St. Louis has lost 30% of its people since 1990, but the region around it hasn't
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The city of St. Louis had an estimated 278,144 residents in 2025, according to the Census Bureau. That is down 29.9 percent from 396,685 in 1990, and down 7.8 percent just since the 2020 census.
Among the cities that had at least 250,000 people in 1990, only Detroit has lost a larger share since. Cleveland, New Orleans, Birmingham, and Baltimore follow.
| Year | St. Louis city | St. Louis County | St. Louis metro |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 396,685 | 993,529 | 2,560,517 |
| 2000 | 348,189 | 1,016,315 | 2,675,343 |
| 2010 | 319,294 | 998,954 | 2,787,701 |
| 2020 | 301,578 | 1,004,125 | 2,820,253 |
| 2025 (estimate) | 278,144 | 990,911 | 2,814,421 |
The table shows why the city's losses look worse than the region's. St. Louis city is legally separate from St. Louis County, which surrounds it, and has not been part of any county since 1876. Its boundaries have not grown since then, so as the region spread into the suburbs, those residents were counted outside the city.
The metro area as a whole grew about 10 percent from 1990 to 2020 and has held roughly steady since. St. Louis County has hovered around 1 million people for 35 years. Nearly all of the loss is inside the city limits.
Kansas City, the state's other large city, went the other way, growing from 435,141 in 1990 to about 521,220 in 2025. It is now nearly twice the size of St. Louis.
In the 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey, St. Louis was 44.4 percent non-Hispanic white and 42.1 percent Black, down from a Black share of 51.0 percent in 2000. The Hispanic share has grown from 1.2 percent in 1990 to 5.3 percent.
The median household income was $56,160, compared with $82,936 in St. Louis County. The city's poverty rate was 20.6 percent, down from 26.0 percent in the 2006-2010 survey but more than double the county's 9.8 percent.
The share of adults with a bachelor's degree rose from 15.3 percent in 1990 to 41.1 percent, a faster climb than in the county. The city still has many empty homes: 16.8 percent of housing units were vacant, compared with 7.2 percent in the county and 8.4 percent across the metro area. The homeownership rate was 45.3 percent.
More on cities that have lost population is in the fastest-shrinking cities in America and how Detroit lost half its population. Metro data is on the St. Louis metro page.
Sources
Population figures for 1990 through 2020 are from the decennial census, and 2025 figures are from the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 Population Estimates. Metro figures use the current delineation of the St. Louis, MO-IL metropolitan statistical area applied to every year. Race, income, poverty, education, and housing figures are from the 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates, with earlier years from the decennial census and the 2006-2010 American Community Survey. The city of St. Louis is an independent city and is counted by the Census Bureau as a county equivalent.
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What is the population of St. Louis?
The city of St. Louis had an estimated 278,144 residents in 2025, according to the Census Bureau. The 2020 census counted 301,578. The surrounding St. Louis metro area, which covers counties in Missouri and Illinois, had about 2.8 million people.
Why is St. Louis losing population?
Part of the reason is geography. St. Louis city has been separate from St. Louis County since 1876 and its boundaries never expanded, so as residents moved to the suburbs they were counted outside the city. The metro area grew about 10 percent from 1990 to 2020.
Is St. Louis County part of St. Louis city?
No. St. Louis is an independent city, and St. Louis County is a separate government that surrounds it. The county had about 990,911 residents in 2025, more than three times the city's 278,144.
