Census-designated place · Jefferson County, Missouri

LaBarque Creek, Missouri

LaBarque Creek is a census-designated place in Jefferson County, Missouri, part of the St. Louis, MO-IL metro area. It has 1,457 residents. LaBarque Creek, Missouri has a quality-of-life score of 50 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #7,755 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Missouri it ranks #137 of 375 cities and towns. It ranks best on poverty rate (low), food insecurity (low) and loneliness (low). It ranks worst on suicide rate (high), restaurants and bars (low) and primary care physicians (low).

50Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #7,755 of 15,651 cities and towns
Missouri: #137 of 375 in MO
Population: 1,457 (2020-2024)
Land area: 18 mi²
Density: 83.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 2939503

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 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.

Safety41#9,280/15,637
Economy89#1,733/15,631
Housing—
Health51#7,607/15,609
Healthcare38#9,721/15,650
Environment21#12,135/15,453
Education86#2,137/15,649
Infrastructure63#5,759/15,650
Community50#7,789/15,651
Leisure & amenities2#15,312/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where LaBarque Creek, Missouri ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Jefferson 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

Poverty rate · low1.1%
98/100Missouri 12.2%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty
Food insecurity · low7.2%
95/100Missouri 14.3%United States 15.6%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Loneliness · low28.7%
95/100Missouri 32.5%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Lack of reliable transportation · low5.3%
91/100Missouri 8.8%United States 8.3%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Mental health care shortage · low0.0
91/100Missouri 13.0United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationJefferson County value
Median household income · high$133,083
87/100Missouri $71,583United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013

Weaknesses

Suicide rate · high27.2 /100k
6/100Missouri 19.1 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataJefferson County value
Restaurants and bars · low4.3 /10k
6/100Missouri 8.6 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsJefferson County value
Primary care physicians · low25 /100k
8/100Missouri 72 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteJefferson County value
Grocery stores · low0.9 /10k
9/100Missouri 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsJefferson County value
Arts, entertainment and recreation · low2.0 /10k
11/100Missouri 4.6 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsJefferson County value
Public EV charging ports · low1.0 /10k
11/100Missouri 5.3 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyJefferson County value

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
77.5% (2015-2019) → 91.8% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
37.9% (2015-2019) → 48.4% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Median household incomeImproving
$100,167 (2015-2019) → $133,083 (2020-2024)
+33%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
High school diploma or higherImproving
94.7% (2015-2019) → 97.4% (2020-2024)
+2.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Poverty rateImproving
3.7% (2015-2019) → 1.1% (2020-2024)
−2.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.1× (2015-2019) → 3.4× (2020-2024)
+12%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×

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, LaBarque Creek, Missouri improved on 1 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 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.

Improved1

Broadband+14 points77.5% → 91.8%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of LaBarque Creek, Missouri between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	39.2 min2015-2019	36.9 min2020-2024	−2.3 min	Within the margin of error	74%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.9%2015-2019	48.4%2020-2024	+11 points	Within the margin of error	91%
Broadband subscriptions	77.5%2015-2019	91.8%2020-2024	+14 points	Improved	77%
Child poverty rate	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	42%
Effective property tax rate	0.89%2015-2019	0.70%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	56%
High school diploma or higher	94.7%2015-2019	97.4%2020-2024	+2.7 points	Within the margin of error	65%
Home price to income ratio	3.1×2015-2019	3.4×2020-2024	+0.4×	Within the margin of error	56%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3592015-2019	0.3702020-2024	+0.010	Within the margin of error	41%
Median household income	$100,1672015-2019	$133,0832020-2024	+33%	Within the margin of error	61%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent-burdened households	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	56%

“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 LaBarque Creek, Missouri five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of LaBarque Creek, 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, LaBarque Creek, Missouri itself moved +5.1 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

1,457 residents (±411)

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

522 households (±115)

LaBarque Creek, Missouri
Missouri share

Under $25k0.0%0
$25k–50k5.9%†31
$50k–75k13%†66

Homes

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

Owners and renters

522 households (±115)

LaBarque Creek, Missouri
Missouri share

Own98%512
Rent1.9%†10

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+9.8 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

766 workers (±239)

LaBarque Creek, Missouri
Missouri share

Drive alone68%†519
Carpool1.3%†10
Public transit

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the St. Louis, MO-IL

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 Jefferson County, the county holding most of LaBarque Creek's residents.

Jefferson County has 3,956 employer establishments, 171 for every 10,000 residents (0.69× the US rate of 248; 0.70× Missouri's), with 41,900 paid employees at an average annual pay of $46,903. The Census Bureau also counts 16,136 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 3,956; 16,136 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 171; US 248 · Missouri 244
Paid employees: 41,900
Average annual pay: $46,903; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	471	20.4	1.32×More than typical	3,780	$59,046	1,415
Ambulatory health care services	280	12.1	0.58×Fewer than typical	1,759	$81,182	452
Restaurants and other eating places	268	11.6	0.63×Fewer than typical	6,486	$20,053	52
Services to buildings and dwellings	213	9.2	1.37×More than typical	1,194	$41,193	1,139
Construction of buildings	183	7.9	1.05×About typical	769	$52,984	739
Automotive repair and maintenance	155	6.7	1.33×More than typical	777	$48,167	261
Limited-service restaurants	147	6.4	0.79×Fewer than typical	3,349	$19,167	28
Lessors of real estate	145	6.3	0.51×Fewer than typical	294	$40,078	1,400
Building equipment contractors	142	6.1	1.02×About typical	1,164	$65,546	237
Landscaping services	124	5.4	1.53×More than typical	797	$45,478	360
Building finishing contractors	119	5.1	1.35×More than typical	694	$58,608	480
Truck transportation	115	5	0.98×About typical	419	$47,174	448

Rank places for an industry Open Jefferson County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 231,207 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 LaBarque Creek, 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

20KFY2017
8.1KFY2018
6.5KFY2019
4KFY2020

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 LaBarque Creek, Missouri, so they do not add up across cities.

LaBarque Creek, Missouri's figures are part of those of Jefferson County, MO ($30.4M 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: LaBarque Creek is mostly in Jefferson County.

See federal money in Jefferson 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.

LaBarque Creek, Missouri is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

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

Jefferson County56100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

St. Louis, MO-IL72

Other cities and towns in Jefferson 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
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/2939503

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends