Also known as: Springfield Metro Authority
Springfield is a lower-income small city of 169,954 with home prices 1.3× below the Missouri median.
Springfield is one of those cities that tends to surprise people who arrive expecting a small town and find instead a functioning regional hub with a university, a symphony orchestra, and 169,954 residents going about their lives in what the Census Bureau classifies as a place in Christian County, Missouri. The median age here is 33.7 years, which places the city firmly in the category of places shaped by young adults rather than retirees, and that demographic fact quietly explains a great deal about how the city feels.
Population and Demographics
According to Census ACS 5-Year 2024 data, Springfield's total population stands at 169,954. The age distribution leans notably young: residents between 18 and 34 number 57,351, while children under 18 account for 30,025, or roughly 17.7 percent of the population. The city's 79,439 total households include 36,923 family households. Racial composition, per Census ACS 5-Year 2023, includes 144,326 white residents, 9,492 Hispanic or Latino residents, 7,241 Black residents, and 2,838 Asian residents.
Housing and Affordability
The relationship between what housing costs and what residents earn is one of the more consequential facts about any city, and in Springfield that relationship is, by national standards, relatively manageable. Derived from Census income, housing, and poverty data, the home price-to-income ratio sits at 3.6, a figure the source characterizes as moderate affordability. Renters fare somewhat better: rent as a percentage of income is 22.4 percent, which the same source classifies as affordable. These numbers do not constitute financial advice, but they do describe a city where housing has not yet reached the levels of strain common in larger metros.
Climate
The nearest weather station to Springfield, SPRINGFIELD WSO AP, sits 5.9 miles from the city center, according to NOAA ACIS data. The annual average temperature is 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit, and the city receives 46.9 inches of precipitation per year. That precipitation figure is meaningfully higher than the national average, which is the sort of detail that matters to anyone planning a garden or a construction schedule.
Broadband Infrastructure
Per FCC Broadband Data Collection figures as of June 2025, Springfield's broadband coverage is, by the metrics available, essentially complete at the lower speed thresholds. One hundred percent of the city's 95,416 housing units have access to service meeting the 25/3 Mbps standard, and the same full coverage applies at 100/20 Mbps and 250/25 Mbps. Coverage at the 1,000/100 Mbps tier drops to approximately 29.9 percent of units — a gap that reflects the uneven national rollout of gigabit-capable infrastructure rather than anything specific to Springfield.
Air Quality Monitoring
The EPA AQI Annual Summary 2024 records no air quality monitoring station in this county. That absence means there is no locally generated AQI data for Springfield, and residents seeking air quality information would need to consult regional or modeled data sources rather than a nearby monitor.
Education
Springfield is home to 14 colleges and universities, per NCES IPEDS 2022 data. The most prominent among them, Missouri State University-Springfield, reported an average SAT score of 1,122, an admission rate of 90.5 percent, in-state tuition of $9,502, out-of-state tuition of $18,770, and an enrollment of 13,313, according to the College Scorecard. The completion rate at Missouri State-Springfield is available in the underlying data. The presence of a large public university with an open-admissions orientation shapes the city's age profile, its rental market, and its civic character in ways that are difficult to fully separate from one another.
The city also maintains 64 licensed childcare centers, per Missouri state licensing data, ranging from A Creative Start Learning Center to a range of other center-based facilities distributed across the city's neighborhoods.
Civic and Cultural Organizations
Springfield supports a notable density of civic and cultural life for a city of its size. According to IRS Exempt Organizations data, the city is home to 8 arts organizations, among them the Springfield Symphony Orchestra Inc, Springfield Ballet Inc, and Petra Ballet Company. There are 204 religious congregations registered with the IRS, and 23 civic service organizations, including a Sertoma chapter and a Meals on Wheels affiliate.
Five animal welfare organizations operate in the area, per IRS data, including the Southwest Missouri Humane Society and Ears in the Wind Animal Rescue. The chamber of commerce, registered as Springfield MO Chamber of Commerce Inc, appears in the IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File.
Attractions
Fifteen attractions are documented in proximity to Springfield's center. Among the closest are History on the Square and the History Museum on the Square, both approximately 0.8 miles from the city center, according to the attractions data on file.
Municipal Governance and Zoning
Springfield operates under a municipal code accessible through Municode at https://library.municode.com/mo/springfield-city-missouri. The city's zoning framework is codified in a chapter that, per the Municode corpus, "shall be known and may be cited as the city zoning ordinance." That formulation — the ordinance naming itself — is a standard feature of municipal codes, a small act of self-definition that gives the document a legal handle by which courts and administrators can refer to it.
Missouri's broader regulatory environment includes a licensure reciprocity statute, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 324.009, which allows persons holding a valid license from another state, a U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia to apply for an equivalent Missouri license in the same occupation and at the same practice level. The statute requires the relevant oversight body to act within six months of receiving a complete application and to waive examination, educational, or experience requirements where the applicant's out-of-state credentials are substantially equivalent. The statute also makes clear that reciprocity does not waive fee requirements, bond requirements, or proof-of-insurance requirements, and that the oversight body retains authority to deny a license for any reason applicable to that occupation under Missouri law. This framework is relevant context for professionals relocating to Springfield from other states.
Banking
Several FDIC-insured banking branches operate within Springfield, including a Great Southern Bank branch at 2945 W Republic Rd and an Arvest Bank branch on West Republic Road, per FDIC Institutions and Branches data.
Further Reading
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates — https://data.census.gov
- National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data — https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/
- City of Springfield, Missouri, Municipal Code — https://library.municode.com/mo/springfield-city-missouri