St. Louis’ Wealth Will Continue to Move West
Date Posted: November 30, 2023
Posted In: Discussion, News,
From St. Louis Business Journal: Wealth in St. Louis continues to push farther west in the region, highlighting ZIP codes of “concentrated emerging wealth.”
According to one local sociologist, the trend is likely to continue in years to come.
Of the 25 wealthiest ZIP codes by 2021 household income, based on the latest data available from the U.S. Census, 18 were located in St. Louis County and St. Charles County, with the remaining seven split across Lincoln County in Missouri and the Illinois counties of Monroe, Clinton, Jersey, Madison and St. Clair. None were located in the city of St. Louis.
The data mirrors that of a multi-decade trend of migration from the urban core into the region’s suburbs, in which the wealth followed the population westward. And Ness Sandoval, sociology professor at Saint Louis University, projects that the wealth will continue to be concentrated in St. Louis County and farther west in years to come.
One reason for this, according to Sandoval, is the desire for larger homes.
The more built-out the city center became, the more likely the wealthy were to push westward into less-developed areas where they could acquire larger properties and build bigger homes. As inner-ring suburbs like Frontenac and Ladue built out, the next generations of wealthy continued to push even farther west.
Sandoval also noted that many of these higher-wealth areas have zoning laws that effectively zone out affordable housing, creating an environment where only higher-wealth households can afford to even move in. This increases the concentration of wealthy households in certain neighborhoods or ZIP codes.
ZIP codes in cities like Chesterfield, Lake Saint Louis, Ballwin and St. Charles ranked within the top 25 ZIP codes by household income. Some of these same areas are the only ones in the St. Louis region that experienced population increases in recent years — of the 16 largest cities in the St. Louis region, four St. Charles County communities — Wentzille, O’Fallon, St. Peters and St. Charles — saw population increase from 2020 to 2022.