2 Missouri Cities Ranked Among America’s Best Places to Live

Some people love bad news. This is the opposite of that. There are two Missouri cities that were just named among the best places to live in America and there are great reasons why that happened.

First of all, this is no ordinary "best of" list that is just the opinion of one lone writer. This is the very prestigious US News & World Report Best Places to Live in America ranking. They say that for a city to make this top places to live ranking that "a place had to have good value, be a desirable place to live, have a strong job market and a high quality of life". In their top 30, you'll only find 2 Missouri places.

#29 St. Peters, Missouri

• Population: 59,445
• Average Commute: 20 minutes
• Median Home Value: $278,808
• Median Monthly Rent: $1,251
• Median Household Income: $94,497

#30 O'Fallon, Missouri

• Population: 95,095
• Average Commute: 22 minutes
• Median Home Value: $330,089
• Median Monthly Rent: $1,289
• Median Household Income: $113,840

The affordability and relatively low commute times in an area as big as the St. Louis region is are primary reasons why both Missouri locations have been recognized as great places to live. But, wait. Isn't the crime rate in St. Louis appalling? Ah, yes. That old narrative appears again. While there are pockets of high crime rates in the St. Louis metro, the suburbs are much safer and that includes O'Fallon and St. Peters. It doesn't mean they are immune from awful acts of crime, but it does mean that the "murder capital" moniker really does not apply in either of these places.