What is the cost of living in St. Louis?

St. Louis has a Regional Price Parity (RPP) of 95.1, where 100 represents the national average. Housing costs index at 79.0, which is below the national average. The average 2-bedroom rent is $916/month.

What is the median salary in St. Louis?

The median salary in St. Louis is $68,074 annually (mean: $73,124). Top occupations include General and Operations Managers, Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Registered Nurses.

How safe is St. Louis?

The violent crime rate in the St. Louis area is 463 per 100,000 population (state-level data). Property crime rate is 1972 per 100K.

What are the schools like in St. Louis?

The state of MO has 2,321 schools (state-level data, no metro-level federal count exists) with an average student-teacher ratio of 12.2:1. About 52.3% are Title I schools. Charter schools make up 3.5% of all schools.

How much does childcare cost in St. Louis?

Childcare cost data is not currently available for St. Louis.

Is St. Louis a good place to relocate?

St. Louis has a Life Score of 53/100 (D), based on 6 of 7 available dimensions among cost of living, wages, rent, crime, schools, childcare, and environment (missing dims omitted, weights renormalized). This is a middle-of-the-pack score, where the composite lands for most US metros; look at individual dimensions to see the real trade-offs.

Where does St. Louis sit among US metros on LiveAbility?

According to PlainRelocate's LiveAbility composite, St. Louis ranks #182 of 387 scored US metros by LiveAbility Score (highest score = #1). That ordinal matches the /rankings/livability listing. See /methodology#corpus-placement for the exact sort basis.

Relocation profile · Federal data

St. Louis, MO-IL

BEA RPP 95.1 sits mid-pack (#222 of 387 metros); cost is not the extreme signal here.

Compiled by PlainRelocate · June 15, 2026

95.1
Cost index (US=100): $916
2BR rent / mo: $68,074
Median salary: 52.1
LiveAbility Score

The verdict

As of June 2026, St. Louis ranks #182 of 387 US metros on the LiveAbility Score (52.1/100), with its strongest marks in housing and schools.

#182
of 387 US metros · Above median: 6,245,466
metro-area population: 463
violent crimes per 100K (state-level): 2,321
schools in the state (NCES)

Weakest dimension: air quality (7/100). Weigh every dimension against your own priorities, use the City Finder to re-rank by what matters to you.

According to PlainRelocate's LiveAbility composite (BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, EPA, NOAA, and FEMA inputs), St. Louis ranks #182 of 387 scored US metros by LiveAbility Score (highest score = #1). Cost-of-living index 95.1 (100 = national average), median 2-bedroom rent $916/mo, median salary $68,074; LiveAbility Score 52.1/100, strongest in housing and schools.

Signature: BEA RPP 95.1 sits mid-pack (#222 of 387 metros); cost is not the extreme signal here.

Purchasing power sits mid-band: BEA RPP 95.1 between corpus terciles 91.5 and 97.0. Median 2BR rent $916/mo.

LiveAbility 52.1/100 keeps St. Louis in the middle third (#182 of 387).

BLS OEWS total employment in the St. Louis area is 1,311,920.

St. Louis vs all US metros by LiveAbility Score

Where this metro's LiveAbility Score falls among every scored US metro (composite placement, not a desirability verdict)

52 Top 47% higher than 53% of 387 US metros

Metros banded by LiveAbility Score (0–100)

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainRelocate LiveAbility Score · June 2026

St. Louis housing and rent

HUD Fair Market Rents for the St. Louis MSA; housing RPP 79.0 (100 = national average); 2BR $916/mo.

Studio

$632

/month

1 Bedroom

$836

/month

2 Bedroom

$916

/month

3 Bedroom

$1,154

/month

4 Bedroom

$1,213

/month

St. Louis wages and employment

St. Louis posts 1,311,920 total employment with median salary $68,074.

Median Salary

$68,074

Mean Salary

$73,124

Total Employment

1,311,920

Top Occupations by Employment

Occupation	Median Salary
General and Operations Managers	$93,140
Home Health and Personal Care Aides	$34,490
Registered Nurses	$83,180
Cashiers	$32,380
Retail Salespersons	$33,820

Schools & Education

State-level education data for the St. Louis area from NCES.

Schools

2,321

Enrollment

887,264

Student:Teacher

12.2:1

Title I %

52.3%

Life Score Breakdown

St. Louis's composite Life Score is 53/100 (D), computed across 6 of 7 dimensions (missing dims omitted; remaining weights renormalized).

Cost

43/100

Below average

Wages

69/100

Strong

Rent

98/100

Elite

Crime

14/100

Bottom decile

Schools

13/100

Bottom decile

Environment

72/100

Strong

LiveAbility Score

View full rankings →

St. Louis ranks #182 out of 387 metros with a LiveAbility Score of 52.1/100 - a composite of 8 of 8 quality-of-life dimensions from federal data. Customize the weights to match your priorities →

Strongest dimension: Housing (98/100)

Housing

98
Schools

87
Job market

69
Climate

59
Cost of living

43
Low hazard

18
Safety

14
Air quality

7

What this shows St. Louis's strongest dimensions are housing and schools; its weakest among scored dims is air quality at 7/100. Default weights: cost 18%, jobs & housing 15% each, safety & schools 12%, air & hazard 10%, climate 8%.

Compare St. Louis to

Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood Iowa City Ithaca Jackson Jackson Jackson

Metros near St. Louis on cost, LiveAbility, or wages

Nearest out-of-state neighbors to St. Louis on BEA RPP, LiveAbility, or BLS median salary, a different lens than the size-ranked list.

Similar cost of living (BEA RPP)

Similar LiveAbility score

† No air quality reading on file for this metro, so its score is built from fewer than all 8 dimensions: the missing dimension is omitted and the remaining weights renormalized. It is not directly comparable with a full 8-dimension score.

Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA June 2026

St. Louis cost figures follow BEA Regional Price Parities and HUD Fair Market Rents; St. Louis wages and LiveAbility inputs follow BLS OEWS plus the federal sources listed in methodology. This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Scores are federal-data percentiles, not a move recommendation. How this data is sourced.

Verify with BEA → · Verify with BLS → · Verify with HUD → · Verify with NOAA → · Verify with FEMA → · Verify with Census →

Thinking about St. Louis?

On the federal data, St. Louis shows a $68,074 median salary, a 95.1 cost index and a LiveAbility rank of #182 of 387.

Run St. Louis's pay and cost figures against your own budget. Salary calculator
Set St. Louis beside another metro and read the same dimensions across. Compare St. Louis
In this corpus the closest related metro is Abilene; see how the two compare. Abilene profile
Cost and LiveAbility do not always agree, and the guide explains how to weigh the trade-off between them. Cost vs quality guide

Read the cost, salary and score figures as federal-data percentiles, not as advice to move.