St. Louis population

For the first time since 1990, the St. Louis region is among the nation’s top 10 metro areas for job growth. Employment in the 14-county region that includes the Metro East has risen 2.16% this year — surpassing the national rate of 1.7%.

The St. Louis metropolitan area is showing troubling signs when it comes to population trends.

The region bucks the norm in most other major metropolitan areas: people from India make up the largest share of foreign-born people in the St. Louis region over people from Mexico.

Public school enrollment is relatively flat this year, compared to last year. But it is still down from recent years, and experts say more decline is likely coming.

New census data shows the St. Louis metropolitan region lost around 19,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022. St. Louis and St. Louis County led the declines while suburban and exurban counties, like St. Charles, Lincoln and Jefferson, posted gains as they have in the past.

The answer is complicated and depends on how you look at the 2.6% unemployment rate for the overall St. Louis metropolitan area.

The 14-county region hovered around 2.8 million people only shedding about 10,000 between 2020 and 2021, but the changes weren’t evenly distributed.

Mientras algunos grupos en St. Louis están disminuyendo en población según el último censo, la comunidad latina está creciendo exponencialmente. “El Arch ahora se ha convertido en un símbolo de hogar para mí,” dijo una residente latina que se mudó a St. Louis en la última década.

“Caracas is a place I was born and raised, and it is my first home. St. Louis is my second one. The Arch now has become a symbol for home to me,” said one Latina resident who moved to St. Louis in the past decade.

Asian, Hispanic and multiracial populations are growing throughout the St. Louis area.