Saint Louis, MO

The affordability dashboard for Saint Louis, MO aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 45 ZIP codes covering 927,396 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of B- (66/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $75,413, median home value of $261,339, median rent of $1,146 per month, and 42.5% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,218 per month (studio $955, 1BR $995, 3BR $1,568, 4BR $1,812).

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Strengths visible in the raw data for Saint Louis, MO include education, rent. Unemployment currently reads 5.1% and poverty 15.5% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.