Missouri
This article is about the State of Missouri.
For the river, see Missouri River.
For other uses, see Missouri (disambiguation).
| Missouri | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Before statehood | Missouri Territory |
| Admitted to the Union | August 11, 1821 (24th) |
| Capital | Jefferson City |
| Largest city | Kansas City |
| Largest metro | Greater St. Louis |
| Government | |
| Governor | Mike Parson (R) |
| Lieutenant Governor | Mike Kehoe (R) |
| Legislature | Missouri General Assembly |
| Upper house | Senate |
| Lower house | House of Representatives |
| Judiciary | Supreme Court of Missouri |
| U.S. senators | Roy Blunt (R)
Josh Hawley (R) |
| U.S. House delegation | 6 Republicans
2 Democrats (list) |
| Area | |
| Total | 69,715 sq mi (180,560 km) |
| Land | 68,886 sq mi (179,015 km) |
| Area rank | 21st |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 300 mi (480 km) |
| Width | 241 mi (390 km) |
| Elevation | 800 ft (244 m) |
| Highest elevation (Taum Sauk Mountain) | 1,773 ft (540 m) |
| Lowest elevation (St. Francis River at Arkansas border) | 230 ft (70 m) |
| Population (2019) | |
| Total | 6,137,428 |
| Rank | 18th |
| Density | 87.1/sq mi (33.7/km) |
| Density rank | 30th |
| Median household income | $53,578 |
| Income rank | 37th |
| Demonym(s) | Missourian |
| Language | |
| Official language | English |
| Spoken language | |
| Time zone | UTC−06:00 (Central) |
| Summer (DST) | UTC−05:00 (CDT) |
| USPS abbreviation | MO |
| ISO 3166 code | US-MO |
| Traditional abbreviation | Mo. |
| Latitude | 36° 0′ N to 40° 37′ N |
| Longitude | 89° 6′ W to 95° 46′ W |
| Website | |
| Missouri state symbols | |
|---|---|
| Living insignia | |
| Amphibian | American bullfrog |
| Bird | Eastern bluebird |
| Fish | Channel catfish |
| Flower | White hawthorn |
| Grass | Big bluestem |
| Horse breed | Missouri Fox Trotter |
| Insect | Western honey bee |
| Mammal | Missouri Mule |
| Tree | Flowering Dogwood |
| Inanimate insignia | |
| Dance | Square dance |
| Dinosaur | Hypsibema missouriensis |
| Food | Dessert: Ice cream |
| Fossil | Crinoid |
| Gemstone | Beryl |
| Instrument | Fiddle |
| Mineral | Galena |
| Rock | Mozarkite |
| Soil | Menfro |
| Song | Missouri Waltz |
| Other | Paw-paw (fruit tree) |
| State route marker | |
| State quarter | |
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern United States.
With more than six million residents, it is the 18th-most populous state of the country.
The largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia; the capital is Jefferson City.
The state is the 21st-most extensive in area.
Missouri is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee (via the Mississippi River) to the east, Arkansas to the south and Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska to the west.
In the south are the Ozarks, a forested highland, providing timber, minerals and recreation.
The Missouri River, after which the state is named, flows through the center of the state into the Mississippi River, which makes up Missouri's eastern border.
Humans have inhabited the land now known as Missouri for at least 12,000 years.
The Mississippian culture built cities and mounds, before declining in the 14th century.
When European explorers arrived in the 17th century, they encountered the Osage and Missouria nations.
The French established Louisiana, a part of New France, founding Ste. Genevieve in 1735 and St. Louis in 1764.
After a brief period of Spanish rule, the United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Americans from the Upland South, including enslaved African Americans, rushed into the new Missouri Territory.
Missouri was admitted as a slave state as part of the Missouri Compromise.
Many from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee settled in the Boonslick area of Mid-Missouri.
Soon after, heavy German immigration formed the Missouri Rhineland.
Missouri played a central role in the westward expansion of the United States, as memorialized by the Gateway Arch.
The Pony Express, Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail and California Trail all began in Missouri.
As a border state, Missouri's role in the American Civil War was complex and there were many conflicts within.
After the war, both Greater St. Louis and the Kansas City metropolitan area became centers of industrialization and business.
Today the state is divided into 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis.
Missouri's culture blends elements from the Midwestern and Southern United States.
The musical styles of ragtime, Kansas City jazz and St. Louis blues developed in Missouri.
The well-known Kansas City-style barbecue and lesser-known St. Louis-style barbecue, can be found across the state and beyond.
Missouri is also a major center of beer brewing; Anheuser-Busch is the largest producer in the world.
Missouri wine is produced in the Missouri Rhineland and Ozarks.
Missouri's alcohol laws are among the most permissive in the United States.
Outside of the state's major cities, popular tourist destinations include the Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake and Branson.
Well-known Missourians include Chuck Berry, Sheryl Crow, Walt Disney, Edwin Hubble, Nelly, Brad Pitt, Harry S. Truman, and Mark Twain.
Some of the largest companies based in the state include Cerner, Express Scripts, Monsanto, Emerson Electric, Edward Jones, H&R Block, Wells Fargo Advisors, Centene Corporation, and O'Reilly Auto Parts.
Well known universities in Missouri include the University of Missouri, St. Louis University, and Washington University in St. Louis.
Missouri has been called the "Mother of the West" and the "Cave State", but its most famous nickname is the "Show Me State".
Etymology and pronunciation
The state is named for the Missouri River, which was named after the indigenous Missouri Indians, a Siouan-language tribe.
It is said they were called the ouemessourita (wimihsoorita), meaning "those who have dugout canoes", by the Miami-Illinois language speakers.
This appears to be folk etymology—the Illinois spoke an Algonquian language and the closest approximation that can be made in that of their close neighbors, the Ojibwe, is "You Ought to Go Downriver & Visit Those People."
This would be an odd occurrence, as the French who first explored and attempted to settle the Mississippi River usually got their translations during that time fairly accurate, often giving things French names that were exact translations of the native tongue(s).
Assuming Missouri were deriving from the Siouan language, it would translate as "It connects to the side of it," in reference to the river itself.
This is not entirely likely either, as this would be coming out as "Maya Sunni" (Mah-yah soo-nee) Most likely, though, the name Missouri comes from Chiwere, a Siouan language spoken by people who resided in the modern day states of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri & Nebraska.
The name "Missouri" has several different pronunciations even among its present-day natives, the two most common being /mɪˈzɜːri/ (listen) miz-UR-ee and /mɪˈzɜːrə/ (listen) miz-UR-ə.
Further pronunciations also exist in Missouri or elsewhere in the United States, involving the realization of the medial consonant as either /z/ or /s/; the vowel in the second syllable as either /ɜːr/ or /ʊər/; and the third syllable as /i/ (phonetically i (listen), ɪ (listen) or ɪ̈ (listen)) or /ə/.
Any combination of these phonetic realizations may be observed coming from speakers of American English.
In British received pronunciation, the preferred variant is /mɪˈzʊəri/ miz-OOR-ee, with /mɪˈsʊəri/ mis-OOR-ee being a possible alternative.
The linguistic history was treated definitively by Donald M. Lance, who acknowledged that the question is sociologically complex, but no pronunciation could be declared "correct", nor could any be clearly defined as native or outsider, rural or urban, southern or northern, educated or otherwise.
Politicians often employ multiple pronunciations, even during a single speech, to appeal to a greater number of listeners.
In informal contexts respellings of the state's name, such as "Missour-ee" or "Missour-uh", are occasionally used to distinguish pronunciations phonetically.
Nicknames
There is no official state nickname.
However, Missouri's unofficial nickname is the "Show Me State", which appears on its license plates.
This phrase has several origins.
One is popularly ascribed to a speech by Congressman Willard Vandiver in 1899, who declared that "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me.
I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me."
This is in keeping with the saying "I'm from Missouri" which means "I'm skeptical of the matter and not easily convinced."
However, according to researchers, the phrase "show me" was already in use before the 1890s.
Another one states that it is a reference to Missouri miners who were taken to Leadville, Colorado to replace striking workers.
Since the new men were unfamiliar with the mining methods, they required frequent instruction.
Other nicknames for Missouri include "The Lead State", "The Bullion State", "The Ozark State", "The Mother of the West", "The Iron Mountain State", and "Pennsylvania of the West".
It is also known as the "Cave State" because there are more than 7,300 recorded caves in the state (second to Tennessee).
Perry County is the county with the largest number of caves and the single longest cave.
The official state motto is Latin: "Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto", which means "Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law."
History
Geography
Main article: Geography of Missouri
Missouri is landlocked and borders eight different states as does its neighbor, Tennessee.
No state in the U.S. touches more than eight.
Missouri is bounded by Iowa on the north; by Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee across the Mississippi River on the east; on the south by Arkansas; and by Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska (the last across the Missouri River) on the west.
Whereas the northern and southern boundaries are straight lines, the Missouri Bootheel extends south between the St. Francis and the Mississippi rivers.
The two largest rivers are the Mississippi (which defines the eastern boundary of the state) and the Missouri River (which flows from west to east through the state) essentially connecting the two largest metros of Kansas City and St. Louis.
Although today it is usually considered part of the Midwest, Missouri was historically seen by many as a border state, chiefly because of the settlement of migrants from the South and its status as a slave state before the Civil War, balanced by the influence of St. Louis.
The counties that made up "Little Dixie" were those along the Missouri River in the center of the state, settled by Southern migrants who held the greatest concentration of slaves.
In 2005, Missouri received 16,695,000 visitors to its national parks and other recreational areas totaling 101,000 acres (410 km), giving it $7.41 million in annual revenues, 26.6% of its operating expenditures.
Topography
North of, and in some cases just south of, the Missouri River lie the Northern Plains that stretch into Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas.
Here, rolling hills remain from the glaciation that once extended from the Canadian Shield to the Missouri River.
Missouri has many large river bluffs along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Meramec Rivers.
Southern Missouri rises to the Ozark Mountains, a dissected plateau surrounding the Precambrian igneous St. Francois Mountains.
This region also hosts karst topography characterized by high limestone content with the formation of sinkholes and caves.
The southeastern part of the state is known as the Missouri Bootheel region, which is part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain or Mississippi embayment.
This region is the lowest, flattest, warmest, and wettest part of the state.
It is also among the poorest, as the economy there is mostly agricultural.
It is also the most fertile, with cotton and rice crops predominant.
The Bootheel was the epicenter of the four New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811 and 1812.
Climate
Main article: Climate of Missouri
Missouri generally has a humid continental climate with cool, and sometimes cold, winters and hot, humid, and wet summers.
In the southern part of the state, particularly in the Bootheel, the climate becomes humid subtropical.
Located in the interior United States, Missouri often experiences extreme temperatures.
Without high mountains or oceans nearby to moderate temperature, its climate is alternately influenced by air from the cold Arctic and the hot and humid Gulf of Mexico.
Missouri's highest recorded temperature is 118 °F (48 °C) at Warsaw and Union on July 14, 1954, while the lowest recorded temperature is −40 °F (−40 °C) also at Warsaw on February 13, 1905.
Located in Tornado Alley, Missouri also receives extreme weather in the form of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.
On May 22, 2011, a massive EF-5 tornado, killed 158 people and destroyed roughly one-third of the city of Joplin.
The tornado caused an estimated $1–3 billion in damages, killed 159 people, and injured more than a thousand.
It was the first EF5 to hit the state since 1957 and the deadliest in the U.S. since 1947, making it the seventh deadliest tornado in American history and 27th deadliest in the world.
St. Louis and its suburbs also have a history of experiencing particularly severe tornadoes, the most recent memorable one being an EF4 that damaged Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on April 22, 2011.
One of the worst tornadoes in American history struck St. Louis on May 27, 1896, killing at least 255 and causing $10 million in damage (equivalent to $3.9 billion in 2009 or $4.65 billion in today's dollars).
| Monthly normal high and low temperatures for various Missouri cities in °F (°C). | |||||||||||||||
| City | Avg. | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia | High | 37
(3) |
44
(7) |
55
(13) |
66
(19) |
75
(24) |
84
(29) |
89
(32) |
87
(31) |
79
(26) |
68
(20) |
53
(12) |
42
(6) |
65.0
(18.3) |
|
| Columbia | Low | 18
(−8) |
23
(−5) |
33
(1) |
43
(6) |
53
(12) |
62
(17) |
66
(19) |
64
(18) |
55
(13) |
44
(7) |
33
(1) |
22
(−6) |
43.0
(6.1) |
|
| Kansas City | High | 36
(2) |
43
(6) |
54
(12) |
65
(18) |
75
(24) |
84
(29) |
89
(32) |
87
(31) |
79
(26) |
68
(20) |
52
(11) |
40
(4) |
64.4
(18.0) |
|
| Kansas City | Low | 18
(−8) |
23
(−5) |
33
(1) |
44
(7) |
54
(12) |
63
(17) |
68
(20) |
66
(19) |
57
(14) |
46
(8) |
33
(1) |
22
(−6) |
44.0
(6.7) |
|
| Springfield | High | 42
(6) |
48
(9) |
58
(14) |
68
(20) |
76
(24) |
85
(29) |
90
(32) |
90
(32) |
81
(27) |
71
(22) |
56
(13) |
46
(8) |
67.6
(19.8) |
|
| Springfield | Low | 22
(−6) |
26
(−3) |
35
(2) |
44
(7) |
53
(12) |
62
(17) |
67
(19) |
66
(19) |
57
(14) |
46
(8) |
35
(2) |
26
(−3) |
45.0
(7.2) |
|
| St. Louis | High | 40
(4) |
45
(7) |
56
(13) |
67
(19) |
76
(24) |
85
(29) |
89
(32) |
88
(31) |
80
(27) |
69
(21) |
56
(13) |
43
(6) |
66.2
(19.0) |
|
| St. Louis | Low | 24
(−4) |
28
(−2) |
37
(3) |
47
(8) |
57
(14) |
67
(19) |
71
(22) |
69
(21) |
61
(16) |
49
(9) |
38
(3) |
27
(−3) |
48.0
(8.9) |
|
| Source: | |||||||||||||||
Wildlife
Main article: Wildlife of Missouri
Missouri is home to diverse flora and fauna, including several endemic species.There is a large amount of fresh water present due to the Mississippi River, Missouri River, Table Rock Lake and Lake of the Ozarks, with numerous smaller tributary rivers, streams, and lakes.
North of the Missouri River, the state is primarily rolling hills of the Great Plains, whereas south of the Missouri River, the state is dominated by the Oak-Hickory Central U.S. hardwood forest.
Forests
Recreational and commercial uses of public forests including grazing, logging and mining increased after World War II.
Fishermen, hikers, campers and others started lobbying to protect areas of the forest that had a "wilderness character".
During the 1930s and 1940s Aldo Leopold, Arthur Carhart and Bob Marshall developed a "wilderness" policy for the Forest Service.
Their efforts bore fruit with The Wilderness Act of 1964 which designated wilderness areas "where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by men, where man himself is a visitor and does not remain".
This included second growth public forests like the Mark Twain National Forest.
Demographics
The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Missouri was 6,137,428 on July 1, 2019, a 2.48% increase since the 2010 United States Census.
Missouri had a population of 5,988,927, according to the 2010 Census; an increase of 137,525 (2.3 percent) since the year 2010.
From 2010 to 2018, this includes a natural increase of 137,564 people since the last census (480,763 births less 343,199 deaths), and an increase of 88,088 people due to net migration into the state.
Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 50,450 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 37,638 people.
More than half of Missourians (3,294,936 people, or 55.0%) live within the state's two largest metropolitan areas—St. Louis and Kansas City.
The state's population density 86.9 in 2009, is also closer to the national average (86.8 in 2009) than any other state.
In 2011, the racial composition of the state was:
- 84.0% White American (81.0% non-Hispanic white, 3.0% White Hispanic)
- 11.7% Black or African American
- 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
- 1.7% Asian American
- 0.1% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander
- 1.9% Multiracial American
- 0.1% Some other race
In 2011, 3.7% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (they may be of any race).
| Racial composition | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 87.7% | 84.9% | 82.8% |
| Black | 10.7% | 11.3% | 11.6% |
| Asian | 0.8% | 1.1% | 1.6% |
| Native | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| Native Hawaiian and | – | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Other race | 0.4% | 0.8% | 1.3% |
| Two or more races | – | 1.5% | 2.1% |
The U.S. Census of 2010 found that the population center of the United States is in Texas County, while the 2000 Census found the mean population center to be in Phelps County.
The center of population of Missouri is in Osage County, in the city of Westphalia.
In 2004, the population included 194,000 foreign-born (3.4 percent of the state population).
The five largest ancestry groups in Missouri are: German (27.4 percent), Irish (14.8 percent), English (10.2 percent), American (8.5 percent) and French (3.7 percent).
German Americans are an ancestry group present throughout Missouri.
African Americans are a substantial part of the population in St. Louis (56.6% of African Americans in the state lived in St. Louis or St. Louis County as of the 2010 census), Kansas City, Boone County and in the southeastern Bootheel and some parts of the Missouri River Valley, where plantation agriculture was once important.
Missouri Creoles of French ancestry are concentrated in the Mississippi River Valley south of St. Louis (see Missouri French).
Kansas City is home to large and growing immigrant communities from Latin America esp.
Mexico and Colombia, Africa (i.e. Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria), and Southeast Asia including China and the Philippines; and Europe like the former Yugoslavia (see Bosnian American).
A notable Cherokee Indian population exists in Missouri.
In 2004, 6.6 percent of the state's population was reported as younger than 5, 25.5 percent younger than 18, and 13.5 percent 65 or older.
Females were approximately 51.4 percent of the population.
81.3 percent of Missouri residents were high school graduates (more than the national average), and 21.6 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher.
3.4 percent of Missourians were foreign-born, and 5.1 percent reported speaking a language other than English at home.
In 2010, there were 2,349,955 households in Missouri, with 2.45 people per household.
The home ownership rate was 70.0 percent, and the median value of an owner-occupied housing unit was $137,700.
The median household income for 2010 was $46,262, or $24,724 per capita.
There were 14.0 percent (1,018,118) of Missourians living below the poverty line in 2010.
The mean commute time to work was 23.8 minutes.
Birth data
In 2011, 28.1% of Missouri's population younger than age 1 were minorities.
Note: Births in table don't add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.
| Race | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White: | 61,097 (81.1%) | 60,968 (80.9%) | 60,913 (81.1%) | ... | ... | ... |
| > Non-Hispanic White | 57,361 (76.2%) | 57,150 (75.8%) | 57,092 (76.1%) | 55,455 (74.2%) | 53,800 (73.7%) | 53,697 (73.3%) |
| Black | 11,722 (15.6%) | 11,783 (15.6%) | 11,660 (15.5%) | 10,445 (14.0%) | 10,495 (14.4%) | 10,589 (14.4%) |
| Asian | 2,075 (2.8%) | 2,186 (2.9%) | 2,129 (2.8%) | 1,852 (2.5%) | 1,773 (2.4%) | 1,698 (2.3%) |
| Pacific Islander | ... | ... | ... | 199 (0.3%) | 183 (0.3%) | 199 (0.3%) |
| American Indian | 402 (0.5%) | 423 (0.6%) | 359 (0.5%) | 156 (0.2%) | 167 (0.2%) | 140 (0.2%) |
| Hispanic (of any race) | 3,931 (5.2%) | 3,959 (5.3%) | 4,042 (5.4%) | 4,136 (5.5%) | 4,156 (5.7%) | 4,409 (6.0%) |
| Total Missouri | 75,296 (100%) | 75,360 (100%) | 75,061 (100%) | 74,705 (100%) | 73,034 (100%) | 73,269 (100%) |
- Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
Language
The vast majority of people in Missouri speak English.
Approximately 5.1% of the population reported speaking a language other than English at home.
The Spanish language is spoken in small Latino communities in the St. Louis and Kansas City Metro areas.
Missouri is home to an endangered dialect of the French language known as Missouri French.
Speakers of the dialect, who call themselves Créoles, are descendants of the French pioneers who settled the area then known as the Illinois Country beginning in the late 17th century.
It developed in isolation from French speakers in Canada and Louisiana, becoming quite distinct from the varieties of Canadian French and Louisiana Creole French.
Once widely spoken throughout the area, Missouri French is now nearly extinct, with only a few elderly speakers able to use it.
Religion
According to a Pew Research study conducted in 2014, 80% of Missourians identify with a religion.
77% affiliate with Christianity and its various denominations, and the other 3% are adherents of non-Christian religions.
The remaining 20% have no religion, with 2% specifically identifying as atheists and 3% identifying as agnostics (the other 15% do not identify as "anything in particular").
The religious demographics of Missouri are as follows:
- Christian 77%
- Protestant 58%
- Evangelical Protestant 36%
- Mainline Protestant 16%
- Historically Black Protestant 6%
- Catholic 16%
- Mormon 1%
- Orthodox Christian <1%
- Jehovah's Witness <1%
- Other Christian <1%
- Non-Christian Religions 3%
- Jewish <1%
- Muslim <1%
- Buddhist 1%
- Hindu <1%
- Other World Religions <1%
- Unaffiliated (No religion) 20%
- Atheist 2%
- Agnostic 3%
- Nothing in particular 15%
- Don't know <1%
The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2010 were the Southern Baptist Convention with 749,685; the Roman Catholic Church with 724,315; and the United Methodist Church with 226,409.
Among the other denominations there are approximately 93,000 Mormons in 253 congregations, 25,000 Jewish adherents in 21 synagogues, 12,000 Muslims in 39 masjids, 7,000 Buddhists in 34 temples, 20,000 Hindus in 17 temples, 2,500 Unitarians in nine congregations, 2,000 of the Baháʼí Faith in 17 temples, five Sikh temples, a Zoroastrian temple, a Jain temple and an uncounted number of neopagans.
Several religious organizations have headquarters in Missouri, including the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, which has its headquarters in Kirkwood, as well as the United Pentecostal Church International in Hazelwood, both outside St. Louis.
Independence, near Kansas City, is the headquarters for the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) and the group Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
This area and other parts of Missouri are also of significant religious and historical importance to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which maintains several sites and visitors centers.
Springfield is the headquarters of the Assemblies of God USA and the Baptist Bible Fellowship International.
The General Association of General Baptists has its headquarters in Poplar Bluff.
The Unity Church is headquartered in Unity Village.
Hindu Temple of St. Louis is the largest Hindu Temple in Missouri, serving more than 14,000 Hindus.
Economy
See also: Missouri locations by per capita income
- Total employment in 2016: 2,494,720
- Total Number of employer establishments in 2016: 160,912
The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated Missouri's 2016 gross state product at $299.1 billion, ranking 22nd among U.S. states.
Per capita personal income in 2006 was $32,705, ranking 26th in the nation.
Major industries include aerospace, transportation equipment, food processing, chemicals, printing/publishing, electrical equipment, light manufacturing, financial services and beer.
The agriculture products of the state are beef, soybeans, pork, dairy products, hay, corn, poultry, sorghum, cotton, rice, and eggs.
Missouri is ranked 6th in the nation for the production of hogs and 7th for cattle.
Missouri is ranked in the top five states in the nation for production of soy beans, and it is ranked fourth in the nation for the production of rice.
In 2001, there were 108,000 farms, the second-largest number in any state after Texas.
Missouri actively promotes its rapidly growing wine industry.
According to the Missouri Partnership, Missouri's agriculture industry contributes $33 billion in GDP to Missouri's economy, and generates $88 billion in sales and more than 378,000 jobs.
Missouri has vast quantities of limestone.
Other resources mined are lead, coal, and crushed stone.
Missouri produces the most lead of all the states.
Most of the lead mines are in the central eastern portion of the state.
Missouri also ranks first or near first in the production of lime, a key ingredient in Portland cement.
Missouri also has a growing science, agricultural technology and biotechnology field.
Monsanto, one of the largest biotech companies in America, is based in St. Louis.
Tourism, services and wholesale/retail trade follow manufacturing in importance.
Tourism benefits from the many rivers, lakes, caves, parks, etc. throughout the state.
In addition to a network of state parks, Missouri is home to the Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis and the Ozark National Scenic Riverways National Park.
A much-visited show cave is Meramec Caverns in Stanton, Missouri.
Missouri is the only state in the Union to have two Federal Reserve Banks: one in Kansas City (serving western Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, northern New Mexico, and Wyoming) and one in St. Louis (serving eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, western Kentucky, western Tennessee, northern Mississippi, and all of Arkansas).
The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April 2017 was 3.9 percent.
In 2017, Missouri became a right-to-work state, but in August 2018, Missouri voters rejected a right-to-work law with 67% to 33%.
Taxation
Personal income is taxed in ten different earning brackets, ranging from 1.5% to 6.0%.
Missouri's sales tax rate for most items is 4.225% with some additional local levies.
More than 2,500 Missouri local governments rely on property taxes levied on real property (real estate) and personal property.
Most personal property is exempt, except for motorized vehicles.
Exempt real estate includes property owned by governments and property used as nonprofit cemeteries, exclusively for religious worship, for schools and colleges and for purely charitable purposes.
There is no inheritance tax and limited Missouri estate tax related to federal estate tax collection.
In 2017, the Tax Foundation rated Missouri as having the 5th-best corporate tax index, and the 15th-best overall tax climate.
Missouri's corporate income tax rate is 6.25%; however, 50% of federal income tax payments may be deducted before computing taxable income, leading to an effective rate of 5.2%.
Energy
In 2012, Missouri had roughly 22,000 MW of installed electricity generation capacity.
In 2011, 82% of Missouri's electricity was generated by coal.
Ten percent was generated from the state's only nuclear power plant, the Callaway Plant in Callaway County, northeast of Jefferson City.
Five percent was generated by natural gas.
One percent was generated by hydroelectric sources, such as the dams for Truman Lake and Lake of the Ozarks.
Missouri has a small but growing amount of wind and solar power—wind capacity increased from 309 MW in 2009 to 459 MW in 2011, while photovoltaics have increased from 0.2 MW to 1.3 MW over the same period.
As of 2016, Missouri's solar installations had reached 141 MW.
Oil wells in Missouri produced 120,000 barrels of crude oil in fiscal 2012.
There are no oil refineries in Missouri.
Transportation
Airports
Missouri has two major airport hubs: St. Louis Lambert International Airport and Kansas City International Airport.
Southern Missouri has the Springfield–Branson National Airport (SGF) with multiple non-stop destinations.
Residents of Mid-Missouri use Columbia Regional Airport (COU) to fly to Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW) or Denver (DEN).
Rail
See also: Missouri rail network
Two of the nation's three busiest rail centers are in Missouri.
Kansas City is a major railroad hub for BNSF Railway, Norfolk Southern Railway, Kansas City Southern Railway, and Union Pacific Railroad, and every class 1 railroad serves Missouri.
Kansas City is the second largest freight rail center in the US (but is first in the amount of tonnage handled).
Like Kansas City, St. Louis is a major destination for train freight.
Springfield remains an operational hub for BNSF Railway.
Amtrak passenger trains serve Kansas City, La Plata, Jefferson City, St. Louis, Lee's Summit, Independence, Warrensburg, Hermann, Washington, Kirkwood, Sedalia, and Poplar Bluff.
A proposed high-speed rail route in Missouri as part of the Chicago Hub Network has received $31 million in funding.
The only urban light rail/subway system operating in Missouri is MetroLink, which connects the city of St. Louis with suburbs in Illinois and St. Louis County.
It is one of the largest systems (by track mileage) in the United States.
The KC Streetcar in downtown Kansas City opened in May 2016.
The Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center in St. Louis is the largest active multi-use transportation center in the state.
It is in downtown St. Louis, next to the historic Union Station complex.
It serves as a hub center/station for MetroLink, the MetroBus regional bus system, Greyhound, Amtrak, and taxi services.
The proposed Missouri Hyperloop would connect St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia, reducing travel times to around a half hour.
Bus
Many cities have regular fixed-route systems, and many rural counties have rural public transit services.
Greyhound and Trailways provide inter-city bus service in Missouri.
Megabus serves St. Louis, but discontinued service to Columbia and Kansas City in 2015.
Rivers
The Mississippi River and Missouri River are commercially navigable over their entire lengths in Missouri.
The Missouri was channelized through dredging and jettys and the Mississippi was given a series of locks and dams to avoid rocks and deepen the river.
St. Louis is a major destination for barge traffic on the Mississippi.
Roads
Main articles: Missouri State Highway System, List of Interstate Highways in Missouri, List of U.S. Routes in Missouri, List of state highways in Missouri, and Missouri supplemental route
Following the passage of Amendment 3 in late 2004, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) began its Smoother, Safer, Sooner road-building program with a goal of bringing 2,200 miles (3,500 km) of highways up to good condition by December 2007.
From 2006 to 2011 traffic deaths have decreased annually from 1,257 in 2005, to 1,096 in 2006, to 992 in 2007, to 960 in 2008, to 878 in 2009, to 821 in 2010, to 786 in 2011.
Law and government
Main articles: Law and government of Missouri and List of Governors of Missouri
The current Constitution of Missouri, the fourth constitution for the state, was adopted in 1945.
It provides for three branches of government: the legislative, judicial, and executive branches.
The legislative branch consists of two bodies: the House of Representatives and the Senate.
These bodies comprise the Missouri General Assembly.
The House of Representatives has 163 members who are apportioned based on the last decennial census.
The Senate consists of 34 members from districts of approximately equal populations.
The judicial department comprises the Supreme Court of Missouri, which has seven judges, the Missouri Court of Appeals (an intermediate appellate court divided into three districts), sitting in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Springfield, and 45 Circuit Courts which function as local trial courts.
The executive branch is headed by the Governor of Missouri and includes five other statewide elected offices.
Following the death of State Auditor Tom Schweich in 2015, only one of Missouri's statewide elected offices is held by a Democrat Nicole Galloway.
Harry S Truman (1884–1972), the 33rd President of the United States (Democrat, 1945–1953), was born in Lamar.
He was a judge in Jackson County and then represented the state in the United States Senate for ten years, before being elected vice-president in 1944.
He lived in Independence after retiring as President in 1953.
Former status as a political bellwether
Main article: Missouri bellwether
Further information: Political party strength in Missouri
Missouri was widely regarded as a bellwether in American politics, often making it a swing state.
The state had a longer stretch of supporting the winning presidential candidate than any other state, having voted with the nation in every election from 1904 to 2004 with a single exception: 1956, when Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson of neighboring Illinois lost the election despite carrying Missouri.
However, in recent years, areas of the state outside Kansas City, St. Louis, and Columbia have shifted heavily to the right, and so the state is no longer considered a bellwether by most analysts.
Missouri twice voted against Democrat Barack Obama, who won in 2008 and 2012.
Missouri voted for Romney by nearly 10% in 2012, and voted for Trump by nearly 18% in 2016.
On October 24, 2012, there were 4,190,936 registered voters.
At the state level, both Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill and Democratic Governor Jay Nixon were re-elected.
On November 8, 2016, there were 4,223,787 registered voters, with 2,811,549 voting (66.6%).
Laissez-faire alcohol and tobacco laws
Main articles: Alcohol laws of Missouri and List of smoking bans in the United States § Missouri
Missouri has been known for its population's generally "stalwart, conservative, noncredulous" attitude toward regulatory regimes, which is one of the origins of the state's unofficial nickname, the "Show-Me State".
As a result, and combined with the fact that Missouri is one of America's leading alcohol states, regulation of alcohol and tobacco in Missouri is among the most laissez-faire in America.
For 2013, the annual "Freedom in the 50 States" study prepared by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranked Missouri as #3 in America for alcohol freedom and #1 for tobacco freedom (#7 for freedom overall).
The study notes that Missouri's "alcohol regime is one of the least restrictive in the United States, with no blue laws and taxes well below average", and that "Missouri ranks best in the nation on tobacco freedom".
Missouri law makes it "an improper employment practice" for an employer to refuse to hire, to fire, or otherwise to disadvantage any person because that person lawfully uses alcohol and/or tobacco products when he or she is not at work.
With a large German immigrant population and the development of a brewing industry, Missouri always has had among the most permissive alcohol laws in the United States.
It never enacted statewide prohibition.
Missouri voters rejected prohibition in three separate referenda in 1910, 1912, and 1918.
Alcohol regulation did not begin in Missouri until 1934.
Today, alcohol laws are controlled by the state government, and local jurisdictions are prohibited from going beyond those state laws.
Missouri has no statewide open container law or prohibition on drinking in public, no alcohol-related blue laws, no local option, no precise locations for selling liquor by the package (allowing even drug stores and gas stations to sell any kind of liquor), and no differentiation of laws based on alcohol percentage.
State law protects persons from arrest or criminal penalty for public intoxication.
Missouri law expressly prohibits any jurisdiction from going dry.
Missouri law also expressly allows parents and guardians to serve alcohol to their children.
The Power & Light District in Kansas City is one of the few places in the United States where a state law explicitly allows persons over 21 to possess and consume open containers of alcohol in the street (as long as the beverage is in a plastic cup).
As for tobacco (as of July 2016), Missouri has the lowest cigarette excise taxes in the United States, at 17 cents per pack, and the state electorate voted in 2002, 2006, 2012, and twice in 2016 to keep it that way.
In 2007, Forbes named Missouri's largest metropolitan area, St. Louis, America's "best city for smokers".
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2008 Missouri had the fourth highest percentage of adult smokers among U.S states, at 24.5%.
Although Missouri's minimum age for purchase and distribution of tobacco products is 18, tobacco products can be distributed to persons under 18 by family members on private property.
No statewide smoking ban ever has been seriously entertained before the Missouri General Assembly, and in October 2008, a statewide survey by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services found that only 27.5% of Missourians support a statewide ban on smoking in all bars and restaurants.
Missouri state law permits restaurants seating less than 50 people, bars, bowling alleys, and billiard parlors to decide their own smoking policies, without limitation.
Missouri Cannabis Laws
See also: Cannabis in Missouri
In 2014, a Republican-lead legislature and Democratic governor Jay Nixon enacted a series of laws to partially decriminalize possession of cannabis by making first time possession of up to 10 grams no longer punishable with jail time and legalizing CBD oil.
In November 2018, 66% of voters approved a constitutional amendment that established a right to medical marijuana and a system for licensing, regulating, and taxing medical marijuana.
Counties
See also: List of counties in Missouri
Missouri has 114 counties and one independent city, St. Louis, which is Missouri's most densely populated—5,140 people per square mile.
The largest counties by population are St. Louis (996,726), Jackson (698,895), and St. Charles (395,504).
Worth County is the smallest (2,057).
The largest counties by size are Texas (1,179 square miles) and Shannon (1,004).
Worth County is the smallest (266).
Cities and towns
See also: List of cities in Missouri and List of towns and villages in Missouri
Jefferson City is the capital city of Missouri, while the state's five largest cities are Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield, Columbia, and Independence.
St. Louis is the principal city of the largest metropolitan area in Missouri, composed of 17 counties and the independent city of St. Louis; eight of its counties are in Illinois.
As of 2019 St. Louis was the 21st-largest metropolitan area in the nation with 2.91 million people.
However, if ranked using Combined Statistical Area, it is 20th-largest with 2.91 million people in 2019.
Some of the major cities making up the St. Louis metro area in Missouri are O'Fallon, St. Charles, St. Peters, Florissant, Chesterfield, Wentzville, Wildwood, University City, and Ballwin.
Kansas City is Missouri's largest city and the principal city of the fourteen-county Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area, including five counties in the state of Kansas.
As of 2019, it was the 31st-largest metropolitan area in the U.S., with 2.16 million people.
In the Combined Statistical Area in 2019, it ranked 27th with 2.51 million.
Some of the other major cities comprising the Kansas City metro area in Missouri include Independence, Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, Liberty, Raytown, Gladstone, and Grandview.
Springfield is Missouri's third-largest city and the principal city of the Springfield-Branson Metropolitan Area, which has a population of 549,423 and includes seven counties in southwestern Missouri.
Branson is a major tourist attraction in the Ozarks of southwestern Missouri.
Some of the other major cities comprising the Springfield-Branson metro area include Nixa, Ozark, and Republic.
Education
Culture
Music
Many well-known musicians were born or have lived in Missouri.
These include guitarist and rock pioneer Chuck Berry, singer and actress Josephine Baker, "Queen of Rock" Tina Turner, pop singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers, and rappers Nelly, Chingy and Akon, all of whom are either current or former residents of St. Louis.
Country singers from Missouri include Perryville native Chris Janson, New Franklin native Sara Evans, Cantwell native Ferlin Husky, West Plains native Porter Wagoner, Tyler Farr of Garden City, and Mora native Leroy Van Dyke, along with bluegrass musician Rhonda Vincent, a native of Greentop.
Rapper Eminem was born in St. Joseph and also lived in Savannah and Kansas City.
Ragtime composer Scott Joplin lived in St. Louis and Sedalia.
Jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker lived in Kansas City.
Rock and Roll singer Steve Walsh of the group Kansas was born in St. Louis and grew up in St. Joseph.
The Kansas City Symphony and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra are the state's major orchestras.
The latter is the nation's second-oldest symphony orchestra and achieved prominence in recent years under conductor Leonard Slatkin.
Branson is well known for its music theaters, most of which bear the name of a star performer or musical group.
Literature
Missouri is the native state of Mark Twain.
His novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are set in his boyhood hometown of Hannibal.
Authors Kate Chopin, T. S. Eliot and Tennessee Williams were from St. Louis.
Kansas City-born writer William Least Heat-Moon resides in Rocheport.
He is best known for Blue Highways, a chronicle of his travels to small towns across America, which was on The New York Times Bestseller list for 42 weeks in 1982–1983.
Novelist Daniel Woodrell, known for depicting life in the Missouri Ozarks, was born in Springfield and lives in West Plains.
Film
Filmmaker, animator, and businessman Walt Disney spent part of his childhood in the Linn County town of Marceline before settling in Kansas City.
Disney began his artistic career in Kansas City, where he founded the Laugh-O-Gram Studio.
Several film versions of Mark Twain's novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have been made.
Meet Me in St. Louis, a musical involving the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, starred Judy Garland.
Part of the 1983 road movie National Lampoon's Vacation was shot on location in Missouri, for the Griswolds' trip from Chicago to Los Angeles.
The Thanksgiving holiday film Planes, Trains, and Automobiles was partially shot at Lambert–St. Louis International Airport.
White Palace was filmed in St. Louis.
The award-winning 2010 film Winter's Bone was shot in the Ozarks of Missouri.
Up in the Air starring George Clooney was filmed in St. Louis.
John Carpenter's Escape from New York was filmed in St. Louis during the early 1980s due to the large number of abandoned buildings in the city.
The 1973 movie Paper Moon, which starred Ryan and Tatum O'Neal, was partly filmed in St. Joseph.
Most of HBO's film Truman (1995) was filmed in Kansas City, Independence, and the surrounding area; Gary Sinise won an Emmy for his portrayal of Harry Truman in the film.
Ride With the Devil (1999), starring Jewel and Tobey Maguire, was filmed in the countryside of Jackson County (where the historic events of the film actually took place).
Gone Girl, a 2014 film starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, and Tyler Perry, was filmed in Cape Girardeau.
Sports
Main article: Sport in Missouri
Missouri hosted the 1904 Summer Olympics at St. Louis, the first time the games were hosted in the United States.
Professional major league teams:
- MLB: St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals
- NFL: Kansas City Chiefs
- NHL: St. Louis Blues
- MLS: St. Louis MLS team (Founded 2019, has not started play yet)
Former professional major league teams:
- National Football League:
- St. Louis Cardinals (moved from Chicago in 1960; moved to Tempe, Arizona, in 1988 and are now the Arizona Cardinals)
- St. Louis All Stars (active in 1923 only)
- Kansas City Blues/Cowboys (active 1924–1926, folded)
- St. Louis Gunners (independent team, joined the NFL for the last three weeks of the 1934 season and folded thereafter)
- St. Louis Rams 1995–2015 moved from Los Angeles and then back to Los Angeles
- Major League Baseball (American League):
- St. Louis Browns (moved from Milwaukee in 1902; moved to Baltimore, Maryland after the 1953 season and are now the Baltimore Orioles)
- Kansas City Athletics (moved from Philadelphia in 1955; moved to Oakland, California after the 1967 season and are now the Oakland Athletics)
- National Basketball Association:
- St. Louis Bombers (charter BAA franchise in 1946, joined the NBA when it formed in 1949; ceased operations in 1950)
- St. Louis Hawks (moved from Milwaukee in 1955; moved to Atlanta in 1968 and are now the Atlanta Hawks)
- Kansas City Kings (moved from Cincinnati in 1972; moved to Sacramento in 1985 and are now the Sacramento Kings; prior to locating in Kansas City, they were known as the Cincinnati Royals)
- National Hockey League:
- Kansas City Scouts (1974 expansion team, moved to Denver, Colorado in 1976 and became the Colorado Rockies, and would move again to Newark, New Jersey; now called the New Jersey Devils)
- St. Louis Eagles (1934 relocation of the original Ottawa Senators, folded after the 1934–35 season)
- Major League Soccer:
- Kansas City Wiz/Kansas City Wizards (founded in 1995, but moved from Kansas City, Missouri, to Kansas City, Kansas, in 2010 and became Sporting Kansas City)
See also
Credits to the contents of this page go to the authors of the corresponding Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri.