Saint Louis

St. Louis is a high-value, lower-hype software engineering city. The Reddit consensus is not that it is a booming tech hub, but that it can be a very good place to live if you land the right job. The market is anchored by Mastercard, Boeing, defense contractors, federal/geospatial work, Enterprise, Express Scripts, healthcare-adjacent companies, and other large non-tech employers. That means stable jobs and solid compensation relative to costs, but fewer cutting-edge roles, fewer startup options, and less job-switching depth than Chicago, Austin, Seattle, or the Bay Area.

The strongest argument for moving is quality of life per dollar. Residents repeatedly mention affordable housing, easy parking, short drives, good parks, free attractions, strong food and beer scenes, pro sports, arts, music, historic neighborhoods, and a “big city plus small town” feel. The data supports that: St. Louis ranks especially well for purchasing power and housing affordability compared with other tech cities.

The warnings are also consistent. Safety is the biggest objective weak spot, and Redditors mention car break-ins, theft, dangerous pockets near otherwise desirable neighborhoods, bad drivers, uninsured motorists, and poor roads. Many locals argue the crime narrative is exaggerated if you choose your neighborhood carefully and use normal city awareness, but it is not something to ignore. Weather also divides people: some love the four seasons and fall, while others complain about humid summers, cold rain, and Midwest volatility.

Overall, St. Louis is best viewed as a comfortable, affordable, practical SWE base rather than a career-accelerator city. If you are happy with enterprise, aerospace, payments, healthcare, logistics, government, or geospatial work, it can offer an unusually strong lifestyle. If your priority is elite tech density, rapid compensation escalation, or easy international mobility, it will feel limiting.