Data / Rankings / Employed residents / Cities in Missouri

Cities in Missouri by employed residents

Kansas City, MO had the highest employed residents of 29 cities in 2021, at 257,032. Nixa, MO had the lowest, at 11,362. The median was 23,010. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest257,032Kansas City, MO
Lowest11,362Nixa, MO
Median23,01029 cities

All cities, 2021

Kansas City, MO: 257,032 personsKansas City, MO257,032St. Louis, MO: 150,458 personsSt. Louis, MO150,458Springfield, MO: 81,260 personsSpringfield, MO81,260Columbia, MO: 65,617 personsColumbia, MO65,617Independence, MO: 55,322 personsIndependence, MO55,322Lee's Summit, MO: 51,758 personsLee's Summit, MO51,758O'Fallon, MO: 51,093 personsO'Fallon, MO51,093St. Charles, MO: 37,139 personsSt. Charles, MO37,139St. Joseph, MO: 31,166 personsSt. Joseph, MO31,166St. Peters, MO: 30,665 personsSt. Peters, MO30,665Blue Springs, MO: 29,248 personsBlue Springs, MO29,248Florissant, MO: 27,174 personsFlorissant, MO27,174Chesterfield, MO: 24,145 personsChesterfield, MO24,145Joplin, MO: 23,741 personsJoplin, MO23,741Wentzville, MO: 23,010 personsWentzville, MO23,010Jefferson City, MO: 20,225 personsJefferson City, MO20,225University City, MO: 19,126 personsUniversity City, MO19,126Cape Girardeau, MO: 19,054 personsCape Girardeau, MO19,054Wildwood, MO: 17,685 personsWildwood, MO17,685Ballwin, MO: 15,997 personsBallwin, MO15,997Maryland Heights, MO: 15,752 personsMaryland Heights, MO15,752Raytown, MO: 14,832 personsRaytown, MO14,832Liberty, MO: 14,423 personsLiberty, MO14,423Kirkwood, MO: 13,831 personsKirkwood, MO13,831Gladstone, MO: 13,054 personsGladstone, MO13,054Grandview, MO: 12,677 personsGrandview, MO12,677Hazelwood, MO: 12,546 personsHazelwood, MO12,546Raymore, MO: 11,887 personsRaymore, MO11,887Nixa, MO: 11,362 personsNixa, MO11,362Kansas City, MO: 257,032 personsKansas City, MO257,032St. Louis, MO: 150,458 personsSt. Louis, MO150,458Springfield, MO: 81,260 personsSpringfield, MO81,260Columbia, MO: 65,617 personsColumbia, MO65,617Independence, MO: 55,322 personsIndependence, MO55,322Lee's Summit, MO: 51,758 personsLee's Summit, MO51,758O'Fallon, MO: 51,093 personsO'Fallon, MO51,093St. Charles, MO: 37,139 personsSt. Charles, MO37,139St. Joseph, MO: 31,166 personsSt. Joseph, MO31,166St. Peters, MO: 30,665 personsSt. Peters, MO30,665Blue Springs, MO: 29,248 personsBlue Springs, MO29,248Florissant, MO: 27,174 personsFlorissant, MO27,174Chesterfield, MO: 24,145 personsChesterfield, MO24,145Joplin, MO: 23,741 personsJoplin, MO23,741Wentzville, MO: 23,010 personsWentzville, MO23,010Jefferson City, MO: 20,225 personsJefferson City, MO20,225University City, MO: 19,126 personsUniversity City, MO19,126Cape Girardeau, MO: 19,054 personsCape Girardeau, MO19,054Wildwood, MO: 17,685 personsWildwood, MO17,685Ballwin, MO: 15,997 personsBallwin, MO15,997Maryland Heights, MO: 15,752 personsMaryland Heights, MO15,752Raytown, MO: 14,832 personsRaytown, MO14,832Liberty, MO: 14,423 personsLiberty, MO14,423Kirkwood, MO: 13,831 personsKirkwood, MO13,831Gladstone, MO: 13,054 personsGladstone, MO13,054Grandview, MO: 12,677 personsGrandview, MO12,677Hazelwood, MO: 12,546 personsHazelwood, MO12,546Raymore, MO: 11,887 personsRaymore, MO11,887Nixa, MO: 11,362 personsNixa, MO11,362
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2021
persons		Change on 2020
1Kansas City, MO257,032+2.4%
2St. Louis, MO150,458+0.6%
3Springfield, MO81,260+2.6%
4Columbia, MO65,617+4.1%
5Independence, MO55,322+1.6%
6Lee's Summit, MO51,758+3.5%
7O'Fallon, MO51,093+5.3%
8St. Charles, MO37,139+3.4%
9St. Joseph, MO31,166-0.8%
10St. Peters, MO30,665+3.8%
11Blue Springs, MO29,248+3.4%
12Florissant, MO27,174+2.2%
13Chesterfield, MO24,145+2.6%
14Joplin, MO23,741+3.3%
15Wentzville, MO23,010+4.3%
16Jefferson City, MO20,225+1.2%
17University City, MO19,126+2.2%
18Cape Girardeau, MO19,054+2.1%
19Wildwood, MO17,685+2.6%
20Ballwin, MO15,997+2.3%
21Maryland Heights, MO15,752+2.3%
22Raytown, MO14,832+1.1%
23Liberty, MO14,423+2.5%
24Kirkwood, MO13,831+2.8%
25Gladstone, MO13,054+2%
26Grandview, MO12,677+1.2%
27Hazelwood, MO12,546+2.2%
28Raymore, MO11,887+7.1%
29Nixa, MO11,362+5.7%

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. 1 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2021 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.CurrentU20-24. 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, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in Missouri by employed residents, 2021. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2021. 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, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2021.

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, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_missouri_by_2021,
  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, 2021}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2021. 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.CurrentU20-24. 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, 2021
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.CurrentU20-24
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/missouri-cities?period=2021.
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.CurrentU20-24. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

Which city has the highest employed residents?

Kansas City, MO, with 257,032 in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest employed residents?

Nixa, MO, with 11,362 in 2021.

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. 1 cities have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.

Employed residents: other rankings

Cities in Missouri: more rankings