More than 2.5 million people live in the Greater St. Louis region, which includes 12 counties covering 6,375 square miles in Missouri and Illinois, making it the 18th largest metropolitan area in the United States.
The St. Louis metropolitan area offers a warm welcome for newcomers, combining a friendly Midwestern way of life with strong civic pride. 2.6 million St. Louisans have access to internationally recognized cultural institutions and major league sports, while enjoying a lower cost-of-living than most large metropolitan areas and a housing market that ranks as the most affordable in the nation. Families feel safer here than in many large metro areas, and their children can go to schools and universities that rank among the top in the nation. That is why more native St. Louisans choose to stay here.
St. Louis, known as the "Gateway City", is ranked in the top 10% of places to live among the 333 metropolitan areas in the US, based on the national rankings in the "Places Rated Almanac" published by Prentice Hall.
St. Louis is a major center of transportation, commerce, manufacturing and education. It has one of the country's busiest riverports, the third largest rail, the eighth largest trucking center, and the eighth largest airport.
As one of the nation's foremost automotive producers, St. Louis is the home of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler assembly plants. Other St. Louis-based corporate headquarters include: Anheuser-Busch, Monsanto, Emerson Electric, May Department Stores, A.G. Edwards & Sons, Express Scripts, Charter Communications and Edward D. Jones.
The St. Louis region ranks below the US average for metro areas in violent crime rates, and ranks even more favorably in its total crime index, with the 9th lowest crime rate out of 40 metropolitan areas with over 1,000,000 in population.
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