Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
St. Charles is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B+ overall, 60th of 247 graded towns in Missouri, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $86K. It also does better than most on health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 72% of the country. Its lowest everyday mark is in cost of living: homes are expensive, about $345K for a typical one and 4.3 times the St. Louis metro’s $80K median household income. Its National Register listings include Lindenwood Hall and First Missouri State Capitol Buildings. 43% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in St. Charles, above both Missouri’s towns (22%) and U.S. towns (29%). St. Charles is home to Lindenwood University.
Where St. Charles beats most towns.
First Missouri State Capitol Buildings| Widest gap | St. Charles | MO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.1% | 15.8% |
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Harvest Ridge Elem. | PK–5 | 572 |
| Harris Elem. | K–4 | 408 |
| Discovery Elementary | K–4 | 394 |
Its founding year, 1765, comes before those of 99% of the Missouri towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 1,498 in 1850, 70,493 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1804 and 5 maps from 1954 on.
18 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far St. Charles is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around St. Charles. Close and well known come first.
Big draw26 mi State parkCahokia
Big draw21 mi Stadium & arenaThe Dome at America's Center
21 mi Stadium & arenaBusch Stadium
21 mi Theme parkMid America Adventure
21 mi National ParkGateway Arch National Park2.2M visitors a year
18 mi Ancient sitePiasaCahokia: 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 · Mid America Adventure: Chris Hagerman from New Port Richey, FL, US, CC BY 2.0 · Gateway Arch National Park: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Piasa: Burfalcy, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in St. Charles, 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 St. Charles.
St. Charles fares better on crime within Missouri than nationally and trades workers with St. Louis and other neighbors, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims.
Across 19 parks and preserves: 11 miles of trail. The biggest place to walk is Bangert Island, 204 acres with 4.6 miles of trail.
| St. Charles | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 4.8% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Bangert Island | 4.6 mi | 204 |
| 2. Frontier Park | 1.2 mi | 45 |
| 3. Eco Park | 1.1 mi | 33 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The public schools here belong to St. Charles R-VI. Of its 22 schools, three are listed below, each with the reason. 6 public schools serve St. Charles, with 2,264 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson Intermediate SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–6 | Grades 5–6 | 706 | B |
| ST. Charles HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 782 | B+ |
| Lincoln Elem.Top results in townGrades K–4 | Grades K–4 | 160 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
The median property tax bill is $3,126, against $1,948 across Missouri, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
On the market in St. Charles: a median 9 days to sell. The typical home value locally is about $345,000, up 2.3% in a year, 30% above the Missouri typical home. For St. Charles, the midpoint rent is $1,251 a month.
| St. Charles | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 39% | 43% | 48% |
| Median rent | $1,251 a month | $970 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 68% | 64% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
In St. Charles, nearly a quarter of adults get no exercise outside work. Among adults locally, 30% feel lonely and 12% report frequent physical distress.
| St. Charles | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 16% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 17% | 14% |
| What stands out | St. Charles | MO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.1% | 15.8% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.8% | 13.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
647 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 63 properties have flooded more than once.
Households in St. Charles have drawn federal disaster aid in 7 declared disasters, most recently in 2022. Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 70% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 647 flood insurance claims have been paid out locally. FEMA puts 49% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 17% to earthquakes.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The range runs from 22° on a January night to 88° on a July afternoon, with about 9 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
St. Charles has about as many jobs (34,913) as working residents, but only 4,680 people both live and work here.
The top destinations are St. Louis (9%), St. Peters (7%) and Maryland Heights (6%). Most people who work leave St. Charles to do it: just 13% work in town. 18% of St. Charles workers do their job from home. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs here rose by 4,614, to 34,913.
| St. Charles | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 18% | 9% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 7.3% | 14% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $86,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 15.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 73% of Missouri’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 836 to 722 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The rate of thefts and burglaries for St. Charles comes to 8.1 per 1,000 residents. St. Charles’ rate of reported violence is 1.8 per 1,000 residents.
| St. Charles | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 8.1 per 1,000 residents | 12.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.8 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
12 within 15 miles of the center of St. Charles
About 9 of every 100 St. Charles residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Missouri.
18 places in St. Charles on the National Register of Historic Places.
27 notable people were born in St. Charles.
City in Missouri, U.S.
Saint Charles (commonly abbreviated St. Charles) is a city in and the county seat of St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 70,493 at the 2020 census, making St. Charles the eighth-most populous city in Missouri. Situated on the Missouri River near its mouth at the Mississippi, St. Charles is approximately 20 miles northwest of St. Louis. The city was founded circa 1769 as Les Petites Côtes, or "The Little Hillsides" in French, by Louis Blanchette, a French-Canadian fur trader. The St. Charles area was settled primarily by French-speaking colonists from Canada in its early days. This former French territory west of the Mississippi River was nominally ruled by Spain …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with St. Charles.
| Town | MO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Charles | #60 | B+ | C+ | B | B+ | B+ |
| St. Peters | #43 | A− | C+ | B− | A | B+ |
| Bridgeton | #211 | D | C+ | D− | C− | B− |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. St. Charles grades B+ overall, better than 74% of U.S. towns and #60 of 247 in Missouri. It grades B+ for health, B for safety and B+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
27 notable people were born here, including Jeanne Shaheen and Brad Davis.
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