Age of the Population

The median age for the region is 36.5 years. This is three years higher than the median age of all Missouri residents and 3.6 years higher than the US as a whole.

Gender/Racial Mix

Though nearly "split down the middle", the ratio of females to males is higher than the US in both the state of Missouri and the Ozark Heritage Region. This results in a larger pool of women in the labor force.

Racially, the region differs substantially from both Missouri and the nation. The region's minority population is mostly Native American.

Income Characteristics

Income is a widely accepted measure of economic well being. Two primary methods of measurement are: per capita, which represents total personal income divided by total population, and median, which is the middle dollar figure for a "group", with fifty percent of the population earning above the Median Income figure and 50% below. In 1975 the region's per capita income was 52% of the state figure and 49% of the nations figure. This is compared to 63.6% of the state and 44.07% of the nation in 1990. This does not indicate however a greatly reduced quality of life. It is considerably less expensive to live in a rural setting and this can be seen as a great asset for a company that is needing to cut costs in labor to consider relocating or expanding to our area.

Median household income tells a similar story in the region. The figure for the region is in the neighborhood of $16,000. This is roughly 64% of the Missouri total, and 56% of the US total, again showing a greatly reduced potential labor cost for our area.

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