Missouri

How Missouri ranks among the states

Missouri lands in the less distressed half of the country even though more of its residents have unpaid debts with collectors than in most states. In early 2025, 15.6% of Missourians with a credit record had a debt in collections, the 14th highest share among the 50 states and D.C. (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia). Rent pulls the score back down. Missouri renters were less likely than renters in most states to spend half their income on housing (see the cost of living).

In no quarter from mid-2006 to early 2025 was Missouri among the 15 most distressed states

Missouri’s most distressed counties are in the Bootheel and the southeastern Ozarks

Pemiscot County, in the Bootheel at Missouri’s southeastern tip, is the state’s most distressed county on our County Distress Index. The index scores the strain on household budgets in every U.S. county. At 99, Pemiscot is the 5th most distressed of all 3,144 U.S. counties. Its neighbor Dunklin County, around Kennett, has the highest poverty rate in Missouri: 25.4% in 2024, by the Census Bureau’s estimate. Osage County, east of Jefferson City, is Missouri’s least distressed, at 3, and among the 100 least distressed in the country. For a state near the middle of our state ranking, Missouri reaches deep into the national list: Pemiscot, Mississippi, Wayne and Dunklin, all in the southeast, make the 100 most distressed counties. Missouri has 114 counties plus the city of St. Louis, which belongs to no county and is counted as a county of its own, so this page ranks 115 places.

Every county, by score

Of Missouri’s 115 places, 15 score 80 or more, and together they are home to just 8.3% of Missourians. The 27 places under 30 and the 31 between 30 and 49 hold 60.6%, more than half the state, since the big suburban counties around St. Louis and Kansas City fall in those two groups.

All Missouri counties and St. Louis city, ranked →

Is southeast Missouri worse off than St. Louis and Kansas City? By a wide margin

Yes. We sorted Missouri’s 115 places into six groups of our own and averaged their County Distress Index scores, giving each place weight by its population. The six Bootheel counties average 82 and the 17 counties of the southern Ozarks average 78. Together those two groups hold 6.5% of Missourians but 11 of the 15 places that score 80 or more. The St. Louis area averages 38, the lowest of the six groups and so the least distressed, and the Kansas City area 53.

A group’s average hides the spread inside it. In the St. Louis area, the city scores 93 while St. Charles County scores 7, the 2nd lowest in Missouri. Jackson County, which takes in much of Kansas City, scores 72 and lifts its group’s average; no other county in the Kansas City group scores 60 or more. The averages show where the strain sits, not why it’s there. Every county’s page, ranked →

What changed in Missouri in the past year

1. July 7, 2026

   Layoff notices in Hazelwood, Kansas City, Springfield and Poplar Bluff

   Nature’s Bakery told the state on July 7 that it would cut 345 jobs in Hazelwood, in St. Louis County, the newest of the large notices on Missouri’s WARN list, which employers file ahead of big layoffs and closings. Earlier in 2026, Oracle filed for 539 workers in Kansas City (March 31) and Timken Belts for 283 in Springfield (May 2). In December 2025, Saint Francis Healthcare filed for 213 workers in Poplar Bluff, the seat of Butler County, the seventh most distressed place in Missouri on our County Distress Index. A notice states an employer’s plan; it isn’t a count of jobs lost.

   Missouri Office of Workforce Development, WARN notices for 2026 and for 2025

2. Jan. 1, 2026

   Missouri’s minimum wage rose, and a 2025 law ended its automatic yearly increases

   The state minimum wage went to $15.00 an hour, from $13.75 in 2025, the state labor department’s table shows. House Bill 567, which took effect Aug. 28, 2025, repealed the wage law’s yearly cost-of-living increases and, separately, its paid sick time requirement, so no raise is set for later years; the department’s page shows no 2027 rate.

   Missouri’s labor department, minimum wage; Missouri Senate, HB 567 (2025)

3. Nov. 13, 2025

   Full November SNAP benefits were paid after the federal shutdown ended

   Once the federal shutdown ended, the U.S. Department of Agriculture directed states to issue full November benefits from SNAP, the federal food program once called food stamps, and Missouri’s social services department says it processed the state’s November benefit file. Missouri’s monthly unemployment figures carry a gap from the same shutdown (see what to watch).

   Missouri’s social services department, federal shutdown impacts

4. Nov. 1, 2025

   SNAP’s work rule changed who can be exempt

   SNAP recipients who are able to work may be asked to prove at least 80 hours a month of work or job training. From Nov. 1, 2025, the people who can be exempt include people under 18 or over 64 and people with a dependent under 14 in the household, Missouri’s social services department says (see SNAP).

   Missouri’s social services department, Food Stamp Program

5. Oct. 24, 2025

   Spire’s natural gas rates went up

   New Spire rates, set by the Missouri Public Service Commission’s order of Sept. 3, 2025, took effect, adding about $8.21 a month for a typical home in the company’s eastern service area and about $8.93 in its western area, by Spire’s estimate. A separate gas-cost adjustment was scheduled to add $5.79 and $3.33 a month in the two areas from Nov. 26.

   Spire, rate changes

Is Missouri a poor state? By income, poorer than most

By income, yes; by the poverty rate, only slightly. The typical Missouri household earned $71,583 in 2024, the 9th lowest among the 50 states and D.C., against $81,604 nationwide. The share of Missourians below the poverty line, 12.2%, was close to the U.S. rate of 12.1%, though still the 18th highest (Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates).

What weighs on Missouri’s economy

Two other figures sit beside the low incomes. Over 2020 to 2024, 14.9% of Missourians reported a disability, tied for 11th highest among the states and D.C., against 13.3% nationwide (Census Bureau, American Community Survey). And benefit payments, from Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ programs, made up 20.8% of all the income Missourians received in 2024, against 18.3% for the country (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis). Either could be part of why incomes run lower here, but we haven’t measured how much.

Fewer Missourians get SNAP than before the pandemic

In July 2026, 623,099 Missourians got SNAP, the federal food benefit once called food stamps, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s count. That is 9.9% of the state’s 2025 population, a little under the U.S. share of 10.5%, and 6.0% fewer people than in July 2025. It is also below the 666,158 Missouri averaged from October 2019 to February 2020. A smaller count isn’t proof of less need: the work rule’s exemptions changed in November 2025 (see what changed), and the newest Census poverty figures are for 2024, before that change.

Applying for SNAP or Medicaid in Missouri goes through the state’s social services department →

Why sites differ on Missouri’s poverty rate

Many sites quote the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which gives Missouri a slightly different rate. This page uses the bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates for the state and every county, so the state and county figures here come from one source. Benefit programs decide who qualifies with a separate yardstick, the federal poverty guideline, which for 2026 is $15,960 a year for one person (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Missouri’s cost of living →

Is Missouri cheap to live in? Rent costs less than in most states

For renters, yes. Missouri’s median rent was $1,033 a month over 2020 to 2024, by the Census Bureau’s survey, 11th lowest among the 50 states and D.C. and well under the U.S. median of $1,413. Paying that rent for a year would take 17.3% of the typical Missouri household’s 2024 income; for the nation the figure is 20.8% (our calculation). We don’t measure prices, so we don’t rank Missouri’s overall cost of living; the state’s economic research office, MERIC, publishes a cost-of-living index for every state.

This share is the one measure in the renters’ part of the State Distress Index, the part where Missouri scores lowest (see how it ranks). The gap with the nation is wider now than in 2005.

What is Missouri’s unemployment rate? Lower than in most states, while income per person trails the nation

Missouri’s jobless rate was 3.5% in August 2026, tied for 18th lowest among the 50 states and D.C. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). The U.S. rate was 4.1%. Missouri’s own rate a year earlier was 4.0%. Income is where Missouri falls behind. All the income Missourians received in 2024, divided by the state’s population, came to $64,920 a resident, 15th lowest among the states and D.C., against $73,204 for the U.S. (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis).

Missouri’s workforce department put the September rate at 3.6% and counted 28,400 more nonfarm jobs than in September 2025, in a report posted Oct. 15 (Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics marks September state rates as preliminary. This page ranks the states on August, the latest month in our data for all of them.

Unemployment is highest in Mississippi and Dunklin counties, in the Bootheel

Filing an unemployment claim is done through Missouri’s labor department. The minimum wage changed on Jan. 1, 2026: the new rate and the law behind it are under what changed.

Are Missourians behind on their bills? Slightly more often than Americans overall, and more often in collections

A little more often than Americans overall. In early 2025, 17.7% of Missourians with a credit record had a debt 90 or more days late, against 17.2% for the U.S., our population-weighted average of the states (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia). The wider gap is in collections, shown in the chart below. These figures cover what households owe, not state government debt.

Missourians were more likely than Americans overall to have a debt in collections in early 2025; on cards, car loans and mortgages they were close to the U.S.

Share of Missouri and U.S. borrowers 90 days or more behind on each kind of loan, and share of people with a credit record who had a debt in collections, first quarter of 2025.

People with a debt in collections

Mo. 15.6% U.S. 13.2%

Card borrowers 90+ days late

Mo. 13.0% U.S. 13.5%

Car-loan borrowers 90+ days late

Mo. 8.9% U.S. 8.5%

Mortgage borrowers 90+ days late

Mo. 1.1% U.S. 1.2%

Counted from the highest share among the 50 states and D.C., Missouri ranks 14th on collections, 23rd on cards, 23rd on car loans and tied for 23rd on mortgages. Each U.S. bar is our population-weighted average of the states.

Card trouble has grown since before the pandemic: 9.4% of Missouri card borrowers were 90 days or more behind at the end of 2019, against 13.0% in early 2025. Collections went the other way: at the end of 2019, 24.4% of Missourians with a credit record had a debt in collections, well above the early 2025 share. Most of that drop came between mid-2022 and mid-2023, the stretch when the three big credit bureaus took most medical debts off credit reports. We can’t say how much of Missouri’s drop that explains. A debt that no longer shows on a credit report may still be owed. Nationwide, the share of people with a medical collection on their report fell from about 14% in March 2022 to about 5% in June 2023 (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).

Bankruptcy in Missouri: filings have risen three years in a row, but the rate is near the nation’s

Missourians filed 10,613 bankruptcy cases in 2025, 169.3 for every 100,000 residents (2025 population), according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. That is the 22nd highest rate among the 50 states and D.C. and close to the U.S. rate of 166.3. Filings rose 8.6% from 2024, less than the 11.1% rise nationwide, and have gone up every year since 2022, the year with the fewest filings in the available series.

Missouri used to rank nearer the top for filings per resident. Dividing each year’s filings by that year’s Census population, we found Missouri between 10th and 18th every year from 2005 to 2023. It slipped to 20th in 2024 and 22nd in 2025, the furthest down the list it has been in that stretch.

In 2025, Chapter 13 cases were 43.2% of Missouri’s filings, 13th highest among the states; nationwide the share was 35.9%. Under Chapter 13, a filer pays back part of what they owe through a court-approved plan that lasts three to five years. Chapter 7, the more common kind nationally, wipes out many debts but can mean giving up property the law doesn’t protect. We found no source that explains why Missouri filers lean toward Chapter 13.

Is Missouri a judicial foreclosure state? No: most foreclosures happen without a court

No. Most Missouri home foreclosures are sales by a trustee under the power of sale in a deed of trust, after a default and without a lawsuit (Missouri Revised Statutes, Chapter 443). The trustee must give at least 20 days’ notice of the sale and send it by certified or registered mail to the borrower at least 20 days before the sale date (RSMo 443.310 and 443.325).

After a sale, a right to buy the home back exists only in narrow cases. When the lender, or someone acting for it, buys the home at the sale, the borrower may redeem it within one year (RSMo 443.410). Among other conditions, the borrower must have given written notice of that intent at the sale or within 10 days before it. Federal servicing rules generally keep a mortgage company from starting a foreclosure on the home a borrower lives in until the borrower is more than 120 days behind.

Missouri was awarded $138.3 million from the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund and had used it to help 9,825 households by its report for the first quarter of 2026 (U.S. Treasury). Housing counselors and legal aid offices are listed on Missouri’s foreclosure guide.

Missouri homeowners’ mortgage complaints to the CFPB: payment problems come up first

From 2012 through mid-October 2026, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau logged 5,644 mortgage complaints from Missouri. Trouble during the payment process came up most often, in 1,388 complaints, just ahead of loan modification, collection and foreclosure, at 1,356.

What to watch before the next edition

The dates below, nearest first, are set by the agencies and bodies named with each one.

1. Nov. 20, 2026

   October unemployment rates for the states

   The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to publish state jobless rates for October. There is no October 2025 figure to set beside it, because none was published during the federal shutdown. Missouri’s August rate was 3.5%.

   U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, release schedule

2. Dec. 1, 2026

   Pre-filing of bills opens for the 2027 legislative session

   Missouri lawmakers may begin pre-filing bills for the 2027 session on this date, the Missouri House says; the session itself opens in January.

   Missouri House of Representatives, how a bill becomes law

3. Jan. 1, 2027

   Work reporting for adults covered by Medicaid expansion is set to begin

   Missouri’s social services department says that from this date, under the 2025 federal law known as H.R. 1, certain adults ages 19 to 64 covered by Medicaid expansion may be subject to community engagement (work reporting) requirements. Coverage backdated before an application is limited to one month for them. Starting in 2027, their eligibility is to be reviewed every six months.

   Missouri’s social services department, changes under the 2025 federal law

4. Jan. 6, 2027

   Evergy Missouri Metro’s proposed rate increase stays suspended until Jan. 6, 2027

   The Missouri Public Service Commission has suspended the new rates Evergy Missouri Metro proposed, a $137.9 million yearly increase, until then while it decides the case (No. ER-2026-0143). Hearings ran from Sept. 28 to Oct. 9, 2026.

   Missouri Public Service Commission, case ER-2026-0143

Where Missouri ranks highest and lowest