Should you find yourself working at home during these pandemic times — and your home happens to be in Collinsville or Maryland Heights — then consider yourself lucky.
21 September 2020
Joshua Fenwick, left, talks to his neighbor Jerry McDonagh as both men socially distance by staying on the porches of their home in the 4000 block of Flora Place in St. Louis on Tuesday, April 7, 2020. Both men are working from home after St. Louis city issued a stay-at-home order on March 23, 2020, to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the region. Fenwick is holding his dog Luna, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispath.com
According to AdvisorSmith, a business insurance site, Collinsville is No. 21 and Maryland Heights is No. 25 when it comes to smaller municipalities in its “Best Cities for Working From Home” study.
In all, AdvisorSmith examined factors for almost 2,500 U.S. cities,, divided into small, medium and large categories.
The five factors used to determine the rankings were availability of high-speed internet, weather conditions, crime rates, housing prices and parkland for nearby outdoor recreation.
The study showed that among small cities — 10,000 to 100,000 residents — about 76% of all Collinsville residents had access to two or more broadband providers offering 100 Mbps internet connections. (The small-city average was 52%.)
Also, the average cost for a three-bedroom in Collinsville was slightly less than $134,000, about 53% lower than the average home price for small cities.
Maryland Heights was ranked slightly lower, even though 98% of its residents had access to high-speed internet, because its crime rate and housing costs were higher than those of Collinsville.
No other STL municipalities made the honor roll of being one of the top 100 cities in either the small-city or medium-city category, and St. Louis city did not qualify as one of the top 50 large cities.

Your weekly capsule of local news, life advice, trivia and humor from Post-Dispatch columnist Joe Holleman.
Source: stltoday.com