Sometimes a seemingly simple question has no easy answer.
For those of us who live and work in St. Louis, a common concern is how the region shapes up when compared to other metro areas.
Where do we stand?
In our seventh attempt to answer that basic question, the research staff at East-West Gateway has come up with more than 200 answers. Take your pick on which topic to consider. Be prepared to read, think, and discuss. While the data and rankings are fairly straightforward, they open up a gamut of questions.
The first Where We Stand was published in 1992, and at that time compiling the data meant going to the library—over and over again. With the Internet, the research doesn’t require as much mobility; you can sit still and be inundated with information. We expanded Where We Stand to meet those opportunities for more data, more categories, and more metrics to measure where we stand.
In this 7th edition, we look at the 50 largest metropolitan areas, by population. Previously we limited the number of metro areas in each category to 34 regions that were selected based on population, distance from St. Louis, and economic function.
In this 2015 version of Where We Stand, St. Louis ranks 19th for population among Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), just behind Tampa and ahead of Baltimore. New York City ranks as the largest, with 19 million people. Buffalo comes in 50th with 1.1 million residents. St. Louis has a population of 2.8 million.
Where We Stand: The Strategic Assessment of the St. Louis Region – 7th Edition, 2015 by nextSTL.com
