Rental market St. Charles county

Hi! My husband and I are preparing to find our first REI on hopefully a single family home in St Charles county, Missouri. We have educated ourselves on the process but are trying to feel out the market to see if we want to stay local or invest in another state, or both.Our goal is to stay in good school districts and have a higher value home. Not sure that the 2% or 1% rule would be applicable for the area but we are so new that we're curious to see what others might have found in the market, if it's saturated or what the situation is locally for rental properties. We have found so much value in reading forums through bigger podcasts but have not found anything super current on the market in our area. Excited to meet some of you!