Best suburbs of St. Louis

We scored all 58 towns and communities of 10,000+ people in the St. Louis, MO-IL metro area on what most people weigh when they pick a suburb: what homes cost compared with local pay, household income, poverty, commute times, education, homeownership and how many families with kids live there. Dardenne Prairie, Troy and Town and Country come out on top.

top 10 upper half lower half St. Louis. Dot size shows population.

The top 25

#	Place	Score	Population	Median home	Home vs income	Household income	Commute	Poverty	Miles away
1	Dardenne Prairie, MO	80	15,032	$432,000	2.8×	$152,500	24.0 min	1.3%	26
2	Troy, IL	72	11,893	$268,000	2.4×	$112,434	25.7 min	2.0%	20
3	Town and Country, MO	72	11,619	$928,500	4.0×	$232,534	20.3 min	1.7%	13
4	Webster Groves, MO	67	23,450	$387,600	3.4×	$115,227	19.0 min	4.2%	7
5	Crestwood, MO	67	12,207	$319,600	3.0×	$107,169	20.2 min	5.5%	9
6	Wildwood, MO	66	34,955	$495,800	3.1×	$161,060	27.3 min	2.2%	23
7	Chesterfield, MO	65	49,309	$472,500	3.6×	$133,037	21.6 min	3.9%	18
8	Kirkwood, MO	65	29,331	$451,400	3.7×	$121,270	20.4 min	5.3%	10
9	Ballwin, MO	63	30,901	$377,100	3.0×	$124,626	25.5 min	4.8%	17
10	Columbia, IL	63	10,865	$293,000	2.7×	$107,606	26.4 min	5.4%	12
11	O'Fallon, MO	62	96,101	$326,200	3.0×	$110,443	25.5 min	5.4%	28
12	Wentzville, MO	61	49,495	$331,300	2.9×	$112,394	27.8 min	5.4%	36
13	O'Fallon, IL	60	32,656	$295,700	2.8×	$105,982	25.3 min	6.2%	18
14	Lake St. Louis, MO	60	19,129	$405,900	3.2×	$125,693	25.6 min	4.3%	31
15	Manchester, MO	60	18,069	$323,100	3.3×	$97,801	21.4 min	6.4%	15
16	Waterloo, IL	58	11,132	$249,500	2.5×	$98,711	26.8 min	5.9%	21
17	St. Peters, MO	57	61,479	$269,900	2.9×	$91,637	22.7 min	5.6%	22
18	Old Jamestown, MO	57	20,651	$236,100	2.4×	$99,521	29.1 min	7.4%	14
19	Godfrey, IL	57	17,620	$192,200	2.0×	$94,543	25.7 min	6.4%	22
20	Swansea, IL	56	14,356	$223,600	2.4×	$91,587	24.1 min	8.7%	15
21	Maryland Heights, MO	55	27,559	$227,000	2.6×	$86,436	21.4 min	4.7%	13
22	Shiloh, IL	54	14,604	$274,000	2.8×	$99,573	24.6 min	6.8%	19
23	Glen Carbon, IL	54	13,898	$282,000	2.9×	$97,168	26.4 min	4.9%	16
24	Washington, MO	53	15,906	$231,800	2.9×	$79,173	21.1 min	7.9%	42
25	Creve Coeur, MO	52	18,480	$614,000	4.8×	$127,188	18.5 min	6.1%	11

Show all 58 places

#	Place	Score	Population	Median home	Home vs income	Household income	Commute	Poverty	Miles away
26	Concord, MO	52	18,368	$303,600	3.4×	$89,038	24.1 min	3.9%	10
27	Clayton, MO	52	17,807	$830,000	6.7×	$123,000	16.6 min	8.0%	5
28	Eureka, MO	52	13,422	$379,200	3.5×	$108,394	27.0 min	7.9%	24
29	Ellisville, MO	52	10,315	$366,600	3.2×	$113,309	27.9 min	4.6%	19
30	Oakville, MO	50	35,333	$318,600	3.0×	$106,362	27.6 min	6.4%	13
31	Affton, MO	50	19,052	$212,400	2.7×	$79,539	23.5 min	6.6%	7
32	Fairview Heights, IL	50	16,175	$177,700	2.2×	$80,930	22.0 min	8.8%	13
33	Overland, MO	49	15,474	$131,900	2.1×	$61,773	20.2 min	9.7%	8
34	Union, MO	46	13,445	$205,200	2.8×	$73,435	24.2 min	8.1%	43
35	Highland, IL	46	10,042	$202,900	2.5×	$82,551	27.3 min	6.0%	32
36	Arnold, MO	45	20,994	$220,000	2.8×	$78,370	27.2 min	8.2%	16
37	St. Charles, MO	44	72,561	$298,700	3.5×	$85,937	21.6 min	7.3%	18
38	Granite City, IL	43	26,807	$104,300	1.8×	$59,205	22.1 min	14.8%	9
39	Lemay, MO	43	16,228	$152,200	2.5×	$60,399	23.7 min	14.7%	7
40	Bridgeton, MO	43	11,277	$237,700	3.3×	$72,005	21.2 min	11.5%	13
41	Edwardsville, IL	42	26,463	$299,800	3.5×	$86,721	22.8 min	11.6%	17
42	Centralia, IL	42	11,863	$89,600	1.9×	$47,807	19.0 min	24.3%	61
43	Wood River, IL	42	10,224	$108,100	1.7×	$62,703	23.7 min	13.9%	18
44	Florissant, MO	40	51,124	$148,800	2.3×	$65,318	25.8 min	10.1%	12
45	Alton, IL	40	25,013	$103,700	1.9×	$54,568	22.7 min	21.0%	19
46	Collinsville, IL	40	23,717	$163,600	2.4×	$67,612	24.2 min	12.0%	13
47	Belleville, IL	39	40,237	$141,300	2.2×	$63,535	25.1 min	14.6%	16
48	St. Ann, MO	39	12,617	$126,600	2.4×	$52,323	21.1 min	13.0%	10
49	Troy, MO	37	15,201	$226,500	2.9×	$79,012	29.0 min	13.6%	45
50	Mehlville, MO	35	29,805	$218,400	3.3×	$67,071	22.8 min	7.8%	10
51	Spanish Lake, MO	35	17,873	$135,600	2.4×	$55,920	24.6 min	14.8%	11
52	Festus, MO	35	14,066	$223,600	3.0×	$73,532	26.4 min	17.1%	30
53	University City, MO	34	34,657	$306,700	3.8×	$80,694	21.5 min	14.5%	5
54	Ferguson, MO	34	17,953	$109,900	2.3×	$47,524	24.0 min	24.2%	8
55	East St. Louis, IL	33	17,682	$52,600	1.5×	$35,700	23.3 min	32.8%	6
56	Bellefontaine Neighbors, MO	33	10,368	$99,700	2.0×	$49,170	26.5 min	21.4%	8
57	Jennings, MO	29	13,093	$68,800	1.8×	$38,984	26.7 min	25.2%	6
58	Hazelwood, MO	18	24,849	$167,400	3.0×	$55,908	27.4 min	15.9%	14

Most affordable homes

East St. Louis 1.5 years of income, $52,600
Wood River 1.7 years of income, $108,100
Granite City 1.8 years of income, $104,300
Jennings 1.8 years of income, $68,800
Centralia 1.9 years of income, $89,600

Most families with kids

Wentzville 44.7% of households
Troy 41.0% of households
Dardenne Prairie 40.3% of households
Eureka 40.2% of households
Festus 38.8% of households

How the score works

For each measure we rank the 58 places from worst to best within this metro area, then combine the ranks with these weights: home value compared with household income (20%), household income (15%), poverty rate (15%), average commute (15%), share of adults with a bachelor's degree (10%), homeownership (10%), households with children (10%) and population growth since 2020 (5%). Unincorporated communities have no official growth estimate, so they get the middle value for that part. A score of 100 would mean first on every measure.

Everything comes from the Census Bureau: the American Community Survey 2020-2024 and the 2025 population estimates. We leave out crime and school ratings because comparable official data for every town does not exist; check local school district and police data for the places on your shortlist.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best suburbs of St. Louis?

On our data-only score, Dardenne Prairie, Troy and Town and Country rank highest among 58 places of 10,000+ people in the St. Louis, MO-IL metro area.

What is the most affordable suburb of St. Louis?

East St. Louis has the lowest ratio of median home value to household income (1.5 years), with a median home of $52,600.

Which St. Louis suburb has the shortest commute?

Clayton, where the average commute is 16.6 minutes each way.

Back to the St. Louis city profile, or see the best suburbs of other big cities.

Places are incorporated cities, towns and villages plus census-designated places with 10,000 or more residents, assigned to the metro area by county (OMB 2023 delineations). Distances are straight lines from the center of St. Louis. The Census Bureau caps published medians at $250,000 for income and $2,000,000 for home values, shown with a plus sign.