I get the sense the city is losing workers, I had an interest in working there once and all I heard from friends were stories of car break-in and general lack of safety.

What motivated you to work there?

After visiting there for a school trip years ago it seemed like a remnant of industrial revolution time. The criminal aspect was doubly disconcerting.

There seem to be a lot of middle-America places that are falling by the wayside because of the functional-person drain. It's not even a brain-drain of white collar people, it's pretty much everyone who wants to live a non-"watch out for your life" lifestyle, which is, everyone?

This has been a St Louis trend for decades. I recall hearing in the mid 2000s how the population was 1/3 that of its its peak in the 1970s.

That said, it is a nice city, and cost of living is (was?) low compared to most other metro centers. I really enjoyed my time in St Louis.