City · Pike County, Missouri

Bowling Green, Missouri

Bowling Green is a city in Pike County, Missouri. It has 4,170 residents. Bowling Green, Missouri has a quality-of-life score of 25 out of 100 (low), ranking #11,726 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Missouri it ranks #306 of 375 cities and towns. It ranks best on students per teacher (low), rent-burdened households (low) and property crime rate (low). It ranks worst on grocery stores (low), access to exercise opportunities (low) and primary care physicians (low).

25Low

Quality-of-life score: #11,726 of 15,651 cities and towns
Missouri: #306 of 375 in MO
Population: 4,170 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 1,550.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 2907660

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety57#6,683/15,637
Economy13#13,604/15,631
Housing95#798/14,977
Health15#13,343/15,609
Healthcare6#14,700/15,650
Environment53#7,323/15,453
Education35#10,209/15,649
Infrastructure33#10,544/15,650
Community32#10,616/15,651
Leisure & amenities13#13,552/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Bowling Green, Missouri ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Pike County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Students per teacher · low11.6×
90/100Missouri 12.7×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsPike County value
Rent-burdened households · low35.8%
88/100Missouri 45.6%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Property crime rate · low532 /100k
88/100Missouri 1,644 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationPike County value
Violent crime rate · low94 /100k
87/100Missouri 418 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationPike County value
Rent as share of income · low26.8%
85/100Missouri 28.1%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Home price to income ratio · low2.4×
81/100Missouri 3.3×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077

Weaknesses

Grocery stores · low0.6 /10k
2/100Missouri 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPike County value
Access to exercise opportunities · low30.8%
2/100Missouri 76.6%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePike County value
Primary care physicians · low17 /100k
3/100Missouri 72 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstitutePike County value
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.0 /10k
4/100Missouri 1.2 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsPike County value
Dental care shortage · high18.0
6/100Missouri 9.4United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationPike County value
Adult smoking · high22.0%
6/100Missouri 19.5%United States 16.1%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
5,516 (2015-2019) → 4,170 (2020-2024)
−24%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateWorsening
19.8% (2015-2019) → 42.6% (2020-2024)
+23 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
71.8% (2015-2019) → 91.4% (2020-2024)
+20 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Poverty rateWorsening
16.8% (2015-2019) → 25.8% (2020-2024)
+9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
New homes permittedImproving
2.0 /1k (2021) → 2.9 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+40%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Median household incomeImproving
$38,125 (2015-2019) → $53,295 (2020-2024)
+40%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Bowling Green, Missouri improved on 2 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 10 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Broadband+20 points71.8% → 91.4%
Household income+40%$38,125 → $53,295

Declined2

Child poverty+23 points19.8% → 42.6%
Rent / income+7.2 points19.6% → 26.8%

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Bowling Green, Missouri between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.3 min2015-2019	23.5 min2020-2024	+4.1 min	Within the margin of error	13%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.4%2015-2019	10.0%2020-2024	−1.4 points	Within the margin of error	19%
Broadband subscriptions	71.8%2015-2019	91.4%2020-2024	+20 points	Improved	89%
Child poverty rate	19.8%2015-2019	42.6%2020-2024	+23 points	Declined	3%
Effective property tax rate	0.90%2015-2019	0.82%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	30%
High school diploma or higher	80.9%2015-2019	81.6%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Home price to income ratio	2.3×2015-2019	2.4×2020-2024	+0.1×	Within the margin of error	72%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4582015-2019	0.3782020-2024	−0.080	Within the margin of error	93%
Median household income	$38,1252015-2019	$53,2952020-2024	+40%	Improved	73%
Poverty rate	16.8%2015-2019	25.8%2020-2024	+9 points	Within the margin of error	5%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	19.6%2015-2019	26.8%2020-2024	+7.2 points	Declined	15%
Rent-burdened households	32.5%2015-2019	35.8%2020-2024	+3.3 points	Within the margin of error	44%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	7.4%2015-2019	8.2%2020-2024	+0.7 points	Within the margin of error	38%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Bowling Green, Missouri five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Bowling Green, Missouri in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Bowling Green, Missouri itself moved +2.9 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

4,170 residents (±42)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,330 households (±120)

Bowling Green, Missouri
Missouri share

Under $25k21%†285
$25k–50k25%†326
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,330 households (±120)

Bowling Green, Missouri
Missouri share

Own52%693
Rent48%637

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,295 workers (±221)

Bowling Green, Missouri
Missouri share

Drive alone80%1,041
Carpool8.8%†114
Public transit0.0%0

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Pike County, the county holding most of Bowling Green's residents.

Pike County has 395 employer establishments, 221 for every 10,000 residents (0.89× the US rate of 248; 0.90× Missouri's), with 4,438 paid employees at an average annual pay of $43,585. The Census Bureau also counts 1,322 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 395; 1,322 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 221; US 248 · Missouri 244
Paid employees: 4,438
Average annual pay: $43,585; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Pike County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	31	17.3	0.94×About typical	341	$19,126	7
Individual and family services	20	11.2	3.99×More than typical	75	$28,320	8
Specialty trade contractors	20	11.2	0.72×Fewer than typical	213	$52,915	159
Religious organizations	18	10.1	1.81×More than typical	68	$14,912	—
Ambulatory health care services	17	9.5	0.46×Fewer than typical	149	$56,658	41
Limited-service restaurants	15	8.4	1.04×About typical	193	$18,549	—
Truck transportation	15	8.4	1.66×More than typical	39	$39,179	40
Construction of buildings	13	7.3	0.96×About typical	56	$50,946	64
Full-service restaurants	13	7.3	0.95×About typical	133	$20,368	3
Automotive repair and maintenance	12	6.7	1.33×More than typical	47	$34,617	32
Gasoline stations	12	6.7	2.07×More than typical	276	$16,743	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	12	6.7	1.53×More than typical	28	$27,286	19

Rank places for an industry Open Pike County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 17,904 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Bowling Green, Missouri: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

5.8KFY2019
0FY2021
59.1FY2023

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Bowling Green, Missouri, so they do not add up across cities.

Bowling Green, Missouri's figures are part of those of Pike County, MO ($15.3M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Bowling Green is mostly in Pike County.

See federal money in Pike County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Bowling Green, Missouri is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Sam GravesR-MO-6 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 7.0%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Pike County28100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Pike County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2907660

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends