Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,824, settled in 1878.
The best of Slater’s subject grades is an A for cost of living; the weakest is a D− for incomes. 34% of residents live below the poverty line in Slater, against 14% in Missouri’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. No town in Missouri scores higher than Slater on hazard risk. Residents are less healthy than 94% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. On civic life, just 32 of Missouri’s 390 towns do worse. Slater has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Slater beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Slater is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 771 in 1880, a peak of 3,797 in 1920, 1,834 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 1901 and 2 maps from 1940 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Slater, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Slater.
38% of Slater adults get no exercise outside work, above both the Missouri town median (30%) and the median of U.S. towns (25%). 18% of Slater adults report frequent physical distress. Slater beats the Missouri average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 15.
| Slater | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 30% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 17% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 12% | 12% |
| What stands out | Slater | MO |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 11.8% | 8% |
| More adults who have had a stroke | 5% | 3.6% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 18.9% | 13.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Slater school district. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Elem.Largest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 226 | C− |
| Slater HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 153 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
Slater’s FEMA risk score is 11 of 100.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Slater home is worth about $148,000, up 3.3% in a year, 44% below the Missouri typical home. 53% of households own their home in Slater.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
About one in 5 of Slater’s working residents works in town. Since 2013, Slater has added 190 jobs, to 488 in 2023. The average trip to work in Slater is 20 minutes.
| Slater | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 21% | 13% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Slater has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 20° and about 8 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Slater Park | 0.2 mi | 7 |
| 2. Pettigrew Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Slater
About 5 of every 100 Slater residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Missouri.
3 notable people were born in Slater.
City in Missouri, United States
Slater is a city in Saline County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,256 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
3 notable people were born here, including Robert Davis Johnson and Gerald C. Thomas.
