Photo: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, NPS from St. Louis, MO, USA · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in St. Louis trail those of 80% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 20.6%, against 12.6% across Missouri. Jobs and income earn St. Louis C+; getting around on foot earns it A+. About two in five work in St. Louis; the top destination outside it is Clayton (4%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
St. Louis at work: what stands out
St. Louis is where the jobs are
St. Louis has 210,992 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Most St. Louis residents work close to home
66% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. Only 6% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
St. Louis draws workers from far and wide
The 210,992 jobs in St. Louis are filled from a wide area. St. Louis’ own residents hold 24% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 63% 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How St. Louis earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, St. Louis is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #123 of 247 in Missouri. Job access by car holds St. Louis’ grade up (ahead of 95% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, St. Louis could be anywhere from C to C+.
St. Louis on a workday afternoon
On a workday 76,306 residents head out to work, 49,715 work right here, and 161,277 people come in from elsewhere.
About 363,000 people are in St. Louis on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Half of St. Louis commutes less than 6 miles
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Who travels to work in St. Louis, and from where
Where St. Louis clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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.
68% of the jobs in St. Louis pay over $3,333 a month
210,992 jobs are based in St. Louis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Louis, 2013 → 2023: 220,260 → 210,992. 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 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs St. Louis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from St. Louis: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Louis workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 123,567 commuters (the 17% 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.
St. Louis is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 148,914 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 66% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 10.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 94% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 18.5% of St. Louis households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 7% of St. Louis’ commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
St. Louis next to U.S. towns of 195,000 to 375,000: 68th of 91 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Oyster Bay NY | 301,115 | $160K | 3.9% | 4.6% | 19% | A |
| 3 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Stockton CA | 324,597 | $80K | 15.5% | 8.6% | 33% | C+ |
| 67 | San Bernardino CA | 222,044 | $67K | 18.6% | 6.1% | 20% | C+ |
| 68 | St. Louis MO | 278,144 | $56K | 20.6% | 5.0% | 39% | C+ |
| 69 | Pittsburgh PA | 307,632 | $66K | 20.1% | 6.1% | 55% | C+ |
| 70 | Knoxville TN | 202,021 | $54K | 20.2% | 4.5% | 52% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Cleveland OH | 363,608 | $41K | 30.6% | 10.8% | 42% | C− |
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 St. Louis, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
St. Louis and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | St. Louis workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis | – | C+ | A+ | 22 min | $56,160 |
| Lemay | under 2% | B | A− | 24 min | $60,399 |
| Glasgow Village | under 2% | C− | A | 23 min | $29,530 |
| Clayton | 4% | A | A+ | 17 min | $123,000 |
| Riverview | under 2% | C | A | 26 min | $48,482 |
| Richmond Heights | under 2% | A | A− | 18 min | $94,460 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Clayton. Darker towns draw more of 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 2023, 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 St. Louis: questions
What is the median household income in St. Louis?
$56,160 (±$1,305) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Louis?
20.6%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Louis?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Louis work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Clayton (4%, 5 mi), Maryland Heights (4%, 14 mi), Creve Coeur (3%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. Louis walkable?
St. Louis is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.2 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Louis without a car?
7% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. 66% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Louis, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Louis
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, 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.