Doing Business in Missouri

Why Pick Missouri?

Many small and established businesses have launched, grown, and even relocated to the Show-Me State. The combination of a favorable state tax environment, relatively low unemployment rate (4.4%), and continuing population growth make it an attractive location. In fact, there are 207,854 state businesses accounting for an employment rate of 3.8M workers. Beyond this, in 2020, banks issued $1.7B in loans to businesses with revenues of $1M or less. Over the same time, the state added 5,932 jobs despite the economic challenges created by the pandemic. While conditions appear favorable there are other important details about the business environment that should be considered. To help business owners and operators, a brief overview of doing business in Missouri is included below.

Missouri Economic Profile

The state’s economy is more diverse than many may realize. Missouri was ranked 1st in New Corporate Facilities and Expansion in the West North Central Region. It was also identified as a Top 10 State for the financial sector employment growth. While well known for the St. Louis Arch, there are several high-performing industries including healthcare, construction, professional and technical services, and retail trade. Business ownership is diverse with 43% of businesses being women-owned, 8.3% veteran-owned, and 11% minority-owned. In other words, there is far more to Missouri than Branson and Lake of the Ozarks.

Driving Business Growth

The state provides tax, financing, and other programs to attract and promote growth amongst businesses in targeted industries. In fact, there are several programs available through the Missouri Department of Economic Development to help drive investment, expansion, and growth within the state. This includes the Advanced Industrial Manufacturing Zones Act, Business Headquarters Tax Credit Program, CARES Act grants, and Business Use Incentives for Large Scale Development (BUILD).

Missouri Business Resources

Below is a list of various business resources to guide those new to Missouri and others who have been operating here for years.