Welcome to Missouri

The law of averages breaks down on the west bank of the Mississippi River, where the industrial Midwest transitions into the agricultural Midwest and 69,715 square miles of the thriving state we call Missouri:

• With 6.124 million residents, the Show-Me State has a population density of 87 people per square mile, not far off the national average of 93 per square mile. But in how many of those other states will you find the types of urban amenities—restaurants, theater, the visual arts—that you can easily access here, at comparable levels of excellence?

• The median household income in the United States is slightly more than $67,000, and that’s roughly $10,000 higher than in Missouri. But how many residents in those higher-earning locales enjoy the housing affordability you can find in Missouri, where median homes go for $110,000 less than the national figure of $339,000?

• The average one-way commute time in the United States is 27 inutes, compared to Missouri’s 23 (Annual difference: 17 hours.) No, you can’t recoup that time differential all at once, but really: how many people in urban areas of this country would love to hit the national average, let alone Missouri’s?

Flights to the coast? About three hours from either Kansas City International or Lambert International in St. Louis. Compare that to the all-day slog that is Los Angeles to New York or Miami to Seattle. Shipping and distribution? More than 80 percent of the nation’s population is within a two-day drive from either of those Missouri metro areas; you’re less than 12 hours from a circle whose circumference reaches from Utah to Pittsburgh and central Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Within that space are Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Dallas and Houston, Detroit, and New Orleans.

We could go on, but you get the idea. Missouri is in the middle of it all but by no means middle-tier. Centrality, affordability, an exceptional quality of life, great schools, first-rate health-care facilities, spectacular outdoor settings, and venues all are part of what makes the Show-Me State something to show off. 

All of those assets work to the advantage of businesses operating here because that centrality translates into lower-cost structures. The quality of life and educational possibilities attract and hold employees here, as does the affordability, particularly for those pursuing the American Dream of home ownership. (And with prices and interest rates where they are in mid-2022, that dream is more elusive than ever in many parts of the country.)

Layered over that are world-class performing-arts venues and museums, award-winning restaurants and vibrant entertainment districts, championship-level sports at the professional, major college and small-college levels, and much, much more.

The state that boasts the nation’s No. 1-ranked lake-life asset—the fabulous Lake of the Ozarks—invites you to come on in; the water’s fine. And what’s on dry land isn’t shabby, either.