St. Louis’s neighborhoods conjure up too many stereotypes to count. You’ve got hipster areas, preppy places, neighborhoods where college kids thrive, and of course, ghettos.
It seems as if there’s a neighborhood for everyone in St. Louis.
And while the city consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in Missouri thanks in part to tons of entertainment and jobs, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine in St. Louis. Some neighborhoods aren’t as safe as others.
So the question arises, which St. Louis neighborhoods are the most dangerous and which are the safest?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which St. Louis hoods need a little tender loving care. We examined 77 of St. Louis’s neighborhoods to find out the most dangerous places to live.
$24,768 median income
$21,848 median income
$30,928 median income
$28,916 median income
$23,160 median income
$29,056 median income
$33,430 median income
$20,313 median income
$26,993 median income
$20,792 median income
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Missouri’s statewide median.
Missouri statewide median: $263,040
Missouri statewide median: $70,702
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most dangerous St. Louis neighborhoods in 2026
To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what places have the least amount of those things. We plugged the following criteria into Saturday Night Science to get the worst neighborhoods in St. Louis:
- High crime (Estimated)
- High unemployment (Less jobs)
- Low median income (Less pay)
- Low population density (No things to do)
- Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)
Then, we ranked each neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri for each of these criteria from worst to best.
Next, we averaged the individual rankings for each criterion into a “Worst Score.”
The neighborhood with the lowest “Worst Score” ranks as the most dangerous neighborhood of St. Louis.
The article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2026. Skip to the end to see the list of all 77 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.
The full plate
Most dangerous neighborhoods to live in St. Louis for 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by neighborhood name.
| Rank | Neighborhood | Population | Home Value | Median Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fairground Neighborhood | 690 | $42,400 | $24,768 |
| 2 | North Riverfront | 992 | $66,900 | $21,848 |
| 3 | Hyde Park | 1,394 | $35,700 | $30,928 |
| 4 | Baden | 4,300 | $66,486 | $28,916 |
| 5 | Old North Saint Louis | 1,438 | $119,133 | $23,160 |
| 6 | College Hill | 1,026 | $44,650 | $29,056 |
| 7 | Near North Riverfront | 1,924 | $80,067 | $33,430 |
| 8 | Fountain Park | 1,036 | $94,150 | $20,313 |
| 9 | Academy | 2,052 | $75,750 | $26,993 |
| 10 | Saint Louis Place | 2,720 | $87,283 | $20,792 |
| 11 | Visitation Park | 794 | $141,550 | $26,993 |
| 12 | Walnut Park East | 2,944 | $36,700 | $28,359 |
| 13 | The Ville | 1,715 | $36,650 | $24,790 |
| 14 | Fairground Park | 406 | $47,300 | $26,042 |
| 15 | Jeffvanderlou | 5,145 | $86,600 | $28,202 |
| 16 | Wells-Goodfellow | 5,099 | $50,925 | $31,929 |
| 17 | The Greater Ville | 4,746 | $48,514 | $27,034 |
| 18 | Hamilton Heights | 2,214 | $45,400 | $17,706 |
| 19 | Covenant Blu-Grand Center | 3,005 | $85,250 | $34,628 |
| 20 | Peabody-Darst-Webbe | 1,652 | $177,725 | $48,840 |
| 21 | Marine Villa | 2,506 | $89,300 | $42,765 |
| 22 | Patch | 2,664 | $88,833 | $31,735 |
| 23 | Kingsway West | 2,327 | $42,333 | $41,442 |
| 24 | Mark Twain | 2,630 | $53,333 | $33,367 |
| 25 | Penrose | 4,852 | $57,612 | $34,968 |
| 26 | West End | 5,834 | $152,757 | $38,437 |
| 27 | Walnut Park West | 3,207 | $51,925 | $39,976 |
| 28 | Lewis Place | 1,314 | $136,533 | $39,432 |
| 29 | Calvary-Bellefontaine Cemetery | 1,478 | $56,300 | $25,286 |
| 30 | Mount Pleasant | 3,828 | $68,433 | $25,864 |
| 31 | Vandeventer | 2,011 | $143,550 | $43,602 |
| 32 | Gravois Park | 5,442 | $80,150 | $39,860 |
| 33 | La Salle | 219 | $183,750 | $46,194 |
| 34 | Kingsway East | 3,215 | $45,033 | $50,854 |
| 35 | Soulard | 2,532 | $202,367 | $62,454 |
| 36 | Kosciusko | 872 | $203,533 | $50,127 |
| 37 | Carondelet | 7,807 | $101,000 | $45,028 |
| 38 | North Point | 2,784 | $59,575 | $49,364 |
| 39 | Dutchtown | 15,510 | $88,917 | $36,261 |
| 40 | Botanical Heights | 1,058 | $180,275 | $44,517 |
| 41 | Holly Hills | 2,263 | $138,800 | $62,928 |
| 42 | Cheltenham | 863 | $153,800 | $47,300 |
| 43 | Benton Park West | 4,967 | $163,600 | $41,418 |
| 44 | Forest Park Southeast | 2,693 | $224,933 | $54,949 |
| 45 | Midtown | 5,335 | $219,000 | $34,520 |
| 46 | Kings Oak | 453 | $153,800 | $47,300 |
| 47 | Bevo Mill | 12,266 | $104,889 | $45,637 |
| 48 | The Hill | 2,953 | $167,275 | $49,191 |
| 49 | McKinley Heights | 1,297 | $215,000 | $60,558 |
| 50 | Lafayette Square | 3,031 | $228,500 | $60,980 |
| 51 | Ellendale | 1,612 | $142,050 | $59,254 |
| 52 | Central West End | 14,347 | $374,067 | $52,315 |
| 53 | Downtown West | 6,511 | $224,667 | $54,611 |
| 54 | Franz Park | 1,879 | $134,933 | $64,172 |
| 55 | Southwest Garden | 4,209 | $185,560 | $52,906 |
| 56 | Tower Grove East | 6,551 | $203,800 | $57,203 |
| 57 | Boulevard Heights | 10,275 | $134,244 | $55,402 |
| 58 | North Hampton | 7,117 | $165,910 | $57,118 |
| 59 | Clayton-Tamm | 1,912 | $152,800 | $59,750 |
| 60 | Benton Park | 3,957 | $215,825 | $65,561 |
| 61 | Tower Grove South | 12,364 | $157,429 | $61,906 |
| 62 | Clifton Heights | 2,722 | $167,300 | $61,217 |
| 63 | Oarondelet Park | 1,028 | $195,400 | $112,500 |
| 64 | Fox Park | 2,809 | $181,275 | $64,681 |
| 65 | Missouri Botanical Garden | 1,296 | $293,350 | $89,436 |
| 66 | Debaliviere Place | 2,848 | $202,733 | $62,791 |
| 67 | Princeton Heights | 6,897 | $145,062 | $61,387 |
| 68 | The Gate District | 3,405 | $233,000 | $81,916 |
| 69 | Downtown | 5,505 | $208,067 | $66,526 |
| 70 | Compton Heights | 1,531 | $318,800 | $68,781 |
| 71 | Saint Louis Hills | 8,066 | $238,900 | $63,348 |
| 72 | Lindenwood Park | 8,607 | $166,750 | $66,158 |
| 73 | Skinker-Debaliviere | 4,531 | $306,967 | $67,465 |
| 74 | South Hampton | 7,622 | $201,657 | $62,089 |
| 75 | Shaw | 6,108 | $281,900 | $75,439 |
| 76 | Hi-Pointe | 2,516 | $173,267 | $66,613 |
| 77 | Wydown-Skinker | 762 | $392,100 | $110,357 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. All 77 St. Louis neighborhoods.
Summary
Summary: The worst neighborhoods around St. Louis
Well, there you have it — the worst of the neighborhoods in St. Louis with Fairground Neighborhood landing at the bottom of the pack.
The worst neighborhoods in St. Louis are Fairground Neighborhood, North Riverfront, Hyde Park, Baden, Old North Saint Louis, College Hill, Near North Riverfront, Fountain Park, Academy, and Saint Louis Place.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in St. Louis aren’t all bad. Wydown-Skinker takes the cake as the best place to live in St. Louis.
We ranked the neighborhoods from worst to best in the chart below. Not sold on Missouri? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Worst Neighborhoods In St. Louis FAQs
What is the most dangerous neighborhood in St. Louis?
Fairground Neighborhood ranks as the worst neighborhood in St. Louis for 2026, according to Saturday Night Science. North Riverfront and Hyde Park are next on the list.
What are the worst neighborhoods in St. Louis?
The worst-ranked neighborhoods in St. Louis are Fairground Neighborhood, North Riverfront, Hyde Park, Baden, Old North Saint Louis, College Hill, Near North Riverfront, Fountain Park, Academy, and Saint Louis Place. We scored all 77 neighborhoods in the city.
Why does Fairground Neighborhood rank as the worst?
Fairground Neighborhood posts the roughest combined numbers in St. Louis: a median household income of $24,768 and a median home value of $42,400, with crime, unemployment, and density folded into the score.
Are these neighborhoods dangerous everywhere?
No. The scores are neighborhood-wide averages, and conditions change block by block and hour by hour. Plenty of people live in these neighborhoods without incident; the numbers just say the odds run tougher.
How do you rank the worst neighborhoods?
Each neighborhood is scored on crime, unemployment, income, density, and home values, using Census tract and FBI data. The worst combined score tops the list.
