Callaway County, MO

County Profile

44,741 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Callaway County, MO.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

67out of 100
Area Score
Top 30% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 12% of 1,255 counties measured78
SchoolsTop 49% of 973 counties measured52
Growth722nd of 1,226 counties measured45
Housing affordabilityTop 22% of 1,255 counties measured100
ClimateTop 36% of 1,254 counties measured72
Physical resilienceTop 47% of 1,255 counties measured63
Access1177th of 1,255 counties measured43
Economic stability690th of 1,255 counties measured59
The quick read

Callaway County ranks in the top 12% of published profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.3% and median household income of $74,176.

In the public schools here, 35% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 12.2 students for every teacher.

38 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 7% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

At a glance

Population
44,741
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$74,176
Top 28% nationally
Density
54/sq mi
834.6 sq mi of land
Median age
39.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Callaway County
Missouri
Metro area
Jefferson City, MO
Nearest major airport
STL
84 mi · St Louis Lambert Intl
Median home value
$201,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.3% is lower than 86% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment grew 0.7% over the past year, to 21,448 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,935$74,176Top 28%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,727$33,886Bottom 45%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income$50,433Bottom 24%of 1,2062023
Poverty rate11.6%Bottom 37%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.2 minBottom 46%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher24.6%Top 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment21,448Bottom 26%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)3.2%Top 18%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.7%Top 19%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force22,183Bottom 26%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation58.7%Top 50%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.4%Bottom 21%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate3.3%Bottom 14%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/063.81.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.3% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202474k64k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $74,176 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Jefferson City, MO
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
General and Operations Managers2,280$76,170
Registered Nurses1,910$85,010
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive1,880$40,980
Cashiers1,650$29,420
Office Clerks, General1,600$39,640
Retail Salespersons1,540$30,400

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

35% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 44% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.2 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
24
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
34.9%
Bottom 40% in Missouri
Reading proficiency
44.5%
Bottom 46% in Missouri
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
FULTON SR. HIGHFULTON 5865916.1
FULTON MIDDLEFULTON 5851313.537%42%
NEW BLOOMFIELD ELEM.NEW BLOOMFIELD R-III40313.428%31%
NORTH ELEM.JEFFERSON CITY36713.147%60%
NORTH CALLAWAY HIGHNORTH CALLAWAY CO. R-I34712.9
MCINTIRE ELEM.FULTON 5832113.435%48%
BUSH ELEM.FULTON 5831212.536%43%
NEW BLOOMFIELD HIGHNEW BLOOMFIELD R-III30912.927%42%
FULTON EARLY CHILDHOOD CNTRFULTON 5825211.5
HATTON-MCCREDIE ELEM.NORTH CALLAWAY CO. R-I23812.539%45%
SOUTH CALLAWAY HIGHSOUTH CALLAWAY CO. R-II23710.8
CALLAWAY HILLS ELEM.JEFFERSON CITY22410.728%45%

45.4% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Missouri’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $887 takes 14% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.7 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
14.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$887
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$201,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.72Bottom 38%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate75.5%Top 45%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±6418,645Top 38%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$44$887Top 47%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,197$201,600Top 43%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income14.3%Bottom 19%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate11.6%Bottom 37%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
45/ 100
Ranks 722 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 2% since 2020, reaching 45,126 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
38
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.8
Bottom 12% nationally
Year over year
−7%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202445k44k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420254626
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+70%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 89°F and January a low of 23°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.4 inches, including 16.5 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 40, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station COLUMBIA RGNL AP, 15.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index49.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation41.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall16.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low23°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high89°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index40.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing48°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
40
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
49
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

63 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, cold wave and earthquake.

EarthquakeElevated
Winter weatherModerate
HailModerate
Ice stormModerate
Cold waveModerate
Inland floodingModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, landslide, lightning, wildfire, strong wind, tornado, drought, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Callaway County records 4.3 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 15.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 8.7 per 100,000 residents in Callaway County.

Homicide
4.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
8.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
24.6
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Callaway County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Callaway County rather than Callaway County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 84 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
St Louis Lambert IntlSTL84 mi11,020 ft
St Louis RgnlALN101 mi8,099 ft
Springfield-Branson NtlSGF136 mi8,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
67
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in Callaway County, MO