Data / Rankings / Employed residents / Cities in Missouri

Cities in Missouri by employed residents

Kansas City, MO had the highest employed residents of 27 cities in 2016, at 257,577. Hazelwood, MO had the lowest, at 12,993. The median was 24,043. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest257,577Kansas City, MO
Lowest12,993Hazelwood, MO
Median24,04327 cities

All cities, 2016

Kansas City, MO: 257,577 personsKansas City, MO257,577St. Louis, MO: 163,885 personsSt. Louis, MO163,885Springfield, MO: 81,040 personsSpringfield, MO81,040Columbia, MO: 64,973 personsColumbia, MO64,973Independence, MO: 57,749 personsIndependence, MO57,749Lee's Summit, MO: 50,011 personsLee's Summit, MO50,011O'Fallon, MO: 48,981 personsO'Fallon, MO48,981St. Charles, MO: 36,351 personsSt. Charles, MO36,351St. Joseph, MO: 34,161 personsSt. Joseph, MO34,161St. Peters, MO: 30,439 personsSt. Peters, MO30,439Blue Springs, MO: 28,774 personsBlue Springs, MO28,774Florissant, MO: 28,185 personsFlorissant, MO28,185Chesterfield, MO: 24,579 personsChesterfield, MO24,579Joplin, MO: 24,043 personsJoplin, MO24,043Jefferson City, MO: 20,961 personsJefferson City, MO20,961Wentzville, MO: 20,037 personsWentzville, MO20,037University City, MO: 19,849 personsUniversity City, MO19,849Wildwood, MO: 17,985 personsWildwood, MO17,985Cape Girardeau, MO: 17,967 personsCape Girardeau, MO17,967Ballwin, MO: 16,430 personsBallwin, MO16,430Maryland Heights, MO: 16,191 personsMaryland Heights, MO16,191Raytown, MO: 15,795 personsRaytown, MO15,795Liberty, MO: 14,094 personsLiberty, MO14,094Kirkwood, MO: 13,933 personsKirkwood, MO13,933Grandview, MO: 13,278 personsGrandview, MO13,278Gladstone, MO: 13,265 personsGladstone, MO13,265Hazelwood, MO: 12,993 personsHazelwood, MO12,993Kansas City, MO: 257,577 personsKansas City, MO257,577St. Louis, MO: 163,885 personsSt. Louis, MO163,885Springfield, MO: 81,040 personsSpringfield, MO81,040Columbia, MO: 64,973 personsColumbia, MO64,973Independence, MO: 57,749 personsIndependence, MO57,749Lee's Summit, MO: 50,011 personsLee's Summit, MO50,011O'Fallon, MO: 48,981 personsO'Fallon, MO48,981St. Charles, MO: 36,351 personsSt. Charles, MO36,351St. Joseph, MO: 34,161 personsSt. Joseph, MO34,161St. Peters, MO: 30,439 personsSt. Peters, MO30,439Blue Springs, MO: 28,774 personsBlue Springs, MO28,774Florissant, MO: 28,185 personsFlorissant, MO28,185Chesterfield, MO: 24,579 personsChesterfield, MO24,579Joplin, MO: 24,043 personsJoplin, MO24,043Jefferson City, MO: 20,961 personsJefferson City, MO20,961Wentzville, MO: 20,037 personsWentzville, MO20,037University City, MO: 19,849 personsUniversity City, MO19,849Wildwood, MO: 17,985 personsWildwood, MO17,985Cape Girardeau, MO: 17,967 personsCape Girardeau, MO17,967Ballwin, MO: 16,430 personsBallwin, MO16,430Maryland Heights, MO: 16,191 personsMaryland Heights, MO16,191Raytown, MO: 15,795 personsRaytown, MO15,795Liberty, MO: 14,094 personsLiberty, MO14,094Kirkwood, MO: 13,933 personsKirkwood, MO13,933Grandview, MO: 13,278 personsGrandview, MO13,278Gladstone, MO: 13,265 personsGladstone, MO13,265Hazelwood, MO: 12,993 personsHazelwood, MO12,993
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2016
persons		Change on 2015
1Kansas City, MO257,577+7.7%
2St. Louis, MO163,885+10.2%
3Springfield, MO81,040-1.1%
4Columbia, MO64,973+0.9%
5Independence, MO57,749+5.9%
6Lee's Summit, MO50,011-2.9%
7O'Fallon, MO48,981+7.3%
8St. Charles, MO36,351+0.1%
9St. Joseph, MO34,161-7.7%
10St. Peters, MO30,439-6.1%
11Blue Springs, MO28,774-0.2%
12Florissant, MO28,185+5.1%
13Chesterfield, MO24,579+2.8%
14Joplin, MO24,043-3.1%
15Jefferson City, MO20,961+5%
16Wentzville, MO20,037+9%
17University City, MO19,849+10.6%
18Wildwood, MO17,985-1.8%
19Cape Girardeau, MO17,967-5.6%
20Ballwin, MO16,430+0.4%
21Maryland Heights, MO16,191+4.3%
22Raytown, MO15,795+9.6%
23Liberty, MO14,094-7.4%
24Kirkwood, MO13,933-8.3%
25Grandview, MO13,278+5.8%
26Gladstone, MO13,265-4%
27Hazelwood, MO12,993-1%

Other periods

About this ranking

Residents who did any work for pay or profit in the reference week, or were temporarily absent from a job, 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, whatever the place of work, and someone with two jobs counts once. 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 2016 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: employment (measure 05), 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: employment (measure 05), annual average (Cities in Missouri by employed residents, 2016) [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: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in Missouri by employed residents, 2016. 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/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2016. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Cities in Missouri by employed residents, 2016. 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/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2016.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in Missouri by employed residents, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_missouri_by_2016,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in Missouri by employed residents, 2016}},
  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/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2016. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), 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: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in Missouri by employed residents, 2016
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/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2016.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), 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 employed residents?

Kansas City, MO, with 257,577 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest employed residents?

Hazelwood, MO, with 12,993 in 2016.

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: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 3 cities have no value for 2016 and are not ranked.

Employed residents: other rankings

Cities in Missouri: more rankings