Greater St. Louis

Missouri

Illinois

As noted above, the Greater St. Louis area includes two cities named O'Fallon (in St. Charles County, Missouri and St. Clair County, Illinois) and two cities named Troy (in Lincoln County, Missouri, and Madison County, Illinois).

The nearby Hannibal–Quincy micropolitan areas are technically not located within the metropolitan, but are regionally associated due to their proximity and accessibility to Greater St. Louis.

Demographics

According to the 2010 United States Census, in Greater St. Louis there were 2,787,701 people living in 1,143,001 households, of which 748,892 households were families.

Race

In 2010, 98.2 percent of Greater St. Louis was of one race, while 1.8 percent were of two or more races. Of those of one race, 2,214,298 residents or 76.9 percent of the population were white, 519,221 or 18 percent were African American, 60,316 or 2.1 percent were Asian American, and 32,542 residents or 1.1 percent were American Indian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander American, or some other race. 72,797 residents or 2.5 percent were Hispanic or Latino Americans of any race.

Age and gender

As of 2010, the median age for Greater St. Louis is 38.2, and 48.4 percent of the population was male while 52.6 percent of the population was female.

Income and housing statistics

As of 2010, Greater St. Louis included 1,264,680 housing units, and 90.4 percent or 1,143,001 units were occupied. Of those units that were vacant, 3.2 percent or 40,553 units were for rent, 1.6 percent or 19,956 were for sale, 1 percent or 12,575 were unoccupied seasonal homes, and .5 percent or 6,771 were sold or rented but unoccupied. 3.3 percent or 41,884 units were vacant and not for sale or rent. Of the occupied housing units, 70.6 percent or 807,431 were owner-occupied with 2,075,622 occupants. 29.4 percent or 335,570 units were rented with 739,749 occupants.

In 2010, the median income for a household in the St. Louis metro was $50,900.

Transportation

Transportation in Greater St. Louis includes road, rail, and air transportation modes connecting the communities in the area with national and international transportation networks. Parts of Greater St. Louis also support a public transportation network that includes bus and light rail service.

Education

Education in Greater St. Louis is provided by more than two dozen public school districts, independent private schools, parochial schools, and several public library systems. Greater St. Louis also is home to more than thirty colleges and universities.

Parks

Parks in Greater St. Louis are administered by a variety of state, county, and municipal authorities, and the region also includes the state of Missouri's only National Memorial, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, which is the site of the Gateway Arch. Several Missouri state parks in the region and parks owned by St. Louis County are larger than 1,000 acres, while one park in the city of St. Louis, Forest Park, also exceeds 1,000 acres.

Economy

The 2014 Gross Metropolitan Product (GMP) of St. Louis was $145.958 billion. That makes St. Louis the 21st highest GMP in the United States. The three largest categories of employment in Greater St. Louis are trade, transportation, and utilities with 249,000 workers, education and healthcare services with 225,000 workers, and professional and business services with 185,000 workers. Greater St. Louis has more than 1.3 million non-farm workers, representing roughly 15 percent of the non-farm workforce of Missouri and Illinois combined. As of May 2011, 125,000 non-farm workers were unemployed in Greater St. Louis, with an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent. As of the third quarter of 2010, the Greater St. Louis region had more than 73,000 companies or establishments paying wages, while average weekly wages for that period were $833, slightly lower than the U.S. national average of $870.

The largest industry by business conducted was wholesaling with $71 billion, followed by manufacturing with $67 billion, retail trade with $36 billion, and healthcare with $16 billion. The area's largest employer by sector was healthcare with 174,000 workers, followed by retail trade with 152,000 workers and manufacturing with 134,000 workers. Using available data, the combined value of business conducted in the combined statistical area was $213 billion in 2007. With a gross metropolitan product of $112 billion in 2009, St. Louis' economy makes up 40% of the Gross State Product of Missouri.

As of 2011, the St. Louis area is home to nine Fortune 500 companies, including Express Scripts, Emerson Electric, Monsanto, Reinsurance Group of America, Ameren, Charter Communications, Peabody Energy, Graybar Electric, and Centene. Other notable corporations from the area include Edward Jones Investments, Scottrade, Wells Fargo Advisors (formerly A.G. Edwards), Energizer Holdings, Ralcorp, Hardee's, and Enterprise Holdings (parent company of several car rental companies). Significant healthcare and biotechnology institutions with operations in St. Louis include Pfizer, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the Solae Company, Sigma-Aldrich, and Multidata Systems International.

Although it was purchased by Belgium-based InBev, Anheuser-Busch continues its presence in the city, as does Mallinckrodt Incorporated in spite of its purchase by Tyco International. The May Department Stores Company (which owned Famous-Barr and Marshall Field's stores) was purchased by Federated Department Stores, but Federated maintained its regional headquarters in the area. General Motors continues to produce cars in the St. Louis area, although Chrysler closed its production facility in the region, which was located in Fenton, Missouri. Despite its purchase by Nestlé, Ralston Purina remained headquartered in St. Louis as a wholly owned subsidiary. St. Louis is also home to Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell-Douglas). In addition, the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis in downtown is one of two federal reserve banks in Missouri.

St. Louis County in particular is home to several area companies. Monsanto Company, formerly a chemical company and now a leader in genetically modified crops, is headquartered in Creve Coeur. Solutia, the former Monsanto chemical division that was spun off as a separate company, is in Town and Country. Express Scripts, a pharmaceutical benefits management firm, has its corporate headquarters in the suburbs of St. Louis, near the campus of the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Energizer Holdings, the battery company, is headquartered in Town and Country. Enterprise Rent-A-Car's headquarters are located in Clayton. Charter Communications is headquartered in Town and Country. Emerson Electric's headquarters are located in Ferguson. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is headquartered in Berkeley. Trans States Airlines is headquartered in Bridgeton. Edward Jones Investments is headquartered in Des Peres. From 1994 until its acquisition in 2000 by Tyco International, another chemical company, Mallinckrodt, was headquartered in St. Louis County. Many of the former Mallinckrodt facilities are still in operation by Tyco in the St. Louis suburb of Hazelwood, Missouri. Others are SSM Health Care, St. John's Mercy, and the Tenet Healthcare Corporation chain.