Compare your city to St. Louis.
See how housing, income, commute, and everyday costs stack up — and what kind of home your budget can unlock in St. Louis.
Built for metro-level relocation comparisons — figures compare metropolitan areas using public data (BEA, Census ACS, HUD).
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St. Louis is not one housing market.
It is a layered city: converted garment warehouses, early skyscrapers, industrial loft buildings, Victorian neighborhoods, central-corridor high-rises, and conventional suburban communities — all within a relatively compact metro area. The point isn’t that St. Louis is perfect; it’s that more housing character and space are often available here at a lower cost than in many peer markets.
Historic warehouse lofts
Converted garment and industrial warehouses with timber columns, tall windows, and open floor plans downtown.
View buildings →Modern high-rises
Central-corridor towers with amenities and skyline views — a different pace of downtown living.
View buildings →Victorian city neighborhoods
Brick townhomes and tree-lined streets in historic districts, many walkable to parks and main streets.
Mixed-use & adaptive reuse
Former industrial districts reimagined with ground-floor retail, studios, and residences above.
Traditional suburbia
Conventional single-family communities across the metro for those who want more yard and quiet.
How this comparison is calculated▾
Comparisons draw on public, official sources where available, at the metro (CBSA) level. Every row on the results table shows its own source and vintage, and a fallback is used only when a live source isn’t connected — labeled clearly as such.
- BEA Regional Price Parities — the overall price level of a metro relative to the U.S. (U.S. = 100). Powers the price-level row and the salary-equivalent calculation. Requires a BEA API key.
- Census ACS 5-year — official survey estimates for median gross rent, median owner-occupied home value, median household income, mean commute, and population. As survey estimates they carry margins of error. Requires a Census API key.
- HUD Fair Market Rent — a 40th-percentile gross-rent benchmark used to administer housing programs. It is a policy benchmark, not the same as market asking rent, and appears as its own row set when configured. Requires a HUD USER token.
- Zillow Research — downloadable market indices: ZHVI (typical home value) and ZORI (observed market rent). These are market estimates, not survey or administrative data, and are shown only when enabled.
Salary equivalent is modeled: a $100,000 salary in your metro has the buying power of about $100,000 × (your price level ÷ St. Louis price level) in St. Louis. It is only as good as the price-level source behind it (BEA when connected, otherwise a labeled fallback).
- ZIP codes and Census ZCTAs are not identical, and one ZIP can span areas.
- City, county, metro, and ZIP are not interchangeable — we compare metros.
- We do not publish fabricated grocery / utility / healthcare category indexes; those appear only if a licensed cost-index source (e.g. C2ER COLI) is connected.
- Results are estimates and context, not financial advice.
- Housing and market data change quickly; each row is dated.
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