Most Expensive Places To Live In Missouri For 2020

The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In Missouri For 2020

1. Sunset Hills

Sunset Hills is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,496 at the 2010 census.

The median income in Sunset Hills comes in at $98,450 and the median home value is $375,800 for 2020.

2. Weldon Spring

Weldon Spring is a city in St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,443 at the 2010 census. It was the location of the largest World War 2 explosives plant and later a uranium refining faculty.

The median income in Weldon Spring comes in at $102,105 and the median home value is $383,900 for 2020.

University City is an inner-ring suburb of the city of St. Louis in St. Louis County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 35,371 in 2010 census.

The median income in University City comes in at $60,508 and the median home value is $260,200 for 2020.

4. Branson

Branson is a city in Stone and Taney counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. Most of the city is in Taney County, with a small portion in the west extending into Stone County. Branson is in the Ozark Mountains. The community was named after Reuben Branson, postmaster and operator of a general store in the area in the 1880s. The population was 10,520 at the 2010 census.

The median income in Branson comes in at $40,343 and the median home value is $152,000 for 2020.

5. Columbia

Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Boone County. Founded in 1821, it is home to the University of Missouri and is the principal city of the Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth most-populous city, with an estimated 120,612 residents in 2016. As a Midwestern college town, the city has a reputation for progressive politics, persuasive journalism, and public art. The tripartite establishment of Stephens College, the University of Missouri, and Columbia College, which surround the city's central business district to the east, south, and north, has made Columbia a center of learning. At the center of Downtown is 8th Street, also known as the Avenue of the Columns, which connects Francis Quadrangle and Jesse Hall to the Boone County Courthouse and the City Hall. Never a major center of manufacturing, the city also depends on healthcare, insurance, and technology businesses. Companies such as Shelter Insurance, Carfax, and Slackers CDs and Games, were founded in the city. Cultural institutions include the State Historical Society of Missouri, the Museum of Art and Archaeology, and the annual True/False Film Festival. The Missouri Tigers, the state's only major college athletic program, play football at Faurot Field and basketball at Mizzou Arena as members of the Southeastern Conference.

The median income in Columbia comes in at $49,277 and the median home value is $185,700 for 2020.

6. St. Robert

The median income in St. Robert comes in at $48,750 and the median home value is $172,400 for 2020.

7. Maryville

Maryville is a city and county seat of Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 11,972. Maryville is home to Northwest Missouri State University, Northwest Technical School, and the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing.

The median income in Maryville comes in at $34,308 and the median home value is $134,000 for 2020.

Waynesville is a city in Pulaski County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,830 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Pulaski County and is located in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks. It was one of the communities served by historic Route 66.

The median income in Waynesville comes in at $46,907 and the median home value is $161,600 for 2020.

9. Warrensburg

Warrensburg is a city in Johnson County, Missouri, United States. The population was 18,838 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Johnson County. The Warrensburg Micropolitan Statistical Area consists of Johnson County. It is home to the University of Central Missouri.

The median income in Warrensburg comes in at $42,325 and the median home value is $151,100 for 2020.

10. Maplewood

Maplewood is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County. The population was 8,046 at the 2010 census.

The median income in Maplewood comes in at $45,095 and the median home value is $181,100 for 2020.

How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Show Me State For 2020

The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:

1. How much do money do I make?
2. How much do I have spend to live there?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.

For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.

With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2014-2018 around incomes and costs. They are:

• Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
• Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
• Median Home Price

We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).

You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Missouri to figure out which is the most expensive.

What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 128 places in Missouri that have more than 5,000 people.

The place with the highest cost of living in Missouri according to the data is Sunset Hills. You can download the data here.