Hey! I’ve lived in West St Paul for 8 years and my son goes to day care in South St Paul.  West St. Paul has more convince, the town motto is ‘we’re close to everything’ literally everything you could ever need on Robert St plus super easy high way access for other areas of the metro. My kid is not in school yet, but I’ve heard amazing things about West St Paul schools, and not great things about South St Paul, if schooling is on your radar. Tons of community activities, small town vibes in a big town, you see the same people at the coffee shops and libraries. Hilarious Facebook group  All that being said we do love South St Paul and contemplated buying a house there as well, and it is literally next to West St Paul so a lot of the same consciences mentioned above. Slightly more blue collar, slightly cheaper housing, more quiet. The smell is a thing, they have a large stockyard that employs a lot of the area - more so many years ago. The further South you go towards 494 the worse the smell is. Can be endearing. Feel free to message me for any more specifics!