Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
St. James gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $237K for a typical one, or 4.1 years of the Rolla area’s $58K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 126th among Missouri's 247 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $53K, and 19% of residents live below the poverty line, and its police reported 6 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 76% of U.S. towns. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. St. James’ concentration of trails is 2.2 miles per square mile, against 0.3 in Missouri’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. On the outdoors, just 25 of Missouri’s 419 towns do better. St. James Chapel and Snelson-Brinker House is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where St. James beats most towns.
Where St. James’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far St. James is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 392 in 1880, 3,935 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 2 maps from 1963 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in St. James, 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 St. James.
St. James carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Missouri (mostly inland flooding), draws workers from Rolla and beyond and is healthier than towns with similar incomes.
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The largest public high school is ST. James High, with 509 students. The St. James R-I school district runs its public schools. Of its 3 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucy Wortham James Elem.Largest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 681 | A− |
| ST. James HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 509 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
3,166 jobs are based in St. James, 2 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Employers in St. James added 457 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 3,166. The typical journey to work for St. James comes to 20 minutes, where Missouri’s towns sit at 22 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes. Half of commuters travel less than 12 miles. The top destinations are Rolla (23%), Cuba (4%) and Jefferson City (3%).
| St. James | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 20% | 13% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $53,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 99% of Missouri towns, with expected losses of about $437 per resident a year; that rating is what its A− for hazard risk is built on.
Paid flood insurance claims in St. James since 1997: one. A third of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by heat waves at 20%. Federal disaster aid has reached households in St. James after 7 declared disasters, most recently in 2025.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 32.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 64% of Missouri’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 123 to 85 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
In St. James, the property crime rate is 20.1 per 1,000 residents. The level of violent crime locally is 1.5 per 1,000 residents.
| St. James | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 20.1 per 1,000 residents | 12.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.5 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Against the 6,935 U.S. towns with household incomes like St. James’s, it is healthier than 60%, so its C isn’t only a matter of income. Within Missouri it is healthier than 51% of the 247 graded towns: much of Missouri scores lower on these measures.
The share of adults in St. James who report frequent physical distress: 16%. 31% of St. James adults get no exercise outside work.
| St. James | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 30% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 15% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 37% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 38% | 36% |
| What stands out | St. James | MO |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with heart disease | 8.4% | 6.8% |
| More adults who have had a stroke | 4.2% | 3.6% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10% | 8.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The range runs from 22° on a January night to 88° on a July afternoon, with about 17 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
For St. James, the rent at the middle of the market is $695 a month. Over the 12 months to September 2026, the typical home gained 7.9% in value. 58% of households live in a home they own locally.
| St. James | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $695 a month | $972 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 58% | 64% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of St. James
About 4 of every 100 St. James residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Missouri.
City in Phelps County, Missouri, United States
St. James or Saint James is a city in Phelps County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,920 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.
St. James grades C+ overall, better than 43% of U.S. towns and #126 of 247 in Missouri. It grades C for health, C− for safety and B+ for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D.
St. James reports more crime per resident than 76% of U.S. towns, a C− Safety Grade: 6 violent and 79 property crimes in 2025.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.