The City of St. Louis offers an eclectic and colorful choice of both trendy and family-friendly neighborhoods with a variety of entertainment and hospitality venues, restaurants, and a growing diversity of skilled employment opportunities. It has proven itself to be a great destination for tourists, foodies, sports fanatics, new businesses and conventions.

Over the last two decades local civic leaders, lawmakers, business owners, developers and financial investors have worked diligently to reshape St. Louis’ image from a conservative, flyover metropolis into an alluring mecca for innovative startups, high-tech trailblazers, business entrepreneurs, culinary creators, musicians and artists.

Forbes magazine ranked St. Louis 2^nd in the country as an “emerging business start-up destination.”

In 2021, Time magazine selected St. Louis as one of the World’s Greatest Places for “new and exciting experiences.”

St. Louis’s reputation as a formidable agribusiness (Donald Danforth Plant Science Center), geospatial technology center (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency), pharmaceutical research and manufacturing leader (Bayer, Mallinckrodt, Pfizer, Sigma Millipore), and ground-breaking medical research hub (Washington University & BJC Institute of Health, St. Louis University) attracts top talent from around the world.

More Reasons to Love and Live in St. Louis

Diverse, vibrant music scene.
Variety of restaurants and ethnic foods, cool bars and “old city taverns.”
Relatively modest cost of living.
Renowned life-science research universities.
Award-winning, family-owned Italian restaurants.
Gorgeous historic residential neighborhoods, converted factory luxury lofts and funky business districts.
The Cardinals, second only to the Yankees in World Series titles, Blues hockey, Billikens basketball and St. Louis City SC soccer.
Free general entrance into the St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri History Museum, St. Louis Zoo, and the St. Louis Science Center.
Sprawling Forest Park, 500 acres larger than NYC’s famed Central Park.
And of course, the piece de resistance, Chuck Berry, the proud Father of Rock ‘n Roll and inspiration to millions. Long before he duckwalked on American Bandstand, Berry scuffed his shoes on the streets of the Ville neighborhood in North St. Louis City.

Undeniably, an impressive list of fun things to do in St. Louis and great reasons to visit or put down roots.

That said, St. Louis also has a bruised public image attributable to the city’s increasingly high-profile reputation as a dangerous and violent city to live in or visit.

For instance, a 2022 survey by WalletHub.com made big headlines (below) when it announced St. Louis the Least Safe City in America and ranking it at the very bottom of their list of 182 U.S. cities. The New York Post and countless domestic and international news organizations gladly reposted the embarrassing (and misleading) headline.

Conversely, a similar quality-of-life study conducted by U.S. News and World Report ranked St. Louis 23rd in their list of the “Most Dangerous Places in the U.S. 2022-23.”

“We have a real crime problem, and we have a crime perception problem,” Richard Rosenfeld, criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

So which is true? Does St. Louis have an undeserved reputation as violent and dangerous?

This is not a unique question. In fact, some quick online research brings up a list of popular Google searches regarding crime and safety in St. Louis.

Actual Google searches: “how safe is St. Louis,” “best St. Louis neighborhoods for families,” “safest neighborhoods in St. Louis,” “is downtown St. Louis safe,” “safest areas to live in St. Louis,” “St Louis crime rate” and “St. Louis murder rate 2022.”

Not exactly tourist-friendly bumper sticker slogans.

So, in order to satisfy the public’s obvious curiosity regarding what they should expect when visiting or living in St. Louis, we decided to take on this challenge and answer the #1 burning Google search question:

Is St. Louis a Safe Place to Live or Visit?

Despite the screaming headlines crowning St. Louis the most dangerous and violent place to visit or live, based primarily on misleading crime rates and murder rates, the St. Louis metro area, meaning St. Louis City and surrounding St. Louis County combined, actually has an average, “respectable” crime rate and murder rate when compared to other U.S. cities of similar size. See murder rates for other U.S. cities, below.

Note: Some people outside the St. Louis area mistakenly think that East St. Louis, across the Mississippi River in Illinois, is part of St. Louis, it is not.

So why does “St. Louis” consistently rank in the Top-5 on virtually every list of most dangerous U.S. cities with the highest violent crime rate and murder rate?

Good question. When these types of crime rates are reported in news articles or quality-of-life studies and surveys, or real estate and travel blogs, the crime and murder rates quoted are attributed by the writer to “St. Louis” in general, but the crime rates and statistics they use are almost always for St. Louis City alone and not St. Louis County. So the perception is that the entire St. Louis area has an alarmingly high crime rate. But in actuality, St. Louis County’s crime rate is much lower than St. Louis City’s crime rate. And if combined, as it is done in other cities, the crime rates quoted by these studies and articles would actually be much lower overall.

Year-over-year comparison of the number of murders, assaults and motor vehicle thefts in the City of St. Louis between 2019 and 2022.

Assaults have actually dropped since 2019, but vehicle thefts, as in most cities across the country, have skyrocketed.

How St. Louis is Structured is Key to Murder Rates

To understand why “St. Louis” crime rates are misleading, at least to some extent, and generating bad public relations for St. Louis in general, it helps to understand how St. Louis is physically structured. This will take only a minute.

St. Louis City and St. Louis County are NOT one entity. They are separate (splitting in 1876 at the behest of the City), and therefore they function as two separate governments, operating two separate police departments, and they maintain two separate crime statistic data bases.

The City is comprised of 79 individual neighborhoods, the County includes St. Louis County, along with 91 individual municipalities, most of which also have their own local governments and many their own police departments. This is a unique arrangement compared to other U.S. cities and can be a little confusing, so don’t feel bad if your head is spinning.

The public image conundrum for “St. Louis” as a whole, and how the rest of the world views it, results largely from generalized headlines blasting St. Louis as One of the Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S. with the Highest Murder Rate. But these conclusions are typically based solely on crime rates and murder rates representing ONLY the City, NOT the County, and NOT both combined. A lot of people don’t know this, especially out-of-towners.

This leads to the other key factor in how Crime rates are calculated, based on a per capita math equation: number of individual crime incidents divided by population size, typically on a per 100,000 (residents) scale. Which, as in the case of St. Louis City with a relatively small population but with a higher than average crime count, translates into a high crime rate.

What’s in a Number?

According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s annual crime report for 2022, St. Louis City proper, not the City and County combined, reported 200 homicides. Measured against the City’s relatively small population of 293,310, results in a murder rate of 68.18. This is the frighteningly high murder rate splashed across the internet in countless stories by real estate writers and some news organizations.

St. Louis County, on the other hand, recorded less than half that number of murders in 2022, with 92. Also, St. Louis County has three times more people, 997,187, than St. Louis City, which gave St. Louis County the extremely low murder rate of 9.22 in 2022. One of the lowest in the country.

What does this mean? If both St. Louis City and St. Louis County homicide numbers and populations were combined, (292 murders, 1,290,497 population), which would represent “St. Louis” as a whole, then the murder rate for “St. Louis” would have been a “respectable” 22.63 in 2022, three times lower than the City’s homicide rate alone.

But it’s the glaring 68.18 murder rate of St. Louis City alone that grabs all the headlines and is responsible for St. Louis’ top-tier ranking in countless lists of most violent cities in the U.S. It also makes “St. Louis” as a whole, morbidly competitive on a global scale, positioning it in the Top-10 and Top-15 of most violent cities in the entire world. The competition at this level is serious, with some major players: Tijuana, Mexico (138 murder rate) and Cape Town, South Africa (66.36 murder rate). Worthy adversaries, no doubt.

St. Louis Murder Rate Compared to Other U.S. Cities

Now take the recalculated combined murder rate from above (22.63) of St. Louis City and St. Louis County and compare it to other U.S. cities similar in size.

Indianapolis: pop. 882,039; 211 homicides (23.92 murder rate)
Dallas: pop. 1,288,457; 214 homicides (16.60 murder rate)
Philadelphia: pop. 1,576,251; 516 homicides (32.73 murder rate)
St. Louis: pop. 1,290,497; 292 homicides (22.63 murder rate)

St. Louis doesn’t look so bad all of a sudden.

Top Five U.S. Cities with Highest Number of Murders in 2022

#1. Chicago, IL. 697
#2 Philadelphia, PA. 516
#3 New York, NY. 438
#4 Houston, TX. 435
#5 Los Angeles, CA. 382

Did You Know? By individual homicide count, the City of St. Louis ranked 16^th in the country in 2022.

**So does this mean St. Louis does not have a crime problem?**

As you can see by the 2022 St. Louis City violent crimes and property crimes statistics below, the answer is clearly, NO.

It is obvious St. Louis is no Disneyland, and everyone (except the criminals) agrees that the City of St Louis has a very serious crime problem, and getting worse. And increasingly, city criminals are infiltrating the surrounding County suburbs, and they’re being joined by opportunistic hoodlums from East St. Louis and other Illinois communities eager to cross the Mississippi River to prey on St. Louis City and County.

What Areas of St. Louis are Safe to Live in or Visit?

Having established that St. Louis City is statistically more dangerous than St. Louis County, let’s explore the safe and dangerous areas of St. Louis City and its neighborhoods in more detail.

Use this St. Louis City Neighborhood map as reference.

St Louis City Neighborhoods Safest and Least Safest Areas — **Red Stars = Dangerous Neighborhoods. Green Stars = Safer Neighborhoods. Categorized by crime volume, not crime rate.**

Despite the high crime volume in certain neighborhoods in the City, many of the other 79 individual neighborhoods are plenty safe for families, young couples and empty nesters, and offer many unique features to explore, places to eat, drink, shop and work.

And even within the worst and most dangerous neighborhoods in the City of St. Louis there are “hidden” but locally popular jewels to be discovered for the newly arrived. For instance, the locally famous and historic confectionary and café, Crown Candy Kitchen, which is still at the same location it was when they served their very first customer a Crown Candy signature chocolate malt. That was in 1913, at the corner of St. Louis Ave. and 14th St., in the heart of Old North St. Louis, a notoriously high-crime neighborhood, once heavily populated by first, second and third generation Germans. But that was long ago.

BIG PICTURE To be completely candid and self-revealing, it is important to note that St. Louis City is the kind of place where vigilance is your best friend, and in some areas of town, a simple matter of survival. It has been noted by many that they feel safer walking the streets of Chicago rather than St. Louis because Chicago is more heavily populated and the sidewalks and parks are crowded with people, making individuals less of a target in becoming victims of crime. And this is true to a large extent.

People often feel vulnerable, and for good reason, walking city streets in Downtown St. Louis because they are not crowed with people and a person may find themselves turning a corner and walking down an isolated street shared by one or two homeless guys and one or two questionable individuals who are not dressed in business suits or nice clothes and are often looking for easy opportunities. This is a fact of life in St. Louis. Anyone, tourist or local, walking the streets in Downtown St. Louis will undoubtedly get hit up for spare change or cigarettes by questionable individuals once, twice or even multiple times just walking a few blocks from a parking lot or hotel to Busch Stadium to catch a Cardinals game or Blues game.

Lay of the Land

Generally speaking, the majority of violent crimes occur north of highway 40 (I-64), which bisects the city laterally, east/west, and there is a growing concentration of both violent and property crimes in the immediate St. Louis Downtown area, north and south of highway 40 (I-64). This crime has spread into the unique and historic Soulard neighborhood, just sought and adjacent to Downtown, and whose residents have witnessed a rise in crime over the last several years. For the combined months of Jan. and Feb. in 2022, Soulard reported zero murders and 9 stolen vehicles. Compared that to Jan. and Feb. of 2023, and already Soulard has had 3 murders and 43 vehicles stolen! Random gunfire is heard regularly, according to residents and business owners, and businesses repeatedly burglarized. Although, overall assaults are down in 2023. A sliver lining.

Referencing the St. Louis Neighborhood Map above, again, generally speaking, St. Louis City neighborhoods located in the Central, Western and Southwestern corridors, and certain South City neighborhoods, are considered very safe to reasonably safe to live in and visit: North Hampton, St. Louis Hills, Tamm-Clayton, Skinker-Wydown, Lindenwood Park, Hi-Pointe, among others.

There are exceptions though even in these areas of the City, the Central West End (CWE) near Forest Park being one. Recognized as one of the nicest and most vibrant areas of St. Louis City with a mix of two-bedroom brick homes, multi-unit flats, historic Victorian-style mini mansions, high-rise apartments, art galleries and numerous upper-scale but casual sidewalk cafes, the CWE draws big crowds, which means it also draws a lot of criminals.

The result being, in 2022 the CWE ranked #4 in total crime volume out of all 79 St. Louis City neighborhoods. In addition, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department reported 430 motor vehicle thefts, ranking the Central West End #1 in stolen vehicles out of the entire city.

Did You Know? The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department reported 691 stolen motor vehicles in the City of St. Louis, solely in the month of January 2023. That, compared to 311 stolen vehicles during the same month in 2022. In only one week in January, 149 vehicles were stolen!

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DOWNTOWN For the past 25 years many individuals, businesses, civic leaders and betterment organizations have been working diligently to improve the quality of life in the City of St. Louis. This includes the investment of millions of dollars into the renovation and transformation of old factories and hotels into luxury lofts, condos and businesses. The construction of new multifamily, mixed-used complexes, and a proposal to transform the long neglected industrial area south of the Gateway Arch, between the river and S. Broadway, into a high-end residential and commercial mixed-use complex.

The addition of the National Blues Museum on Washington Avenue, movie theater and additional restaurants and nightclubs, give locals and tourists even more reason to venture Downtown. The expansion of Ballpark Village next to Busch Stadium includes a number of new restaurants and high-rise condos overlooking the ballpark. Improvements made to Kiener Plaza Park, the addition of City Garden, renovations to the Gateway Arch grounds and the Old Courthouse have put a fresh face on the City in an attempt to attract more visitors, residents, conventions, special events and new businesses.

But despite all these great offerings, Downtown St. Louis continues to be held back from reaching its full potential, primarily because of the intensifying criminal activity on the streets. The brazen, outlandish acts of violence, assaults, shootings, property vandalism, car thefts and business burglaries is having an incredibly negative impact on everyone, including St. Louis’ reputation.

St. Louis City business owners and residents are fed-up, frustrated and threatening to leave the city. City hall and the circuit attorneys office are embroiled in controversy and don’t have solutions. The police department, battling low morale and low pay, has been largely ineffectual, partly due to city hall’s lack of support, including Mayor Tishaura Jones imposing a police officer hiring freeze in 2021 and limiting policing tactics to the point of ineffectiveness.

The amount of crime in Downtown St. Louis is out of control and has dramatically increased since the start of the pandemic, with no sign of leveling off.

Downtown St. Louis now ranks #1 in highest crime volume among all St. Louis City neighborhoods. By comparison, Downtown had seven times more crime than St. Louis Hills in 2022.

Downtown West, home to the new CITYPARK soccer stadium and St. Louis Aquarium at St. Louis Union Station, ranks #2 in total crime volume.

Did you Know? The City of St. Louis has 108 public parks. Forest Park being the largest with approximately 1,325 acres and drawing 12 million visitors annually.

SOUTH CITY Shifting away from the Downtown area, South St. Louis City has some unique offerings of its own, like The Hill neighborhood, a modest, tightly-knit Italian community with plenty of family-owned bakeries, Italian food markets, shops and some of the best Italian restaurants in the country. The is the same working-class neighborhood that birthed the Yankees Yogi Berra and the Cardinals Joe Garagiola.

Down the street from The Hill is the Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park, adjacent to the historic Shaw, Tower Grove East and Tower Grove South neighborhoods. Another area of St. Louis City that has experienced a positive transformation in recent years with the launching of new trendy ethnic restaurants, bars and shops. All of which has succeeded in attracting lots of visitors and new residents, which in turn has attracted, like moths to a flame, ne’re-do-wells and hoodlums responsible for the spike in shootings, assaults, robberies, drug activity and stolen vehicles over the last several years. What can you say, it’s life in the City.

Other South City neighborhoods being ravished by crime include Dutchtown, Carondelet and Bevo Mill. Once stable, working-class communities now being overtaken by criminals and forcing out decent, productive families and individuals who are moving to safer areas of the City.

Did you Know? Based on percentage of population, St. Louis City ranks 8^th on the list of U.S. cities with the highest number of millionaires.

Which brings us to the other side of St. Louis City, the upper-scale exclusive neighborhoods featuring early-20^th and late-19^th-century handcrafted, three-story homes and clusters of stone-pillar mansions lining picturesque streets in semi-private neighborhoods. The Forest Park area and Central West End are prime examples, along with Lafayette Square, Wydown-Skinker, Benton Place, among others.

As mentioned before though, these neighborhoods are not without crime, and ironically, many of them border poor, high-crime neighborhoods.

Did you Know? 20% of St. Louis City residents live below the poverty level. Down from 27% between 2010-2014.

NORTH CITY North St. Louis City is only a short car ride from many of the richer St. Louis City neighborhoods, but it might as well be lightyears away. The Northside, as locals collectively refer to these struggling neighborhoods—Hyde Park, Carr Square, St. Louis Place, Jeff-Vander-Lou, O’Fallon, Kingsway East, among others, is akin to a survivalist training ground. Devastated by decades of poverty, neglect and vandalism, this area of St. Louis City has the highest concentration of violent crimes, including murders, rampant drug activity and assaults.

Driving along Martin Luther King Drive and St. Louis Avenue in North City is like traveling through a third-world country, passing block after block of crumbling brick homes, boarded-up businesses clad in chain link fencing and acres of trash-strewn, weed-choked vacant lots.

Did You Know? The City of St. Louis has an inventory of 10,039 vacant homes and businesses and 14,309 neglected vacant lots. (STL Vacancy Collaboration).

Neighborhood Crime Ranking Methodology

It is important to note that all crime numbers listed below for St. Louis Neighborhoods are official St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department crime statistics. It is also important to note that our ranking method was NOT based on neighborhood crime rates, but on crime volume, the actual number of individual crimes recorded by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for 2022.

The reason for this was to help illustrate exactly how much actual crime took place in each neighborhood listed below. Since crime “rates” can be hard to grasp and visualize, we thought crime volume really told a better story about each neighborhood.

But to satisfy those who prefer rates, we have included two primary crime rate statistics for each St. Louis City neighborhood—murders and total crimes (personal and property combined). These rates are based on per a capita population scale of 100,000.

Crime Volume Does Not Always Equal Crime Rate

You will quickly notice that crime rates do not always match crime volume. This is because, as discussed above, crime rates are dependent on the size of the population they are measured against.

For instance, Old North St. Louis recorded 1 murder in 2022, and 514 total crimes (violent and property). Measured against its relatively small population of 1,488, Old North St. Louis posted a total crime rate of 34.54 (murder rate, 67.20).

On the other hand, the Kingsway East neighborhood recorded far more murders than Old North St. Louis, or any other St. Louis City neighborhood for that matter, with 12 murders in 2022. (Baden, Dutchtown and Wells-Goodfellow recorded 10 homicides each.) But because Kingsway East also had a similar number of total crimes reported, 591, that number measured against a larger neighborhood residential population of 2,502 , and Kingsway East actually posted a total crime rate (not murder rate) of 23.62, ten points lower than Old North St. Louis, but their total crime volume was almost identical. (Kingsway East murder rate, 497.61).

So if you only go by total crime rate, you might have a skewed perspective and think you’re standing on safer ground than you actually are.

Add to the equation that both these neighborhoods are almost identical in geographical size: Kingsway East o.49 square miles, Old North St. Louis 0.39 square miles. Only one-tenth of a square mile difference.

You can see how crime rates can be manipulated and reported to one’s disadvantage or one’s advantage. By total crime rate alone, both neighborhoods appear to be equal in overall safety, but considering Kingsway East had 12 murders and Old North St. Louis 1, which neighborhood would you rather walk? Which St. Louis neighborhood would you avoid?

Other Factors Affecting Crime Rates

The randomness of crimes, including murders, also plays a factor when gauging how safe or dangerous a St. Louis City neighborhood may be. Even though murder rates are based on the local neighborhood’s residential population size, a large percentage of murders are transient in nature: the victim is often from a different neighborhood and so is the killer. They were both just “passing through” but collided, violently. Regardless of the circumstances though, that reported murder is still attributed to the neighborhood it occurred.

Poverty, lack of jobs, minimal upward personal growth opportunities, lower education levels, absence of two-parent households, lack of parental oversite and community bonding and outreach, drugs, easy illegal opportunities valued over full-time employment and personal responsibility, laziness, a false sense of entitlement, lack of respect for other people’s property and the value of human life. These can all help drive crime activity.

The amount of foot and automobile traffic in a particular neighborhood can also play a major role. Downtown St. Louis vehicle theft crime rates are highest mainly due to the unusually high number of cars and trucks traveling into the city for sporting and musical events, clubbing and restaurants, on Washington Avenue, and lots and lots of sightseers, both local and out-of-towners.

Downtown St. Louis is cramped, so during major public events the city streets and parking lots are overflowing with thousands of shiny cars and trucks making for easy prey for thieves and thugs only too happy to risk smashing in car and truck windows for the chance to get their hands on left behind handguns, laptops or cash. Anything!

Many Crimes Go Unreported

Lastly, it is critical to note that according to Statisica.com, it is estimated that only 45.6% of ALL violent crimes were reported to police in the U.S. in 2021. It is also estimated that only 21.5% of ALL sexual assaults were reported. An important and unfortunate distinction because sexual assaults on women still carry the same humiliating personal stigma they have for generations, which means that woman are reluctant to put their names in the public record.

There is no way of knowing the exact percentage of crimes that go unreported in the City of St. Louis each year, but based on the percentages above, it is clear that a large number of crimes never make it in public crime files.

Lastly, there are a multitude of reasons why some St. Louis neighborhoods experience more crime than others, we’ll discuss this in a separate article.

The time has finally come to unveil the list of Most Dangerous and Safest St. Louis City Neighborhoods.

Top Ten Most Dangerous St. Louis Neighborhoods

Number of Total Crimes listed below is the accumulation of ALL 52 crime categories tracked in each neighborhood by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

The Top 10 lists of Safest and Most Dangerous St. Louis City Neighborhoods are ranked in descending order, top to bottom, from most dangerous to least dangerous, and safest to least safe, based on crime volume.

DOWNTOWN
Population: 5,442

Murders 5 (murder rate: 91.87)
Assaults 393
Sexual Assaults 10
Motor Vehicle Theft 369
Theft FROM Vehicle 718
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 114
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 65
Property Vandalism 1,058
Weapons Violation 178
Robbery 48
Drugs/Narcotics 54

Total Person Crimes: 469
Total Property Crimes: 2,727
Total Society Crimes: 734
Total Unspecified Crimes: 504
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 4,435 (total crime rate: 81.49)

To give this perspective, in the case of Downtown St. Louis, the total crime rate means that out of every 1,000 people, 814 experienced either a violent crime or property crime against them in 2022.

DOWNTOWN WEST
Population: 5,115

Murders 4 (murder rate: 78.20)
Assaults 315
Sexual Assaults 21
Motor Vehicle Theft 308
Theft FROM Vehicle 530
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 74
Burglaries / Breaking & Entering 70
Property Vandalism 815
Weapons Violation 113
Robbery 37
Drugs/Narcotics 56

Total Person Crimes: 404
Total Property Crimes: 2,130
Total Society Crimes: 376
Unspecified Crimes: 328
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 3,238 (total crime rate: 63.30)

DUTCHTOWN
Population: 15,356

Murders 10 (murder rate: 65.12)
Assaults 383
Sexual Assaults 11
Motor Vehicle Theft 410
Theft From Vehicle 130
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 117
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 117
Property Vandalism 374
Weapons Violation 146
Robbery 48
Drugs/Narcotics 134

Total Person Crimes: 421
Total Property Crimes: 1,404
Total Society Crimes: 427
Unspecified Crimes: 386
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 2,840 (total crime rate: 18.49)

CENTRAL WEST END
Population: 16,670

Murders 10 (murder rate: 59.98)
Assaults 348
Sexual Assault 8
Motor Vehicle Theft 430
Theft From Vehicle 394
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 159
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 117
Property Vandalism 609
Weapons Violation 46
Robbery 32
Drugs/Narcotics 24

Total Person Crimes: 302
Total Property Crimes: 2,089
Total Society Crimes: 174
Unspecified Crimes: 250
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 2,815 (total crime rate: 16.88)

TOWER GROVE SOUTH
Population: 12,719

Murders 4 (murder rate: 31.44)
Assaults 128
Sexual Assaults 2
Motor Vehicle Theft 257
Theft From Vehicle 100
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 140
Burglaries / Breaking & Entering 144
Property Vandalism 269
Weapons Violation 34
Robbery 17
Drugs/Narcotics 12

Total Person Crimes: 154
Total Property Crimes: 1,119
Total Society Crimes: 105
Unspecified Crimes: 215
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 1,593 (total crime rate: 12.52)

BEVO MILL
Population: 11,941

Murders 4 (murder rate: 33.49)
Assaults 123
Sexual Assaults 1
Motor Vehicle Theft 222
Theft From Vehicle 75
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 114
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 68
Property Vandalism 183
Weapons Violation 43
Robbery 17
Drugs/Narcotics 51

Total Person Crimes: 140
Total Property Crimes: 840
Total Society Crimes: 179
Unspecified Crimes: 233
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 1,392 (total crime rate: 11.65)

JEFF VANDER LOU
Population: 4,209

Murders 6 (murder rate: 142.55)
Assaults 246
Sexual Assaults 7
Motor Vehicle Theft 115
Theft FROM Vehicle 46
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 21
Burglaries / Breaking & Entering 65
Property Vandalism 165
Weapons Violation 93
Robbery`29
Drugs/Narcotics 44

Total Person Crimes: 275
Total Property Crimes: 554
Total Society Crimes: 169
Unspecified Crimes: 223
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 1,315 (total crime rate: 31.24)

BADEN
Population: 5,465

Murders 10 (murder rate: 182.98)
Assaults 185
Sexual Assaults 4
Motor Vehicle Theft 123
Theft From Vehicle 42
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 28
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 59
Property Vandalism 162
Weapons Violation 80
Robbery 31
Drugs/Narcotics 31

Total Person Crimes: 213
Total Property Crimes: 542
Total Society Crimes: 158
Unspecified Crimes: 323
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 1,236 (total crime rate: 22.61)

WELLS GOODFELLOW
Population: 4,473

Murders 11 (murder rate: 245.91)
Assaults 173
Sexual Assaults 9
Motor Vehicle Theft 97
Theft FROM Vehicle 23
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 20
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 44
Property Vandalism 118
Weapons Violation 158
Robbery 21
Drugs/Narcotics 60

Total Person Crimes: 214
Total Property Crimes: 435
Total Society Crimes: 272
Unspecified Crimes: 236
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 1,157 (total crime rate: 25.86)

THE GREATER VILLE
Population: 4,545

Murders 7 (murder rate: 154.01)
Assaults: 150
Sexual Assaults 3
Motor Vehicle Theft 148
Theft FROM Vehicle 35
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 23
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 54
Property Vandalism 124
Weapons Violation 97
Robbery` 18
Drugs/Narcotics 31

Total Person Crimes: 176
Total Property Crimes: 518
Total Society Crimes: 160
Unspecified Crimes: 217
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 1,017 (total crime rate: 22.37)

Top Ten Safest St. Louis Neighborhoods

*Some neighborhoods actually had fewer crime incidents in 2022 than some listed below but their neighborhood population size was so low due to its small size or they are dominated by businesses and industry rather than residents.

CLAYTON TAMM
Population: 2,348

Murders 0 (murder rate: 0)
Assaults 11
Sexual Assaults 0
Motor Vehicle Theft 47
Theft FROM Vehicle 33
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 25
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 21
Property Vandalism 53
Weapons Violation 2
Robbery 1
Drugs/Narcotics 2

Total Person Crimes: 11
Total Property Crimes: 201
Total Society Crimes: 15
Unspecified Crimes: 24
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 251 (total crime rate: 10.68)

HI POINTE
Population: 2,151

Murders 0 (murder rate: 0)
Assaults: Aggravated, Simple, w/ Firearm 9
Sexual Assaults 0
Motor Vehicle Theft 65
Theft FROM Vehicle 39
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 22
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 5
Property Vandalism 43
Weapons Violation 3
Robbery 1
Drugs/Narcotics 2

Total Person Crimes: 10
Total Property Crimes: 192
Total Society Crimes: 9
Unspecified Crimes: 48
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 259 (total crime rate: 12.04)

CLIFTON HEIGHTS
Population: 2,836

Murders 0 (murder rate: 0)
Assaults 12
Sexual Assaults 0
Motor Vehicle Theft 55
Theft FROM Vehicle 47
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 32
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 8
Property Vandalism 62
Weapons Violation 3
Robbery 1
Drugs/Narcotics 3

Total Person Crimes: 14
Total Property Crimes: 232
Total Society Crimes: 17
Unspecified Crimes: 46
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 309 (total crime rate: 10.89)

HOLLY HILLS
Population: 3,647

Murders 0 (murder rate: 0)
Assaults 28
Sexual Assaults 3
Motor Vehicle Theft 59
Theft FROM Vehicle 22
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 32
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 28
Property Vandalism 57
Weapons Violation 7
Robbery 3
Drugs/Narcotics 9

Total Person Crimes: 37
Total Property Crimes: 239
Total Society Crimes: 37
Unspecified Crimes: 41
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 354 (total crime rate: 9.70)

SOUTHAMPTON
Population: 6,647

Murders 0 (murder rate: 0)
Assaults 19
Sexual Assaults 2
Motor Vehicle Theft 131
Theft FROM Vehicle 44
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 49
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 28
Property Vandalism 67
Weapons Violation 6
Robbery 9
Drugs/Narcotics 5

Total Person Crimes: 26
Total Property Crimes: 425
Total Society Crimes: 26
Unspecified Crimes: 70
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 547 (total crime rate: 8.22)

ST. LOUIS HILLS
Population: 7,516

Murders 0 (murder rate: 0)
Assaults 13
Sexual Assaults 0
Motor Vehicle Theft 96
Theft FROM Vehicle 62
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 69
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 29
Weapons Violation 8
Robbery 6
Drugs/Narcotics 4

Total Person Crimes: 25
Total Property Crimes: 442
Total Society Crimes: 20
Unspecified Crimes: 73
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 560 (total crime rate: 7.45)

SOUTHWEST GARDEN
Population: 5,245

Murders 1 (murder rate: 19.06)
Assaults: Aggravated, Simple, w/ Firearm 31
Sexual Assaults 3
Motor Vehicle Theft 103
Theft FROM Vehicle 43
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 67
Burglaries / Breaking & Entering 22
Property Vandalism 114
Weapons Violation 12
Robbery 6
Drugs/Narcotics 7

Total Person Crimes: 43
Total Property Crimes: 433
Total Society Crimes: 34
Unspecified Crimes: 90
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 600 (total crime rate: 11.43)

PRINCETON HEIGHTS
Population: 7,346

Murders 0 (murder rate: 0)
Assaults 28
Sexual Assaults 0
Motor Vehicle Theft 103
Theft FROM Vehicle 41
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 91
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 28
Property Vandalism 78
Weapons Violation 8
Robbery 6
Drugs/Narcotics 14

Total Person Crimes: 33
Total Property Crimes: 444
Total Society Crimes: 61
Unspecified Crimes: 68
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 606 (total crime rate: 8.24)

NORTHAMPTON
Population: 7,489

Murders 0 (murder rate: 0)
Assaults: Aggravated, Simple, w/ Firearm 51
Sexual Assault 4
Motor Vehicle Theft 117
Theft FROM Vehicle 49
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 57
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 51
Property Vandalism 108
Weapons Violation 11
Robbery 7
Drugs/Narcotics 7

Total Person Crimes: 58
Total Property Crimes: 459
Total Society Crimes: 49
Unspecified Crimes: 73
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 639 (total crime rate: 8.53)

LINDENWOOD PARK
Population: 9,387

Murders 0 (murder rate: 0)
Assaults 38
Sexual Assaults 5
Motor Vehicle Theft 102
Theft FROM Vehicle 70
Motor Vehicle Theft Parts/Accessories 75
Burglaries/Breaking & Entering 41
Property Vandalism 111
Weapons Violation 4
Robbery 1
Drugs/Narcotics 4

Total Person Crimes: 52
Total Property Crimes: 498
Total Society Crimes: 30
Unspecified Crimes: 72
TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES: 652 (total crime rate: 6.94)

Surveillance Security Cameras for Your Business

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St. Louis Neighborhood Crime Map

You’ll find a link below to the NIBRS (National Incident-Based Reporting System) website, which compiles reported crimes, neighborhood by neighborhood, from most major metropolitan U.S. cities, including St. Louis City and County, and surrounding Illinois cities and municipalities, Belleville, East St. Louis, Collinsville, Fairview Heights, etc. Crime data is submitted to the NIBRS by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

The NIBRS crime map pinpoints (reported) violent and nonviolent crimes, including armed robberies, murders, vehicle thefts, drug busts, sexual assaults, peeping toms, prostitution, burglaries and many more.

The St. Louis neighborhood crime map, shown below, pinpoints the location and volume of crimes reported in St. Louis City; this example is October thru December 2022. One glance at the dense cluster of dots and it’s no surprise the first ten minutes of every St. Louis TV news broadcast is filled with shootings, car break-ins, assaults, burglaries, robberies, and more.

Because of the sheer volume of crime in St. Louis, TV news station police scanners keep reporters busy chasing crimes scenes from North to South City, the riverfront to Skinker Blvd. But they cannot cover them all so they rely heavily on security camera surveillance video from local businesses to include in their morning and evening broadcasts. Which can be a little disturbing when security camera video shows teenage hoodlums throwing metal trashcans and bricks through business storefront windows at 3 a.m. in the Central West End. Or, ramming stolen cars (they’re not so dumb as to use their own cars) right through the front doors of a business, jump out and ransack the place.

One security surveillance video showed as many as eight young thugs parading through a shattered storefront glass door in single file, camouflaged in dark hoodies, as they made their way to the glass cases of merchandise. Another well done, hard day’s work for local thieves.

The St. Louis City crime map below is hosted and managed by CITYPROTECT, their link can be found on the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department website. Its accuracy and detail, when viewed at full scale, even identifies individual streets and the hundred block where the crime took place. Crimes are not populated in real time though and may even lag behind as much as 30 days or more.

Here is a link to the NIBRS (National Incident-Based Reporting System) neighborhood crime report.

Color Coded St. Louis City Crime Map

Red dots identify serious crimes and violent crimes: physical assaults, homicides, kidnappings, sexual assaults, armed robberies, etc.

Black dots (dark blue here) are minor infractions: disorderly disturbances, drug and liquor related incidents. These are considered “quality of life” incidents.

Yellowish dots are crimes typically against residential and business properties: breaking and entering, acts of vandalism, vehicle thefts and break-ins (smash-and-dash incidents).

See: St. Louis smash-and-dash vehicle crime story.

As you can see, North City neighborhoods show more Red Dots (violent crimes) than other parts of the city, but property crimes are heavy in South City and may even have a slight lead.

North St. Louis City Neighborhood Crime Map 2022 — Closeup North St. Louis City Crime Map

Closeup South St. Louis City Neighborhood Crime Map 2022 — Closeup South St. Louis City Crime Map

St. Louis City’s Resurgence – The Back Story

Although it’s been decades since St. Louis City was a bustling metropolis, its population peaking just north of 800,000 in the 1950s but steadily declining since to just below 300,000 in 2022, there has been an infectious positive mindset shift over the last two decades resulting in the development of thousands of new residential units and businesses in downtown and other areas of St. Louis City.

Beginning in the 1990s, builders, developers, investors and entrepreneurs saw opportunity, real estate gold is more like it, in the many old abandoned brick factories and warehouses along Washington Ave., Locust St., in North City and other niche areas of the city. This included the Garment District north of Trucker Blvd., and a number of former shoe factories left over from St. Louis’s reigning days as a dominating global shoe manufacturing city in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In fact, the world’s largest shoe manufacturer, ISC, was headquartered in St. Louis.

First in beer (Anheuser-Busch) and first in shoes.

In the mid 90s, in the Washington Avenue / Locust Street area there existed only a few retail storefronts, like Levine’s Hat Co., a couple cocktail bars and lunch places. Otherwise, only a select number of the forgotten buildings were partially occupied by struggling artists, photographers, start-up fashion designers, used book stores. It was a disjointed eclectic grouping. Its own cultural enclave. The rent was cheap with few residential (or business) regulations to worry about. Things were much looser back then.

But change was coming. Robert Cassilly began transforming the former International Shoe building at 750 N. 16th St., into what would become the hugely popular and quirky City Museum, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, and it was still a full decade out before Washington Ave. became the city’s new nightclub hotspot and trendy loft district.

It’s ALIVE! It’s ALVE!

It took entrepreneurial visionaries, millions of dollars and years of back-breaking labor to transform many of the historic buildings into business work spaces, upscale multi-family condos, luxury lofts and apartments outfitted with all the modern-day amenities that would, hopefully, attract the restless and adventurous “back” into the city.

And it worked! Other city neighborhoods were soon undergoing their own transformations, paving the way for single hipsters, young corporate ladder-climbers, childless twenty-somethings with exotic cross-bred canines, doting new parents and even old-fart, empty-nesters to stake their claim in new city living.

Who could resist? The temptation was too strong for those bored with the milk-toast suburbs to cross the city line to live and work just a short walk from their new favorite restaurant, pizza joint, white tableclothed eatery, nightclub, bar, bowling alley or even the new movie theater at Sixth and Washington. Not to mention the new National Blues Museum.

Under the vision and leadership of Father Biondi, St. Louis University was also busy snatching up old buildings and constructing new ones in St. Louis’s Grand Centre neighborhood in Midtown, and Washington University was doing the same in quickly developing Cortex complex in the Central West End. Tower Grove South was attracting new businesses and new residents. The same was true for Soulard and Benton Park.

Much like the mythical Phoenix, St. Louisans were witnessing a rebirth. Their city rising from the decades of neglect and dormancy.

In the immortal words of Dr. Frankenstein as he proudly exclaimed in astonishment at the resurrection of his cadaverous, monster creation, “It’s ALIVE! It’s ALIVE!”

The Damaging Effects of Escalating Crime in St. Louis City

But no sooner than the newly initiated city dwellers unpacked moving boxes and settled in, the streets below came alive with criminals creeping from all around, randomly smashing in windows of hundreds of cars and SUVS and grabbing whatever contents they could reach.

Hundreds of vehicles escaped the smash-and-grab assault only to be stolen off the streets and from parking lots in broad daylight. A good portion of those were (and are) used as getaway cars in future crimes and then abandoned in North St. Louis or across the river. Some cars were made examples of and given the set on fire or walked and jumped on. Others viscously vandalized beyond recognition.

If the criminals couldn’t steal it, they broke it, trashed it or burned it.

Nightclubs along Washington Avenue were becoming criminal playgrounds and arcade-like shooting galleries, literally. Security video footage shows multiple incidents of clubbing partygoers exchanging gun fire on the sidewalks and the streets.

The young and old alike were (are) robbed at gunpoint, purses snatched, pockets picked, and cell phones ripped from their hands as they naively strolled city sidewalks. Cell phones were even boldly being snatched right off restaurant tables at sidewalk cafes in University City, as the astonished slack-jawed victims watched helplessly as their $900 phones disappeared down the street.

Innocent people were dying. The body of a college-age kid found shot in the head, slumped over in his pickup truck on Washington Ave. A sixteen year old cut apart by random bullets in the lobby of a renovated condo.

St. Louis – the City of Babylon

The lawless were (are) in control. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police have been outnumbered for years. People were afraid. Many stopped frequenting the clubs, restaurants and businesses. The fed-up and frustrated pulled up stakes and headed back across the city line. Some business owners began doing the same.

The Shangri-La that St. Louis had almost become, was burning out.

But the Crime Only Gets Worse in St. Louis

As the COVID pandemic set in, criminals ramped up their illegal activity to record levels, burglarizing and vandalizing businesses repeatedly, all over the city, stealing cars by the hundreds, carrying guns opening, shooting people who looked at them the wrong way or disrespected them. Sexual assaults and robberies climbed.

When criminals weren’t assaulting or stealing, they took to drag racing hotrod cars at 50, 60 and 70 miles an hour down congested city streets, ignoring stoplights and intimidating and nearly missing gawking pedestrians. Unfortunately, many of the onlookers witnessing these ridiculous and incredibly dangerous events, night after night, day after day, were visiting tourists who undoubtedly spread the word back home how dangerous St. Louis had become.

The escalating violence, including shootings right outside the new state-of-the-art St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department police station, has had such a negative effect on the psyche of the whole St. Louis area, people don’t know what to do. They’re at a loss. And so is city hall. And so are the police.

(See this Fox 2 Now news report about recent car break-ins in downtown St. Louis and an interview with a resident who is questioning whether or not to stay downtown .)

Business owners and multi-family property managers are desperate for solutions about how to protect their investments, customers, tenets and employees. The St. Louis Police Department has dramatically increased its use of video surveillance security cameras throughout all parts of the city, and some business owners are following suit, but the criminals pay no heed to stagnant security cameras.

More has to be done to stop the crime jeopardizing our lifestyle and driving some away from the place they call home. A lot more has to be done.

County Suburbs Not Immune to Rising Crime

Don’t get the false impression crime is exclusive to the City of St. Louis. Increasing published police reports by South and West County suburban police departments tell the story, crime is EVERYWHERE.

Suburban police department Facebook posts tell of individuals and small organized gangs breaking into vehicles in residential driveways, garages and the parking lots of favorite hangouts or frequented shops, like bowling alleys, restaurants, shopping centers and gyms.

The truly bold and brash race shopping carts through Walgreens stores, clearing the shelves as they fill carts to the brim in minutes before dashing out the door and into a waiting getaway car. More than likely, a stolen car.

Marijuana dispensaries have become prized targets, with thieves bashing in storefront windows or even driving stolen cars right through the front doors. Video surveillance security cameras capture thugs smashing glass display cases and grabbing handfuls pot and paraphernalia.

It seems that no area of town or neighborhood is immune these days.

What Can You do to Protect Your Business and Family?

If your business or home is not properly secured, you are vulnerable. Not may be, but are.

Not every business has deep enough pockets for security guards. Security guards can only be in one place at one time, some are not fully qualified and they also create a liability issue. Off-duty cops can command as much as $130 an hour for their security services.

Since a security guard’s eyewitness account of a crime, or anyone’s eyewitness account for that matter, carries less weight and validity in the court of law than actual security video surveillance footage, the best defense is a good offense. This means installing a security camera video surveillance system at your business, preferably integrated with LIVE video monitoring, so police can be dispatched in real time and catch the thieves.

Security cameras can also be, and should be, integrated with your access control security system so if an intruder does break in to your business, security cameras are automatically triggered and an alert can be sent to a monitoring security central station.

In light of escalating crime in the St. Louis Metro Area, there is no time like the present to update your business access control system (also called a keyless entry door or card reader security system) at all entryways at your commercial business, the same for multi-family apartment complexes, including St. Louis City lofts and condos.

Taking these security measures seriously is not paranoia, it’s smart. Strict security measures should be taken in all city neighborhoods: St. Louis downtown, Central West End, Old North St. Louis, Bevo, Benton Park, Tower Grove, St. Louis Hills, Compton Heights, The Grove neighborhood, Hyde Park, Soulard, and other popular neighborhoods where business owners and homes are vulnerable. This includes St. Louis County, St. Charles County, St. Peter’s and Jefferson Counties where crime is also on the rise.

Find a Local Security Company You Can Trust

When hiring a security company, be sure to hire a professional and reputable local security company near you or in your area who has a verifiable, excellent reputation. A quality security company will be happy to evaluate your security needs, at no cost, and install a quality security system that is scalable and customized to your needs. Also be sure your security provider performs regular inspections to monitor necessary hardware and software updates as security technology improves and crime trends evolve.

National security companies are not familiar with the Greater St. Louis Area, including communities across the river in Illinois.

Do yourself, your family and your business a favor and hire a local security company that is familiar with St. Louis and surrounding Illinois communities like Belleville, Alton, Collinsville, Bethalto, Fairview Heights, O’Fallon, Granite City, Swansea, and others.

As grandma forewarned, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Contact us today to schedule a FREE SECURITY SYSTEM consultation in the St. Louis Metro Area, Central and Southern Illinois. Call 314-241-0422 or 618-394-1144 or Email Us.

Founded in 1969, PASS Security is headquartered in St. Louis, MO. and Fairview Heights, IL. We are a full-service electronic security systems integrator providing expertise in intrusion detection, video surveillance, access control systems, LIVE video monitoring for businesses, large commercial and enterprise operations. PASS also serves the residential sector with innovative SMART home automation products and services. We provide our customers with system design, engineering, installation, maintenance and monitoring services through our 24/7 local UL Listed Central Monitoring Station.