Metro-east city and St. Louis suburb named among best places to live on $100K salary
A recent report from finance website GOBankingRates named a metro-east city the best place to live on a $100,000 salary in Illinois due to the relatively affordable cost of living.
Edwardsville took the top spot in GOBankingRates’ “The Best Place To Live on a $100K Salary in Every State,” while St. Louis suburb Ballwin, Mo., came out on top in the Show Me state.
The ranking, published Oct. 31, was based on the total cost of annual necessities, median income and a “livability score,” according to the methodology. Here’s how Edwardsville and Ballwin stacked up.
Edwardsville, Illinois
GOBankingRates gave Edwardsville a “livability score” of 90 out of 100. The livability score, which is developed by data and real estate company Area Vibes, considers factors such as crime rates, school quality, employment, amenities and more.
The metro-east city has a median household income of $87,094, with a total annual necessities cost of $41,312, according to GOBankingRates.
Edwardsville was also named among the “cheapest, safest” places to live in the U.S. by GOBankingRates earlier this year.
Although the city made GOBankingRates’ list for being affordable for households making $100,000 per year, which is above the median income, the city is not affordable for people working for the state’s minimum wage.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator does not have a number specific to Edwardsville, but reports Madison County has a living wage of $20.58 for one adult without children. Minimum wage is $14 per hour for nontipped workers in Illinois and will increase to $15 Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025.
Edwardsville has an estimated population of 26,698 as of 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and about 14.5% of the city’s residents live in poverty. The median per capita income is $44,305.
Home values in Edwardsville are up 3.9% from last year, popular housing site Zillow reports, and most homes in the city go pending after about 15 days on the market. Almost 66% of Edwardsville housing is owner-occupied, according to the Census Bureau.
City officials with Edwardsville were not immediately available for comment about the ranking.
Ballwin, Missouri
Ballwin has a “livability score” of 86 out of 100, GOBankingRates reports, with a median household income of $118,647 and a total annual necessities cost of $47,705.
St. Louis County’s living wage is $21.48 per hour for an adult with no children, MIT reports. Missouri’s minimum wage is $12.30 per hour for nontipped employees.
Ballwin has an estimated population of 30,410 as of 2023, according to the Census Bureau. The city’s poverty rate is 5.3%, and the median per capita income is $55,277.
Home values in Ballwin are up 3.1% from last year, Zillow reports, and most homes in the city go pending after about five days on the market. Almost 84% of Ballwin housing is owner-occupied, according to the Census Bureau.
“The City of Ballwin is one of the best values in Missouri,” city spokesperson Megan Freeman wrote in an emailed statement to the News-Democrat. “Our affordable housing prices are only made more affordable by the fact the City does not charge property taxes to residents. Ballwin is proud of our wonderful parks, safe streets, nationally accredited police force, family-friendly programming, fantastic 9-hole public golf course, state of the art community center and outdoor water park, and cost-effective top-quality services. We’re just minutes from downtown St. Louis and St. Charles, but we still have a small town feel. Come see for yourself why so many people are proud to call Ballwin home!”
Although the city of Ballwin doesn’t have municipal property taxes, it has higher sales and utility taxes than some surrounding areas to make up the difference, according to a September Yahoo Finance article.
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