More Than Municipalities: The Case for a United St. Louis Economy

As someone who has spent time thinking about how cities compete for talent, investment, and opportunity, I see St. Louis and Kansas City as two revealing examples of how regional structure shapes economic momentum. Both are major Missouri metros with proud histories, strong institutions, and real potential, but Kansas City has often projected a more unified regional posture around growth, logistics, downtown investment, and workforce development. St. Louis, by contrast, has extraordinary assets but must navigate a more fragmented landscape of municipalities, political interests, and competing priorities. This is not a criticism of St. Louis or its communities. It is a conversation about what becomes possible when a region begins to view its challenges, talent, and future not as separate local concerns, but as a shared regional responsibility.

Let's unpack this together.

St. Louis should be understood as a region with serious challenges, meaningful momentum, and a large reserve of unrealized potential. The City of St. Louis has experienced population loss, uneven neighborhood investment, and public-safety challenges. At the same time, the larger metro remains a major bi-state labor market, a center of research and health care, an aerospace and advanced-manufacturing hub, and one of Missouri’s most important economic engines.

The most useful question is not whether St. Louis has problems. Every major region does. The question is whether the region can align its institutions, talent, capital, and public systems around a shared growth strategy.

The answer can be yes. St. Louis has the scale, institutional depth, and civic assets required to compete. Its principal obstacle is that its economic life is regional while many of its governing, planning, and funding decisions are local. That disconnect can create duplication, competition for tax revenue, inconsistent public services, and difficulty pursuing inclusive regional goals. Stronger coordination would not require eliminating local identity. It would require better systems for making shared decisions about workforce, economic development, public safety, housing, infrastructure, and opportunity.

St. Louis has the scale, institutional depth, and civic assets required to compete. Its principal obstacle is that its economic life is regional while many of its governing, planning, and funding decisions are local.

The Scale of the Regional Economy

The St. Louis metropolitan area is much larger and more economically significant than the population of the City of St. Louis alone suggests. The St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois metropolitan statistical area had a 2020 population of more than 2.8 million residents, while the City of St. Louis had 301,578 residents in the 2020 Census (U.S. Census Bureau). The difference matters. Public discussions that use city boundaries as a proxy for the entire regional economy can understate St. Louis’s true market size, institutional capacity, and labor-force reach.

Public discussions that use city boundaries as a proxy for the entire regional economy can understate St. Louis’s true market size, institutional capacity, and labor-force reach.

The metro is a large, diversified employment center. In March 2026, the St. Louis metropolitan area had approximately 1.425 million people in the labor force, including about 1.371 million employed residents and about 53,000 unemployed residents, for an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “St. Louis, MO-IL”). These figures reflect a substantial pool of workers and a region whose economic performance affects both Missouri and Illinois.

Employer data reinforce the scale of the market. In the third quarter of 2025, the St. Louis metropolitan area had 98,504 establishments and 1,318,579 covered jobs. Average weekly wages were $1,327, up 4.5 percent from the previous year, while total quarterly wages reached approximately $22.7 billion (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “St. Louis, MO-IL Metropolitan Area Data Tables”). These data do not describe a marginal economy. They describe a major employment and wage base with the ability to generate opportunity if growth is connected to accessible training, transportation, housing, and career pathways.

St. Louis is also central to Missouri’s broader labor market. The Missouri Economic Research and Information Center reports that the St. Louis region accounts for approximately 39 percent of the state’s workforce. The region’s 2024 average annual wage was about $64,000, the highest among Missouri’s regional economies (Missouri Economic Research and Information Center). Major employers include Washington University, Boeing, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, General Motors, Saint Louis University, and a wide range of companies in health care, finance, logistics, manufacturing, food production, and professional services.

This diversity is a major strategic advantage. Regions concentrated in one industry are vulnerable when that industry contracts. St. Louis has multiple growth platforms: health care and research, aerospace and defense, geospatial technology, advanced manufacturing, financial services, logistics, biotechnology, and agricultural technology. The challenge is not identifying assets. It is ensuring that the institutions behind those assets operate as a connected ecosystem rather than as isolated sectors.

History, Population Change, and Capacity

St. Louis has repeatedly adapted to changing economic conditions. Founded in 1764, it developed at a critical river junction that connected eastern markets to the American West. River trade, steamboats, railroads, agriculture, manufacturing, and wholesale commerce made the city a national industrial and commercial center. In the late nineteenth century, the value of manufactured goods in St. Louis increased sharply, reflecting the city’s emergence as one of the country’s principal production centers (City of St. Louis, “Part I: Business, Commerce, Industry”).

The City of St. Louis reached a population peak of approximately 856,800 residents in 1950. It has since experienced a long population decline, reaching 301,578 in 2020 (U.S. Census Bureau). This history is often presented as a story of simple urban decline, but the more accurate account is regional redistribution. Residents, businesses, and economic activity moved outward into St. Louis County, St. Charles County, other Missouri counties, and Metro East communities in Illinois. The city’s population loss created fiscal and infrastructure pressures, but the larger metropolitan economy remained substantial.

The region’s governance structure made adaptation more difficult. In 1876, the City of St. Louis separated from St. Louis County and became an independent city with fixed boundaries. That decision gave the city local autonomy but later limited its ability to incorporate outward growth (City of St. Louis, “Great Divorce”). Colin Gordon argues that St. Louis’s subsequent difficulties must be understood through the combined effects of deindustrialization, suburbanization, racial segregation, and fragmented political authority rather than through a single explanation (Gordon, “St. Louis Blues” 20-27).

The lesson is constructive. St. Louis cannot change its nineteenth-century boundaries, but it can improve its twenty-first-century systems. Better regional coordination can help the city and county share data, align investment, reduce unnecessary competition, and extend the benefits of growth to more residents.

Fragmentation as a Systems Challenge

St. Louis operates as one regional labor and housing market, yet it is governed by many distinct entities. The metropolitan economy crosses two states and 15 counties. St. Louis County alone includes 88 municipalities, each with responsibility for local functions such as planning, zoning, public safety, and service delivery (St. Louis County). The City of St. Louis is separate from the county, and numerous special districts, school systems, courts, public authorities, and nonprofit organizations influence regional outcomes.

This structure has strengths. It provides local representation, preserves municipal identity, and allows communities to tailor services to residents. However, a fragmented structure can create costs when problems are regional. A person may live in one municipality, work in another, receive job training in a third, and rely on transportation systems that cross several jurisdictions. Employers may make investment decisions based on the availability of talent, land, infrastructure, permitting, and housing throughout the metro, not in a single locality.

Academic research demonstrates why this matters. Jennifer Frericks contends that fragmentation in the St. Louis region has reinforced the separation of economic resources and weakened the ability of institutions to address shared metropolitan problems (Frericks 371-87). Gordon similarly finds that fragmentation shaped the distribution of resources, opportunity, and political power in Greater St. Louis, particularly as the industrial economy restructured and population moved outward (Gordon, “Patchwork Metropolis” 118-25).

The economic consequence can be a zero-sum mindset. Municipalities may compete for businesses, retail developments, residents, and taxable commercial property. A company moving from one part of the metro to another can be a victory for a municipality but not a gain for the regional economy. The region should distinguish between activity that simply relocates value and investment that creates net-new jobs, higher wages, new firms, or stronger career pathways.

This does not require the elimination of local governments. It requires a shared framework for issues where competition is counterproductive. Regional partners can cooperate on business recruitment, infrastructure, workforce pipelines, public safety, affordable housing, transit access, and data. E. Terrence Jones argues that the region needs clear strategies across multiple policy arenas, especially economic development, and effective mechanisms to carry them out (Jones 285-88).

Public Safety and Regional Confidence

Crime remains a critical issue because it affects residents directly and influences how employers, investors, visitors, and prospective workers assess the region. Yet the data also show progress. The City of St. Louis reported 150 homicides in 2024, its lowest annual total in 11 years. Overall reported crime declined 15 percent from 2023 to 2024 (City of St. Louis, “Crime Remains on Downward Trend”).

These results should be interpreted with care. One year of improvement does not eliminate the trauma caused by violence or the need for sustained work. But the decline demonstrates that outcomes can change. Effective public safety requires a combination of focused enforcement, gun-violence prevention, trauma-informed services, support for victims, community trust, behavioral-health resources, and clear pathways to education and employment.

Public safety is a regional responsibility. Violence, illegal firearm access, neighborhood disinvestment, housing instability, and economic disconnection do not remain within one municipal boundary. A coordinated regional strategy should include common goals for homicide and shooting reduction, case clearance, emergency response, victim support, and high-risk intervention. It should also involve hospitals, schools, workforce organizations, community leaders, and law-enforcement agencies.

The economic logic is equally clear. Safer neighborhoods support small-business growth, residential stability, talent attraction, property investment, and greater confidence in downtowns and commercial corridors. A regional public-safety partnership should therefore be treated as economic infrastructure, not as an issue separate from economic development.

Workforce, Research, and Innovation

St. Louis has the ingredients for a stronger talent strategy. Its universities, community colleges, unions, employers, hospitals, training organizations, and workforce boards can build career pathways in sectors where the region already has demand. Health care, skilled trades, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, logistics, cybersecurity, geospatial technology, bioscience, and plant science are not abstract opportunities. They are sectors connected to existing employers, research institutions, and infrastructure.

The 2025 State of the St. Louis Workforce report identifies regional economic and workforce trends and includes a focused review of the transportation sector, an important part of the St. Louis economy (St. Louis Community College). A coordinated strategy should use this kind of labor-market information to guide training investments. Employers should identify skill needs, colleges and training partners should align programs to those needs, and residents should receive clear information about the wages, credentials, and advancement opportunities connected to each pathway.

The STL 2030 Jobs Plan offers a useful regional foundation. It identifies a ten-year agenda to increase quality jobs, reduce racial disparities, and improve the conditions for inclusive growth across the metro (Greater St. Louis, Inc.). More than 80 organizations participated across the public, private, nonprofit, and civic sectors, illustrating that St. Louis already has the relationships needed for collective action (Greater St. Louis, Inc., “Metro Partners”).

The next step is execution. The region should establish public benchmarks for job growth, labor-force participation, wage growth, credential completion, business formation, and access to jobs by transit. It should also track whether residents from historically disinvested neighborhoods are participating in the region’s growth sectors. Data should be disaggregated by geography and race where legally and ethically appropriate so leaders can see whether opportunity is expanding or merely shifting.

Politics and State Alignment

The St. Louis region is uniquely positioned across two states with different political alignments, governing cultures, fiscal structures, and policy priorities. Illinois currently has Democratic control of the governorship and both chambers of its legislature, while Missouri has Republican control of the governorship and both legislative chambers (National Conference of State Legislatures). This divide does not make regional collaboration impossible, but it can make it more complex. Policy approaches related to labor, public education, land use, public safety, economic incentives, infrastructure, reproductive health, and social services may be shaped by different statewide priorities on each side of the Mississippi River.

For the Metro East communities in Illinois, alignment with a Democratic-led state government can create different opportunities for state-supported infrastructure, workforce programs, transit, health-care access, labor policy, and community investment. On the Missouri side, regional leaders must operate within a more conservative statewide political environment, even though St. Louis City and much of the inner metro area often have political priorities that differ from statewide leadership. This can produce a persistent gap between what local leaders believe the region needs and what is politically feasible at the state level. The challenge is not simply partisan. It is structural: St. Louis must build a regional agenda that can earn support from two state capitals, multiple congressional delegations, county governments, municipal leaders, business organizations, universities, and community stakeholders.

The positive opportunity is that St. Louis can become a model for practical bi-state collaboration. Regional leaders do not need to agree on every political issue to cooperate on shared economic priorities such as workforce development, infrastructure modernization, advanced manufacturing, geospatial technology, public safety, small-business growth, and talent attraction. The region already has examples of institutions working across public, private, nonprofit, and civic sectors, including more than 80 organizations involved in the STL 2030 regional-growth initiative (Greater St. Louis, Inc., “Metro Partners”). A durable St. Louis strategy should focus on the areas where Missouri and Illinois have the most to gain together: more jobs, stronger wages, safer communities, better talent pipelines, and a more competitive regional economy.

A Practical Regional Agenda

A more coordinated St. Louis does not require waiting for a constitutional overhaul. It can begin with practical agreements. First, the region should establish a Regional Opportunity Compact involving the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, county municipalities, Metro East partners, employers, universities, labor, philanthropy, community organizations, and workforce providers. The compact should set a limited number of shared targets and publish progress annually.

Second, local governments should use common criteria for economic-development incentives. Incentives should be evaluated by their ability to produce net-new regional jobs, improve wages, expand opportunity in distressed communities, and generate a transparent public return. Joe Wilson’s analysis of tax increment financing in the St. Louis region warns that development tools may shift value rather than create it when public accountability is weak (Wilson 303-10). The goal is not to eliminate incentives; it is to use them more strategically.

Third, St. Louis should pursue shared services where collaboration improves outcomes. Joint procurement, interoperable emergency communications, shared technology platforms, coordinated infrastructure planning, and pooled technical expertise can lower costs and improve quality. These are operational reforms that respect local identity while strengthening regional capacity.

Finally, the region should present a confident, evidence-based story about itself. St. Louis has 1.425 million people in its labor force, nearly 100,000 business establishments, more than $22 billion in quarterly wages, major research universities, leading hospitals, global companies, and a growing network of innovation assets (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “St. Louis, MO-IL Metropolitan Area Data Tables”). The region has challenges, but it also has the resources to address them.

St. Louis is not a region in search of a future. It is a region with a strong foundation that needs a more integrated way to pursue its future. By improving coordination, building workforce pathways, strengthening safety, and measuring shared outcomes, St. Louis can convert its institutional depth and economic diversity into broader and more durable prosperity.

Sources

City of St. Louis. “Crime Remains on Downward Trend as St. Louis Sees Fewest Homicides in 11 Years.” City of St. Louis, 14 Jan. 2025, www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/mayor/news/crime-down-15-percent-2024.cfm. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

City of St. Louis. “Great Divorce.” St. Louis Historic Preservation, dynamic.stlouis-mo.gov/history/eventdetail.cfm?Master_ID=2039. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

City of St. Louis. “Part I: Business, Commerce, Industry.” City of St. Louis, 23 Dec. 2010, www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/planning/cultural-resources/preservation-plan/Part-I-Business-Commerce-Industry.cfm. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

Frericks, Jennifer. “A Regional Government for Fragmented St. Louis: Even the ‘Favored Quarter’ Would Benefit.” Washington University Law Review, vol. 83, no. 1, 2005, pp. 361-407. Washington University Open Scholarship, openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1233&context=law_lawreview. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

Gordon, Colin. “Patchwork Metropolis: Fragmented Governance and Urban Decline in Greater St. Louis.” Saint Louis University Public Law Review, vol. 34, no. 1, 2014. Saint Louis University School of Law Scholarship Commons, scholarship.law.slu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1050&context=plr. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

Gordon, Colin. “St. Louis Blues: The Urban Crisis in the Gateway City.” Saint Louis University Public Law Review, vol. 33, no. 1, 2013. Saint Louis University School of Law Scholarship Commons, scholarship.law.slu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1081&context=plr. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

Greater St. Louis, Inc. “Metro Partners.” STL 2030 Progress, 6 Nov. 2024, stl2030progress.com/metro-partners/. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

Greater St. Louis, Inc. “Tracking Initiatives.” STL 2030 Progress, 11 Oct. 2024, stl2030progress.com/tracking-initiatives/. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

Jones, E. Terrence. “Toward Regionalism: The St. Louis Approach.” Saint Louis University Public Law Review, vol. 34, no. 1, 2014. Saint Louis University School of Law Scholarship Commons, scholarship.law.slu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=plr. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. “St. Louis Economic and Workforce Report 2025.” Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, meric.mo.gov/media/pdf/st-louis-economic-and-workforce-report-2025. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

St. Louis Community College. “State of the St. Louis Workforce.” St. Louis Community College, stlcc.edu/employers/st-louis-workforce-report/. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

St. Louis County. “Financial Transparency Report 2022.” St. Louis County Government, stlouiscountymo.gov/st-louis-county-departments/administration/fiscal-transparency/financial-transparency-reports/fiscal-transparency-report-2022/. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “St. Louis, MO-IL.” Mountain-Plains Information Office, www.bls.gov/regions/mountain-plains/mo_stlouis_msa.htm. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “St. Louis, MO-IL, Metropolitan Area Data Tables.” Mountain-Plains Information Office, www.bls.gov/regions/mountain-plains/data/employmentandunemploymentandwages_stlouis_table.htm. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

U.S. Census Bureau. “Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021.” Population Estimates Program, www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2021/counties/totals/co-est2021-alldata.csv. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

Wilson, Joe. “Given a Hammer: Tax Increment Financing Abuse in the St. Louis Region.” Saint Louis University Public Law Review, vol. 34, no. 1, 2014. Saint Louis University School of Law Scholarship Commons, scholarship.law.slu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=plr. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.