Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Ladue grades A overall, ranked 18th of 247 in Missouri. The median household earns $250K. It is among the healthiest towns in the country on CDC estimates and its schools outperform 97% of the state's. What holds it back is price: the typical home is worth about $1.4 million, 17.3 years of the St. Louis metro’s $80K median household income. 88% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Ladue, above both the Missouri town median (22%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). Of the 226 Missouri towns we compare, none has a higher typical home value than Ladue. Ladue has 6 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Rudolph and Dorothy C. Czufin House and Samuel Plant House.
Where Ladue beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Ladue | MO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 3.9% | 15.8% |
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Reed Elementary | K–4 | 410 |
| Conway Elementary | K–4 | 392 |
| Litzsinger | K–8 | 84 |
Where Ladue’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Ladue is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for jobs and income (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 12%), so the A overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,981 in 1940, 8,989 in 2020. The archive holds 14 old photos and papers going back to 1951 and 6 maps from 1933 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ladue. Close and well known come first.
Big draw17 mi State parkCahokia
Big draw11 mi Stadium & arenaThe Dome at America's Center
10 mi Stadium & arenaBusch Stadium
11 mi National ParkGateway Arch National Park2.2M visitors a year
18 mi Theme parkMid America Adventure
10 mi Stadium & arenaEnterprise CenterCahokia: Thank You (24 Millions ) views, CC BY 2.0 · The Dome at America's Center: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0 · Busch Stadium: Lee Ann Ratledge, CC BY 4.0 · Gateway Arch National Park: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mid America Adventure: Chris Hagerman from New Port Richey, FL, US, CC BY 2.0 · Enterprise Center: Haaron755, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ladue, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Ladue.
Ladue is the healthiest town in Missouri, has schools in the top 5% of Missouri and reports less crime than Clayton or any other graded neighbor.
At 17.3 years of the St. Louis metro’s $80K median household income, the typical home (about $1.38M) costs more against local pay than in any other Missouri town; that ratio is one input to its D for cost of living.
96% of households own their home in Ladue. Typical home values rose 8.8% in the year to September 2026. The typical Ladue home is worth about $1,384,000, up 8.8% in a year, 5 times the Missouri typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its A+ ranks #4 of the 247 Missouri towns we grade for schools. Its A+ for schools comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.38M.
Its public schools are run by the Ladue school district. Three of its 8 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Ladue Horton Watkins High, with 1,395 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ladue MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,053 | A |
| Ladue Horton Watkins HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,395 | A+ |
| Conway ElementaryTop results in townGrades K–4 | Grades K–4 | 392 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
It is the healthiest of the 247 Missouri towns we grade on the CDC estimates behind the Health Grade. Its widest gap with Missouri is tooth loss: 3.9% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 15.8% statewide.
7.1% of Ladue adults smoke cigarettes. Only 1 of the 247 Missouri towns we compare have a lower share of adults who get no exercise outside work than Ladue. 26% of Ladue adults sleep under 7 hours.
| Ladue | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.1% | 17% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 19% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 38% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 38% | 35% |
| What stands out | Ladue | MO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 3.9% | 15.8% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 4% | 13.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11% | 8.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
6,450 jobs are based in Ladue, 1.9 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 14.1 minutes, against 23.5 across Missouri.
Most working residents leave Ladue for work: only 5% work in town. Ladue’s average trip to work is 14 minutes. Jobs based in Ladue grew to 6,450 in 2023, 956 more than in 2013.
| Ladue | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $250,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 14 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 1.1% | 14% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.4% | 13% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
5.7 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Tilles Park, 68 acres with 1.4 miles of trail. The trail density in Ladue is 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Ladue | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.3% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Tilles Park | 1.4 mi | 68 |
| 2. Deer Creek Preserve | — | 17 |
| 3. Rodes Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its B+ tops all 5 graded towns on its borders; Clayton (B+) comes closest. At 10.9 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 91% of Missouri’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
217 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 34 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 71% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 217 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Ladue.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Ladue has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 23° and about 10 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
24 within 15 miles of the center of Ladue
About 2 of every 100 Ladue residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Missouri.
6 places in Ladue on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in Missouri, United States
Ladue ( lah-DOO) is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 8,989. Ladue has the highest median household income of any city in Missouri with a population over 1,000.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Ladue.
| Town | MO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ladue | #18 | A | D | B+ | A+ | A+ |
| University City | #168 | C | C− | C | D | A− |
| Richmond Heights | #96 | B | D | D− | A+ | A+ |
| Rock Hill | #29 | A− | C− | B | A+ | A |
| Huntleigh | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Warson Woods | — | — | C | — | A+ | A+ |
| Clayton | #14 | A | D− | B+ | A+ | A+ |
| Frontenac | #50 | A− | C− | C+ | A+ | A+ |
Warson Woods has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Warson Woods reports no FBI crime data of its own. Huntleigh isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Ladue with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Ladue grades A overall, better than 90% of U.S. towns and #18 of 247 in Missouri. It grades A+ for health, B+ for safety and A+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Louis, MO-IL metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
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