Louis
In the past, St. Louis has been voted the most walkable city in Missouri. Walk Score gave St. Louis a score of 61 out of 100, with Webster Groves and University City also ranking in the top five. Wildwood and Wentzville had the lowest scores in the state, with walk scores of 18.
Roads and Traffic in St. Louis
The city of St. Louis contains five interstate highways that connect to a larger regional highway system. Interstate 70, an east-west highway, runs roughly from the northwest corner of the city to downtown St. Louis. The north-south Interstate 55 enters the city at the south near the Carondelet neighborhood and runs toward the center of the city, and both Interstate 64 and Interstate 44 enter the city on the west, running parallel to the east.
For the main city, the morning rush hour is from 6:00 to 10:00 AM. The evening rush hour is from 3:00 to 7:00 PM.
Metro Call-a-Ride
Metro Call-a-Ride is a specialized service that gives people an additional public transportation option. Its primary riders are individuals who use wheelchairs or with disabilities that prevent them from using MetroLink or MetroBus, but the service is open to people of all abilities.
The service is not direct, as you share the ride with other passengers, but Call-a-Ride aims to offer curb-to-curb service (if the final destination is within 3/4 of a mile of a fixed-route service) or curb-to-door service for ADA-eligible riders. Priority is given to disabled passengers. An exact fare — twice the regular fare on fixed-route services — is required to board.
Taxis and Ride-Sharing Apps
St. Louis has several taxi companies to choose from; the most popular are Laclede Cab, United Cab, St. Louis County & Yellow Taxi, and ABC Taxicab. Many St. Louisans opt for ride-sharing services. Both Uber and Lyft are popular in the city, and you’ll rarely wait more than 5-10 minutes for a ride.
Biking
Biking is fairly common in St. Louis, particularly in the city proper. Many neighborhoods in St. Louis City have dedicated bicycle lanes and drivers respect those lanes and bikers. There is no longer a bike share in St. Louis, but there are:
Electric Scooters
Look on any corner in St. Louis City and you’re likely to find Bird or Lime electric scooters. Once you download the Bird app or Lime app, you pay a small fee to unlock the scooter and then a per-minute fee (typically between 10 to 30 cents, depending on the day of the week and time of day.
Car Rentals
Because St. Louis is such a car-heavy city, many visitors rent a car simply to get around with ease. There is a wide range of car rental services at St. Louis Lambert International Airport and across the city.
Air Transit in St. Louis
St. Louis Lambert International Airport, owned and operated by the City of St. Louis, is 11 miles northwest of downtown. It is the largest and busiest airport in the state. In 2011, the airport saw 255 daily departures to about 90 domestic and international locations and a total of nearly 13,000,000 passengers.
The airport serves as a focus city for Southwest Airlines and was a former hub for Trans World Airlines and a former focus city for American Airlines and AmericanConnection.
Population in St. Louis.
St. Louis grew slowly until the American Civil War, when industrialization and immigration sparked a boom. Mid-19th century immigrants included many Irish and Germans; later there were immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. In the early 20th century, African American and white migrants came from the South; the former as part of the Great Migration out of rural areas of the Deep South. Many came from Mississippi and Arkansas.
As of 2019, the city proper had an estimated population of around 300,000. Moreover, The bi-state metropolitan area, which extends into Illinois, had an estimated population of over 2.8 million, making it the largest metropolitan area in Missouri, the second-largest in Illinois, the seventh-largest in the Great Lakes Megalopolis, and the 22nd-largest in the United States.
Museums in St. Louis
The culture of St. Louis, Missouri includes a variety of attractions located within the city and in surrounding communities in Greater St. Louis, such as local museums, attractions, music, performing arts venues, and places of worship.
The Saint Louis Art Museum, located in Forest Park, houses a variety of art media, ranging from ancient artifacts to contemporary exhibits. Other art museums in St. Louis include the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, located in a building designed by the architect and Pritzker Prize winner Tadao Ando, and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, a non-collecting contemporary art museum.
Universities in the area also operate museums of art, such as the Saint Louis University Museum of Art and the Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis.
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