You're going to be hard pressed to find an apartment in Chesterfield that you can afford on first year FO pay. Second, there's no easy way to get to Lambert by road. Third, I'd avoid anywhere near 40 because they're about to start a major project to expand it closer to the city but they're anticipating traffic backups way out west because of all the commuters.

St. Charles and St. Peters are good. Look north of 70, there are some better deals on that side of the interstate. It's also less densely populated and access to STL is easy via 370.

Your best bet for afforadable apartments is going to be Maryland Heights/Creve Coeur or North County/Florisant(just make sure you go far enough north) area. Either one has a 15 minute drive to the airport. While St Charles is nice, its a longer drive and I believe the apartments tend to be newer and more expensive. Lots of my coworkers have bought homes and condos in the new developments out there.

I concur on Chesterfield being expensive. Tends to be full of doctors and such. Even the south western corner of Creve Coeur gets pricey. In Maryland Heights, stay away from West Pointe apartments. They are cheap, but the management is not tenent friendly. Pheasant Run off of Dorsett is low priced and backs right up to Creve Coeur lake.

Seriously check out University City. Its centrally located, its not sterile and stuffy like Clayton and Ladue, and it is pretty affordable if you look in the right places. The airport is a nice 15 minute drive to the employee lot. That will come in handy when you are on airport reserve.

If I had to live in STL again.....I think I would jump off the arch to end it

I grew up in STL and love it there. It may not be for everyone. If you want to live cheap near the airport, try Florissant. If you want to have a little more fun, try U-City or Central West End near Forrest Park and Wash-U. There's some cool old neighborhoods near there. If you want something upscale but still affordable, try Soulard. Once you go over the bridge into St. Charles, traffic is an issue, but it's affordable and good neighborhoods.

its been said already but the areas around the airport are not that safe, but you can find neighborhoods within maybe 15 minutes if you have a car. thats what i would recommend if at all possible.

I grew up in north city st louis, so if you have questions feel free to ask

Do you work for TSA?

I call BS on this. I grew up 5 minutes from the airport. Not the nicest area, but you're not going to get mugged on a daily basis. 15 minutes west/southwest gets you to much nicer areas. There are some crashpads right by the airport that are on the iffy side but I wouldn't consider them "dangerous" parts of town. I've been a ramper for 5 years and worked all shifts. I"ve never once had an issue going to any of the restaurants around Flight Safety at 2pm, or for that matter 2am. Just be smart, don't leave expensive things in eyesight in your car, don't carry around a bunch of cash.

Yeah, if you grew up in North St. Louis (city, not county) you probably should wear kevlar. I've told people in my class that it's not a good idea to get off 70 between the airport and downtown.

Ain't that the truth. I also made the mistake of driving Delmar to downtown once. Got a bit rough east of U City.

Now see, I think nothing of that. Just not after 10pm.