Cities in Missouri by civilian labor force

Kansas City, MO had the highest civilian labor force of 27 cities in 2018, at 269,783. Hazelwood, MO had the lowest, at 13,397. The median was 24,634. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest269,783Kansas City, MO
Lowest13,397Hazelwood, MO
Median24,63427 cities

All cities, 2018

Kansas City, MO: 269,783 personsKansas City, MO269,783St. Louis, MO: 165,426 personsSt. Louis, MO165,426Springfield, MO: 83,837 personsSpringfield, MO83,837Columbia, MO: 67,441 personsColumbia, MO67,441Independence, MO: 59,568 personsIndependence, MO59,568Lee's Summit, MO: 52,315 personsLee's Summit, MO52,315O'Fallon, MO: 51,261 personsO'Fallon, MO51,261St. Charles, MO: 38,152 personsSt. Charles, MO38,152St. Joseph, MO: 34,369 personsSt. Joseph, MO34,369St. Peters, MO: 31,257 personsSt. Peters, MO31,257Blue Springs, MO: 29,951 personsBlue Springs, MO29,951Florissant, MO: 28,962 personsFlorissant, MO28,962Chesterfield, MO: 25,200 personsChesterfield, MO25,200Joplin, MO: 24,634 personsJoplin, MO24,634Wentzville, MO: 22,510 personsWentzville, MO22,510Jefferson City, MO: 21,109 personsJefferson City, MO21,109University City, MO: 20,278 personsUniversity City, MO20,278Cape Girardeau, MO: 18,898 personsCape Girardeau, MO18,898Wildwood, MO: 18,443 personsWildwood, MO18,443Ballwin, MO: 16,784 personsBallwin, MO16,784Maryland Heights, MO: 16,592 personsMaryland Heights, MO16,592Raytown, MO: 16,231 personsRaytown, MO16,231Liberty, MO: 14,967 personsLiberty, MO14,967Kirkwood, MO: 14,375 personsKirkwood, MO14,375Gladstone, MO: 13,738 personsGladstone, MO13,738Grandview, MO: 13,597 personsGrandview, MO13,597Hazelwood, MO: 13,397 personsHazelwood, MO13,397Kansas City, MO: 269,783 personsKansas City, MO269,783St. Louis, MO: 165,426 personsSt. Louis, MO165,426Springfield, MO: 83,837 personsSpringfield, MO83,837Columbia, MO: 67,441 personsColumbia, MO67,441Independence, MO: 59,568 personsIndependence, MO59,568Lee's Summit, MO: 52,315 personsLee's Summit, MO52,315O'Fallon, MO: 51,261 personsO'Fallon, MO51,261St. Charles, MO: 38,152 personsSt. Charles, MO38,152St. Joseph, MO: 34,369 personsSt. Joseph, MO34,369St. Peters, MO: 31,257 personsSt. Peters, MO31,257Blue Springs, MO: 29,951 personsBlue Springs, MO29,951Florissant, MO: 28,962 personsFlorissant, MO28,962Chesterfield, MO: 25,200 personsChesterfield, MO25,200Joplin, MO: 24,634 personsJoplin, MO24,634Wentzville, MO: 22,510 personsWentzville, MO22,510Jefferson City, MO: 21,109 personsJefferson City, MO21,109University City, MO: 20,278 personsUniversity City, MO20,278Cape Girardeau, MO: 18,898 personsCape Girardeau, MO18,898Wildwood, MO: 18,443 personsWildwood, MO18,443Ballwin, MO: 16,784 personsBallwin, MO16,784Maryland Heights, MO: 16,592 personsMaryland Heights, MO16,592Raytown, MO: 16,231 personsRaytown, MO16,231Liberty, MO: 14,967 personsLiberty, MO14,967Kirkwood, MO: 14,375 personsKirkwood, MO14,375Gladstone, MO: 13,738 personsGladstone, MO13,738Grandview, MO: 13,597 personsGrandview, MO13,597Hazelwood, MO: 13,397 personsHazelwood, MO13,397
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2018
persons
Change on 2017
1Kansas City, MO269,783-0.2%
2St. Louis, MO165,426-1.7%
3Springfield, MO83,837+0.4%
4Columbia, MO67,441+0.4%
5Independence, MO59,568-1%
6Lee's Summit, MO52,315+0.8%
7O'Fallon, MO51,261+0.9%
8St. Charles, MO38,152+0.4%
9St. Joseph, MO34,369-2.1%
10St. Peters, MO31,257-0.3%
11Blue Springs, MO29,951-0%
12Florissant, MO28,962-0.5%
13Chesterfield, MO25,200+0.1%
14Joplin, MO24,634-0.2%
15Wentzville, MO22,510+4.3%
16Jefferson City, MO21,109-1.3%
17University City, MO20,278-0.4%
18Cape Girardeau, MO18,898+2%
19Wildwood, MO18,443-0.1%
20Ballwin, MO16,784-0.1%
21Maryland Heights, MO16,592+0.2%
22Raytown, MO16,231-1.6%
23Liberty, MO14,967-0.2%
24Kirkwood, MO14,375+0.3%
25Gladstone, MO13,738-0.4%
26Grandview, MO13,597-1.4%
27Hazelwood, MO13,397-0.4%

Other periods

About this ranking

Employed plus unemployed residents, annual average.

More on how it is measured
  • People aged 16 and over by place of residence, from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Active-duty military personnel and people living in institutions are excluded.

United States cities only for now. Counts people where they live, not jobs: for wage and salary jobs by state use oews_employment. BLS estimates cities by splitting county estimates with Census Bureau employment and population data and unemployment insurance claims, so city figures are less precise than state ones. BLS publishes cities of 25,000 or more, and smaller cities in New England.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. 3 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2018 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average (Cities in Missouri by civilian labor force, 2018) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in Missouri by civilian labor force, 2018. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/missouri-cities?period=2018. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Cities in Missouri by civilian labor force, 2018. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/missouri-cities?period=2018.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in Missouri by civilian labor force, 2018 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/missouri-cities?period=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_missouri_by_2018,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in Missouri by civilian labor force, 2018}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/missouri-cities?period=2018. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI  - Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in Missouri by civilian labor force, 2018
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/missouri-cities?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/missouri-cities?period=2018.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  - 
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Questions

Which city has the highest civilian labor force?

Kansas City, MO, with 269,783 in 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Hazelwood, MO, with 13,397 in 2018.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 3 cities have no value for 2018 and are not ranked.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Missouri: more rankings