Missouri’s Biggest Boomtown Has Exploded in the Past Decade

I would classify this as one of the least surprising things you're likely to see, but that doesn't mean the data isn't staggering. A Missouri place has just been named the biggest boomtown in the state and, when you look at the numbers, it's growth has truly exploded in the past 10 years.

When I was a kid (my children like to refer to that time as the black and white era since that's what all the pictures from that time look like), my family drove past Wentzville, Missouri regularly when we did anything in St. Louis. I rarely even thought about what Wentzville was really like. It was just the place we would sometimes stop in on the way to St. Louis Cardinals games. How times have changed.

Go Banking Rates has just named Wentzville as the biggest boomtown in Missouri and, while that's not a surprise, the numbers behind it are:

• Change in population since 2014: 12,993 (29.1%) Population: 44,584
• Change in per-capita income: 35.7% Per-capita income: $43,823
• Change in occupied housing units: 4,443 (29.6%)
• Change in owner-occupied housing units: 3,649 (28.7%)

Nearly a 30 percent jump in every growth statistic there is. That is really not surprising when you understand that it has become very fashionable for those that work in St. Louis, but don't want to live there, to make a home in Wentzville away from the big crime rates.

This is one of those trends I don't see slowing down anytime soon. Check back in another decade and I'll guess that Wentzville will once again be among the biggest boom areas in Missouri. It's not just a place to stop on the way to St. Louis Cardinals games anymore.