?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Pick an HQ · Missouri

Best cities to put your HQ in Missouri

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Pick an HQ” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

Re-rank for your priorities
Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.University City, MO35k residents

    68/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 64.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,278/wk · corporate income tax: 4%

  2. 2.Springfield, MO170k residents

    66/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 31.4% · avg. weekly wage: $1,117/wk · corporate income tax: 4%

  3. 3.Kirkwood, MO29k residents

    65/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 67.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,278/wk · corporate income tax: 4%

  4. 4.St. Charles, MO72k residents

    62/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 43.3% · avg. weekly wage: $1,206/wk · corporate income tax: 4%

  5. 5.Wildwood, MO35k residents

    62/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 68.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,278/wk · corporate income tax: 4%

  6. 6.St. Peters, MO59k residents

    61/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 39.2% · avg. weekly wage: $1,206/wk · corporate income tax: 4%

  7. 7.Belton, MO25k residents

    60/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 25.6% · avg. weekly wage: $965/wk · corporate income tax: 4%

  8. 8.Joplin, MO53k residents

    59/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 26.7% · avg. weekly wage: $1,003/wk · corporate income tax: 4%

  9. 9.Oakville, MO35k residents

    59/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 44.1% · avg. weekly wage: $1,278/wk · corporate income tax: 4%

  10. 10.Ballwin, MO31k residents

    59/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 65.2% · avg. weekly wage: $1,514/wk · corporate income tax: 4%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best to put your HQ in Missouri?
University City, MO ranks first with a fit score of 68/100, followed by Springfield (66) and Kirkwood (65), using the "Pick an HQ" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.