Photo: Roastedbeanz1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Lake St. Louis earn more than those in 90% of U.S. towns
22% of workers have no commute at all, next to 13% for Missouri as a whole. 4.3% of residents are in poverty (Missouri 12.6%). For jobs and income Lake St. Louis is better than 86% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Lake St. Louis
Lake St. Louis trades workers with the towns around it
Lake St. Louis has about as many jobs (8,215) as working residents (8,751), but they are mostly different people: 8,325 residents leave for work each day while 7,789 people come in. Only 5% of the jobs in Lake St. Louis are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Lake St. Louis has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Lake St. Louis went from 4,753 in 2014 to 8,215 in 2024, +73%. The jobs ↓
A lot of Lake St. Louis works from home
22% of Lake St. Louis workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Time on the road ↓
Lake St. Louis draws workers from far and wide
The 8,215 jobs in Lake St. Louis are filled from a wide area. Lake St. Louis’ own residents hold 5% and the ten next-biggest home towns 37%; the other 58% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Lake St. Louis’ grade explained
Household income holds Lake St. Louis’ grade up ($125,693, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake St. Louis could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
A workday in Lake St. Louis: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 8,325 residents head out to work, 426 work right here, and 7,789 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.94 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Lake St. Louis
8,215 jobs are based in Lake St. Louis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake St. Louis, 2014 → 2024: 4,753 → 8,215. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake St. Louis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 26 minutes in Lake St. Louis
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake St. Louis workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,303 commuters (the 22% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Where people from Lake St. Louis work
Where Lake St. Louis clocks in
13% of workers
8% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Near or far: the trip to work from Lake St. Louis
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Lake St. Louis, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.2% across Missouri.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 9,353 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.1% of Lake St. Louis households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lake St. Louis’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Lake St. Louis ranks: 506th of 2,023 U.S. towns of 13,000 to 26,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Dardenne Prairie MO | 15,032 | $153K | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 169 | Creve Coeur MO | 18,480 | $127K | 6.1% | 2.6% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 235 | Webster Groves MO | 23,450 | $115K | 4.2% | 3.7% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 504 | Guilford CT | 22,322 | $138K | 2.8% | 4.9% | 15% | A |
| 505 | Cumru Township PA | 15,927 | $91K | 7.0% | 2.3% | 7% | A |
| 506 | Lake St. Louis MO | 19,129 | $126K | 4.3% | 4.7% | 5% | A |
| 507 | Little Falls Township NJ | 15,340 | $123K | 3.0% | 7.2% | 5% | A |
| 508 | Bristol RI | 21,970 | $98K | 6.5% | 2.8% | 21% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,023 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Lake St. Louis, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
21% of Lake St. Louis works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake St. Louis workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake St. Louis | – | A | B− | 26 min | $125,693 |
| Dardenne Prairie | under 3% | A+ | B− | 24 min | $152,500 |
| O'Fallon | 13% | A | B− | 26 min | $110,443 |
| Wentzville | 8% | A | C+ | 28 min | $112,394 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to O'Fallon. Darker towns draw more of Lake St. Louis’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Lake St. Louis: questions
What is the median household income in Lake St. Louis?
$125,693 (±$12,310) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake St. Louis?
4.3%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake St. Louis?
26 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake St. Louis work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are O'Fallon (13%, 3 mi), Wentzville (8%, 5 mi), Chesterfield (7%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lake St. Louis walkable?
Lake St. Louis is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake St. Louis without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake St. Louis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake St. Louis
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.