3rd Quarter 2025 Cost of Living
Missouri had the sixth lowest cost of living in the United States for the third quarter of 2025 at 89.0. MERIC derives the cost-of-living index for each state by averaging the indices of participating cities and metropolitan areas in that state. All the participating Missouri cities had a composite index below the national average for Q3 2025. The city with the lowest cost of living index for the quarter was Joplin at 84.0.
Missouri Business Index Rises
Missouri’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for October 2025 climbed to a regional high of 62.7 from 47.1 in September. Components of the overall index for Missouri from the survey of supply managers for October were new orders at 60.6, production at 59.1, delivery lead time at 69.2, inventories at 62.6, and employment at 62.0. Regionally, the index moved slightly above growth neutral. The Creighton University Mid-America Business Conditions Index is a leading economic indicator for a nine-state region stretching from Minnesota to Arkansas. It measures such factors as new orders, production, supplier delivery times, backlogs, inventories, prices, employment, import orders and exports. A score above 50 typically indicates an expansionary economy, while a score below 50 forecasts a sluggish economy.
