Beyond the Wake

PUBLISHED AUGUST 2025

It’s not a city, but more than 92,000 people live there year-round. There are no nationally acclaimed museums, performing-arts centers or professional sports teams. And yet an estimated 2.5 million people from around the world make their way to the Lake of the Ozarks every year to enjoy the best that Missouri’s Playground has to offer.

The sprawling lake runs mainly thro-ugh three counties: Camden, Miller and Morgan. The appeal in this region isn’t high culture, but high-octane fun and serene escapes: boating across vast blue waters, casting lines for trophy bass, hiking wooded trails, biking, golfing or simply soaking up Midwestern sunshine on boat decks or homes overlooking coves that seem to stretch forever.

The Lake of the Ozarks boasts an almost incomprehensible 1,150 miles of serpentine shoreline—longer than the entire 840-mile Pacific coast of California. This aquatic labyrinth forms the bedrock of a regional economy that hums with surprising vigor, fueled by sunseekers, retirees, and an increasing number of entrepreneurs looking beyond the traditional lakeside business model.

The Unshakable Anchor: Tourism & Recreation

Tourism remains the undeniable lifeblood. Picture this on a peak summer weekend: an estimated 100,000 visitors descend upon the lake. They fill roughly 30,000 traditional lodging rooms and vacation rentals, plus an estimated 15,000 more tucked away in friends’ condos or family lake houses. 

Multiply that weekly peak across roughly 20 key vacation weeks stretching from May deep into September, and you hit 2 million summer visitors. Factor in stunning autumn foliage drawing leaf-peepers and dedicated anglers, winter weekends where second-home owners celebrate holidays and winterize properties, and spring-time bass tournaments, and the annual tally reaches that staggering 2.5 million.

This relentless wave of humanity powers a vast ecosystem: marinas buzzing with fuel pumps and repairs, resorts offering lazy rivers and golf courses, bustling waterfront restaurants serving up catfish and cocktails, and souvenir shops lining the highways. Events aren’t just fun; they’re economic engines, from professional offshore boat races roaring across the main channel to amateur fishing derbies filling quiet coves.

Shoreline Gold: The Real Estate Rush

Where there’s water, there’s wealth—especially along the waterfront. The lake possesses a unique geological advantage: stable water levels, fluctuating less than five feet annually, thanks to its hydroelectric origins. Unlike flood-control reservoirs with drastic seasonal swings, this allows development right up to the water’s edge. The result? Premium real-estate prices and a construction boom. Condos, sprawling custom homes, and commercial developments cling to coveted shoreline parcels.

This growth, however, illuminates a challenge mirroring many resort economies: a critical shortage of workforce and attainable housing. Studies commissioned by local development councils highlight the gap between high-end vacation homes and the rentals or modest homes needed for the staff serving the tourism machine and attracting new industries. Addressing this imbalance—through tax incentives, streamlined permitting, and targeted development—is now a regional priority.

Building the Backbone: Infrastructure & Access

Supporting this scale requires robust infrastructure, and significant investments are flowing in. Highways 54, 52, and 5 form vital arteries, connecting the lake efficiently to major metros like St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield—all within a roughly 165-mile radius, pulling visitors from multiple states. Five regional airports, including the Lee C. Fine Memorial Airport, provide crucial links. Modernized bridges, like the replacement of the Hurricane Deck Bridge in 2013, ensure smooth circulation around the complex shoreline.

And then there’s the source itself: Bagnell Dam. Constructed in the 1930s primarily for hydroelectric power (a function it still reliably performs, managed by Ameren Missouri), the dam created the lake. Major upgrades completed in the 2010s ensure its structural integrity and continued role in flood control and power generation—foundational utilities for any further growth.

Charting a New Course: Diversification & Workforce

Recognizing the inherent risks of over-reliance on tourism’s seasonal ebb and flow, regional leaders are actively plotting a more diversified future. Spearheaded by the Lake of the Ozarks Regional Economic Development Council (LOREDC), the 2024-2028 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) outlines a clear path forward.

The focus is multi-pronged: Attracting new industries, workforce development, business attraction, incubation and retention, and regional unity, presenting Camden, Miller, and Morgan counties as a cohesive, business-friendly region under the LOREDC banner.

The numbers tell a compelling story beyond visitor counts. Population growth around the lake is outpacing Missouri’s statewide average. Lake Ozark city saw a 9.51 percent surge since 2020, while the surrounding counties also posted significant gains: Morgan County up 6.6 percent, Miller County 3.8 percent and Camden County 3.3%.

Those figures reflect more than retirees; it’s an expanding residential and consumer base. Reflecting rising property values and economic activity, median household incomes are robust, reaching $105,512 in Lake Ozark. The economic output is surging, led by Morgan County’s remarkable 18.11 percent GDP growth since 2020 ($580 million in 2023)—ranking 11th-highest in Missouri. Camden ($1.73 billion) and Miller ($735.7 million) counties also posted strong double-digit GDP increases.

The Horizon Line

Yes, the Lake of the Ozarks is Missouri’s Playground, but the region is maturing into a multifaceted economy. The synergy of its irreplaceable natural asset—that sprawling, accessible shoreline—strategic infrastructure investment, and proactive, collaborative economic planning is undeniable. Challenges persist, chiefly solving the housing puzzle and ensuring sustainable development protects the very waters that draw everyone here. 

Yet, the trajectory is clear: this vast man-made lake, born of industrial ambition nearly a century ago, has evolved into a dynamic and increasingly diversified economic engine, proving that sometimes, the most powerful growth rises quietly from the water’s edge.

How strong is the tourism draw here? Authority figures say the Lake has somewhere around 15,000 rooms available for rent, including vacation rental homes. Assuming 2 people per room, that would sleep 30,000 people. It’s fair to assume another 15,000 rooms to account for friends and family staying with second home owners on any given weekend.

That means the Lake likely could accommodate 60,000 visitors per night. But most people don’t come to stay at the Lake for a single night: stays are typically built around a weekend—often encompassing the better part of a week on one side of the weekend or the other. So that really means the Lake could accommodate about 60,000 visitors per weekend.

Pad that number by 50 percent to allow for weekday-only visits and other stays that are off the radar of such data, and you’ve got 90,000 visitors per week, at full room capacity. Call it 100,000, just for round numbers.

There are 15 weeks from Memorial Day to Labor Day. But the vacation season has expanded to include most of May (graduation and back-to-school weekends are always a lull, though) and further into the fall. So let’s say there are 20 vacationer weeks, at full room capacity. That works out to 2 million visitors per summer.

Of course there’s much more to the Lake than the summer. The fall foliage can be utterly stunning and make for excellent autumn outings. Note the third week of October is considered the most beautiful foliage of the fall. The winter brings many second-home owners back for holidays on the waterfront, and to spend a weekend winterizing their Lake home. Both fall and spring see a huge influx of anglers and boaters. Still, May through September probably accounts for at least 75 percent of the Lake’s annual visitors. Long story short? Year-round, the Lake probably sees around 2.5 million visitors who support not only lodging, but dining, and retail.

For business diversification, the Lake of the Ozarks Regional Economic Development Council’s 2024-2028 strategy focuses on workforce housing, transportation, and economic diversification beyond tourism. Manufacturing is mentioned as gaining momentum in certain counties.

Workforce development initiatives include apprenticeship programs and the state’s ACT Work Ready Community certification efforts.