Things seem to be looking up for the St. Louis economy. And with positive national economic trends expected to continue, the city seems poised to build on its momentum.
At the 2025 St. Louis Smart Business Dealmakers Conference, speakers at the midday keynote session explore the current economic landscape to bridge global macroeconomic trends with microeconomic realities in the city, region and state. Dustin Allison of Greater St. Louis Inc., Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge of the St. Louis Lambert International Airport, and John Manetta of Bank of America, in a panel moderated by Bank of America’s Marilyn Bush, analyze the economic indicators, infrastructure developments and investment strategies shaping the city’s future.
Here’s an excerpt:
“St. Louis is No. 1 per capita in personal income growth over the last five years in the country. Behind us are Denver, Nashville, Indianapolis and Kansas City, rounding out the top five. No. 1. It's been a long time since we've been able to say that,” says Dustin Allison, Interim CEO at Greater St. Louis Inc. “2.5 percent GDP growth in 2023; we're 16th nationally. Our 2030 jobs plan is our strategic document for how we're trying to grow the region. Our annual goal is 2 percent, so certainly hitting above target for at least one of those years. Interesting to see if we can keep replicating that over time. That's the test right now. Third for job growth from summer 2023 to summer 2024, first time since 1990 we were in the top five for rate of job growth in the country, behind only Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. We're not telling that story enough to ourselves. One of the things that we have to do as a region is get out of our own way. Stop the hand wringing, stop looking back and start looking forward about the interesting story that's developing here.”
