Lake St. Louis is a gorgeous, master-planned community in central St. Charles county. The area was developed as a resort community in the 70’s to offer waterfront living 45 minutes from Downtown St. Louis.

Lake St. Louis is comprised of 2 lakes and their surrounding neighborhoods.

Lake Sainte Louise is the smaller lake, about 85 acres. Then you have Lake St. Louis, the 600-acre big lake. There are fewer restrictions on what kinds of boats and speed limits you are allowed on the lake. Lake Sainte Louise is kind of the quieter lake of the two.

Lake St. Louis is slightly higher in elevation

If you live in Lake St. Louis keep in mind the boundaries of the Community Association (CA for short). The CA is what determines who has “lake rights” in Lake St. Louis.

Lake Rights and Amenities

Lake rights are what grant you access to the amenities of Lake St. Louis. The CA clubhouse is the social center of LSL and it has 3 pools, dining hall, and plenty of space for events, gatherings, and parties members can rent out.

Lake rights give you access to all the fun stuff (mostly social things to do with friends and family) from living in the Lake St. Louis community association. It’s like a really big HOA that has a better version of block parties and a really big central hangout spot (aka the clubhouse)

Living in Lake St. Louis the city does not automatically mean you are in the CA boundaries (and have lake rights).

The CA boundaries are outlined in dark yellow in the map below to show which neighborhoods do and do not have lake rights i.e owning a house in the dark yellow. You can also find the map on the LSLCA website. As you can see, the cutoffs are kind of wonky.

If you live in Lake St. Louis but don’t have lake rights, it’s pretty much the same as living in O’Fallon or Wentzville.

Here’s the thing about looking for houses in the CA– Zillow doesn’t always tell you when a house is in the CA. You’ll want to check if the listing description mentions the CA or lake rights.

Sometimes listings will say “within association” instead of “lake rights”

If the description doesn’t state whether it’s within CA boundaries, you can call the LSLCA office and they will tell you if it has lake rights.

Lake St. Louis neighborhoods

The style of neighborhoods you’ll see is very similar to O’Fallon, Wentzville, St. Peters, and Dardenne Prairie… But Lake St. Louis is known for the amenities and social scene that come from having access to the lakes, or “lake rights.” Homes within the CA sell for a premium compared to similar houses that do not come with lake rights.

Waterfront homes in the Easternshore Estates neighborhood of Lake St. Louis

A waterfront home in Lake St. Louis is especially sought after and can be difficult to find on the open market. The waterfronts in Lake St. Louis were built to appreciate the lake.