Population
71,048 residents
Census ACS 2023 - Missouri
City profile · Missouri · Census ACS 2023
Population, income, housing, safety, climate and schools for St. Charles - drawn straight from Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA, NCES, HUD and FEMA, refreshed on the 2024–2025 release cycle.
St. Charles - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, St. Charles lands in the 67th percentile for household income and the 63rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 71,048 residents in St. Charles, a small city within Missouri. The typical household in St. Charles brings in $85,522 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.6%. St. Charles's housing stock carries a median value of $280,800, and the median resident age is 38.9 years. About 44.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 63.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 195 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 63% from five years earlier. St. Charles reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1021.6 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Missouri run below the national norm: the state registers 90.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,218 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Missouri's average monthly utility costs around $219 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 92.6 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very High).
Population
71,048 residents
Census ACS 2023 - Missouri
Median Household Income
$85,522 /yr
Poverty 2.6%
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.8 (US=100)
Well Below Average - BEA RPP 2024, Missouri average
St. Charles measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Missouri and the picture shifts: St. Charles ranks #80 of 234 Missouri cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
For each metric we count every US city with population 1,000+ and a non-null value, then compute what share of them fall below St. Charles's value: round(cities-below ÷ total × 100). Safety is inverted (percentile = share of cities with a higher crime rate) so a higher number always means safer. The in-state rank narrows that same crime-rate comparison to only the cities PlainCities tracks in Missouri, breaking ties alphabetically. See the methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.
67th percentile nationally for median household income · 63rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
How St. Charles's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$280,800 38th percentile more affordable than 38% of 15,600 US cities
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
| Year | Total |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 522 |
| 2020 | 406 |
| 2021 | 413 |
| 2022 | 557 |
| 2023 | 260 |
| 2024 | 195 |
Permit volume decreased 63% from 2019 to 2024.
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Based on 37,420 workers 16 and over.
State-average estimates for Missouri - EIA 2023 residential energy data
Estimates reflect Missouri state averages. Actual costs vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Cost of living is a Missouri state average from BEA; rent and hazard risk are county-level figures from HUD and FEMA for the county St. Charles sits in
Population-matched peers from other states, closest to St. Charles's 71,048 residents (Census ACS 5-Year 2023).
Median-household-income-matched peers from other states, closest to St. Charles's $85,522 (Census ACS 5-Year 2023, table B19013).
City-level race and ethnicity, Census ACS 5-year 2023 (tables B02001, B03001), OMB Directive 15 categories.
Population + median household income, sourced from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 (population) and B19013 (median household income).
| City | Population | Median Household Income |
|---|---|---|
| St. Charles (this city) | 71,048 | $85,522 |
| St. Joseph | 71,542 | $55,578 |
| Blue Springs | 59,416 | $84,075 |
| St. Peters | 58,200 | $89,827 |
The population of St. Charles, MO stands at 71,048 according to U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates.
Median annual household income in St. Charles runs $85,522, based on Census ACS 2023 data.
BEA does not publish a city-level cost-of-living figure for St. Charles; the closest available measure is the Missouri state average, a cost of living index of 90.8 (U.S. average = 100), rated "Well Below Average" based on BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 data. Costs within Missouri vary by metro area.
St. Charles has a total crime rate of 1021.6 per 100,000 residents, which is below the national average. This reflects incidents reported to the FBI UCR program, not a definitive safety score -- agency reporting is voluntary and completeness varies by jurisdiction.
St. Charles's median home value sits at $280,800, according to Census ACS 2023 estimates.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES.
Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.