St. Louis Ranked Among Least Popular Cities to Move to in 2025

This is another case where perception doesn't always equal reality. There's new data showing that for those who have chosen to relocate in 2025, St. Louis, Missouri is now one of the least popular destinations in America.

There's an interesting new breakdown on moving trends from Move Buddha

They looked not just at those who had packed up a moving truck and relocated, but also examined 160,000 searches. What they found was intriguing as a number of cities were ranked among the least desirable new home towns in America including St. Louis in the bottom 20.

What they learned from the searches is that movers in 2025 are now preferring smaller cities over larger metros. It's entirely possible that St. Louis ended up on the wrong end of many of these searches as the city is often mentioned among the worst metros for violent crime. You don't hear it mentioned often, but the violent crime rate in St. Louis has been trending downward in recent years, but it's still one of the biggest factors in people deciding not to move there.

I predict that many in the St. Louis area will see data like this as good news. The competition for good housing in the St. Louis area is already competitive. Rankings like this that discourage new movers from considering St. Louis may mean an easier path to finding a good home.