Housing & affordability
18% of the score · 76/100
B
Median home value$830,000
St. Louis $244,800
Median rent$1,692/mo
St. Louis $1,113/mo
Cost-burdened households32%
St. Louis 26%
Clayton
St. Louis County17,380 residentsClayton
77
B
Suburbgrade score
1st of 60 St. Louis suburbs. Strong on schools and commute & transport, held back by cost of living.
77
St. Louis median 60
0 · F
A+ · 100
Launch-day rule. Residents is not counted for Clayton yet: no poll responses so far. The overall score of 77 is computed on the other six categories, re-normalised to 100%. Answer the poll →
What living here is actually like
Written summary in preparation This page is waiting for its written summary, and for a person to check it. Until then it is excluded from search engines.
What Clayton is like to live in, by category
Bars show Clayton against St. Louis. Weights are published in full.Schools
18% of the score · 99/100
A+
Within-state proficiency99th pct
St. Louis median 68th pct
Student–teacher ratio9.9
St. Louis median 14.5
Graduation rate100%
St. Louis median 94%
Cost of living
14% of the score · 38/100
D−
Housing cost index191
St. Louis 100
Eff. tax rate1.10%
St. Louis 1.16%
Local sales tax8.44%
St. Louis median 8.44%
Commute & transport
14% of the score · 93/100
A+
Mean commute16.6 min
St. Louis 24.9 min
Under 30 minutes86%
St. Louis 65%
Transit stops / sq mi12
St. Louis median 1.4 · within 2 miles
Amenities
12% of the score · 87/100
A−
Restaurants & cafés172
St. Louis median 32 · within 2 miles
Groceries11
St. Louis median 4 · within 2 miles
Parks104
St. Louis median 21 · within 2 miles
Employment & income
12% of the score · 65/100
C+
Median household income$123,000
St. Louis $80,196
Unemployment3.6%
St. Louis 4.2%
Professional occupations77%
St. Louis 45%
Residents
12% of the score · inactive
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No responses yet. Residents is excluded from the score until eight people answer.
Ask the people who live here
Twelve yes/no questions, one tap each. No dataset knows whether the yards are kept or whether anyone talks to their neighbours. Answers feed the Residents grade, which needs eight responses before it counts.
Nobody has answered for Clayton yet. If you live here, you can be the first.
Is it quiet at night?
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Do you feel safe walking after dark?
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Can you walk to a grocery store?
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Is it good for young children?
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Are yards and streets well kept?
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Tap either button to answer — no account neededAll twelve questions →
Better than Clayton on cost of living
Clayton's weakest grade is D−. Six suburbs are within 25 miles and score higher on the same four inputs.
SuburbCost of livingOverall
Lemay8 mi from ClaytonB 60 C Mehlville10 mi from ClaytonB 64 C+ Jennings6 mi from ClaytonB 39 D− Arnold15 mi from ClaytonB 64 C+ St. Louis5 mi from ClaytonB 57 C− Affton7 mi from ClaytonB 62 C Cost-of-living index composed in-house from housing cost, utilities, effective property tax and local sales tax · Median home value: ACS 2020–24 · Effective property tax: ACS 2020–24
Common questions about living in Clayton
Is Clayton, MO a good place to live?
Clayton scores 77 out of 100, 1st of 60 St. Louis suburbs. It is strongest on schools and weakest on cost of living. Every weight behind that score is published on the methodology page.
Is Clayton expensive to live in?
Cost of living grades D−. The median home is $830,000, 239% above the St. Louis median, and the effective property tax rate is 1.10%. $1,692/mo is the median gross rent.
How good are the schools in Clayton?
Schools grade A+. The districts serving Clayton sit at the 99th pct within-state proficiency percentile, with a 100% graduation rate and a 9.9 student–teacher ratio. Clayton is served by Clayton. Proficiency is only ever compared inside the same state.
How long is the commute from Clayton?
The mean commute is 16.6 min, with 86% of workers travelling under 30 minutes and 23% working from home. Transit density is 12 stops per square mile.
Can you walk anywhere in Clayton?
Within two miles there are 11 groceries, 172 restaurants and cafés and 104 parks, which grades A− on amenities.
Are the homes in Clayton old or new?
The median home in Clayton was built in 1954 — older than the St. Louis median of 1973. That is a median, so a town can be half post-war and half new-build and still land there. 35% of homes are houses rather than flats.
Every answer is built from the figures on this page, with their sources and as-of dates on the methodology page.