5 reasons Missouri is right
for headquarters
A pro-business climate and highly educated workforce make Missouri
an ideal setting for business headquarters. As one of the most diverse
economies in the U.S., Missouri is uniquely positioned to support
headquarters for all types of business. 10 Fortune 500 companies
and 10 of Forbes’ “Largest Private Companies in America” are among
those already headquartered in the state. And the list is growing.
pro-business
▪2
1 Missouri is more pro-business than other
Midwestern states.
▪▪Missouri has been included on Pollina Corporate Real Estate’s top 10 pro-business states
list for five consecutive years.
▪▪Missouri is extremely tax-friendly. The state ranks 7
th
rate income tax in the U.S. (Tax Foundation, 2015).
for property taxes and 4th for corpo-
▪▪In a study of all U.S. cities over two million, Missouri’s two largest metros were ranked
as having some of the lowest business costs; St. Louis ranked at No. 9 and Kansas City
ranked at No. 11 (KPMG Competitive Alternatives, 2014).
▪▪Missouri was one of nine states to receive the highest bond rating by all three rating
agencies—Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poors, and Moody’s Investor Service—in 2014. The
state’s track record with S&P alone is even more distinctive, having earned the AAA rating for over 50 years.
▪▪Missouri has the 4
most diversified economy in the U.S. with a GDP over $276
billion (BEA, 2013) and exports totaling over $12.9 billion (International Trade
Administration, 2013).
th
▪▪Missouri has the infrastructure to support multi-national business as evidenced by over
700 internationally-based companies.
▪▪Missouri recently adopted a new elective single-sales factor apportionment method-
ology. This option states that a sale of tangible personal property is in Missouri if the
purchaser’s destination point is in Missouri. A sale of tangible personal property is not in
Missouri if the purchaser’s destination point is outside Missouri. Missouri is one of only a
few states that allows taxpayers to choose their own income allocation formula (threefactor or single-factor), whichever results in the lesser corporate income tax liability.
Iowa
30th
Neb.
8th
Ill.
11th
Kan.
14th
Okla.
19th
Mo.
4th
Ark.
3rd
Economic diversity index (EDI)
BEA, 2013, analysis by MERIC
Iowa
49th
Neb.
31th
Ky.
34th
Tenn.
21st
Ill.
47th
Kan.
38th
Okla.
7th
Mo.
4th
Ky.
29th
Tenn.
15th
Ark.
40th
Corporate income tax rate index ranking
Tax Foundation, 2015
“Springfield is so diversified and so entrepreneurial. There’s opportunity here, even in a down time. That
tells you something about the resiliency of the people and the local economy.”
Jack Stack, CEO, SRC
headquarters in Missouri
▪3
2 Many headquarters already call
Missouri home.
▪▪Over 80 companies with annual sales of more than $500 million are headquartered in
Missouri (ReferenceUSA, 2014).
▪▪10 Missouri companies were included in 2014’s Fortune 500: Ameren; Centene;
Emersen Electric; Express Scripts; Graybar; Jones Financial; Monsanto; O’Reilly
Automotive; Peabody Energy; and Reinsurance Group of America.
▪▪Missouri is also the headquarters for 10 of America’s Largest Private Companies: Apex
Oil, Bass Pro Shops, Edward Jones, Enterprise, Graybar Electric, Hallmark Cards, JE Dunn
Construction, McCarthy Holdings, Schnucks Markets, and World Wide Technology
(Forbes, 2014).
▪▪Other major companies headquartered in Missouri include: Applebee’s, Arch Coal,
Brown Shoe Company, Build-a-Bear Workshop, Burns & McDonnell, Cardinal Scale,
Cerner, Commerce Bank, Con-way Truckload, Dairy Farmers of America, DST Systems,
Energizer Holdings, Handmark, H&R Block, Jack Henry & Associates, LMI Aerospace,
Leggett & Platt, Lockton Inc., North American Savings Bank, Panera Bread, Paul Mueller,
Peterson Manufacturing, Russell Stover, Smith Electric Vehicles, Shelter Insurance, Stifel
Financial, SunEdison, UMB Financial, UniGroup, and Watlow.
▪▪Companies with regional headquarters in Missouri include: American Family Insurance,
Bank of America, Boeing, CitiMortgage, Regions Bank, and U.S. Bank.
“We’re on the state line, and we seriously considered both Kansas and Missouri, as well as other markets.
Missouri clearly did come forth the strongest. Quite honestly, we had personal attention from the governor saying, ‘this is important.’”
Bryan Hansel, CEO , Smith Electric Vehicles
workforce
▪4
3 Missouri’s workforce is its chief asset.
•A well-educated population provides an easily trainable workforce. Missouri’s high
school graduation rate is higher than the national average (Education Week). And, 88.7
percent of Missourians have attained a high school diploma or higher, exceeding the
national average of 86.6 percent (Census Bureau, 2013).
•Missouri’s talent pool of three million exceeds the entire populations of 20 states (including neighboring Kansas, Arkansas and Nebraska), creating a scalable environment for
growing companies (Census Bureau, 2013).
•Missouri has nearly 140 post-secondary educational institutions, more than most other
Midwestern states (National Center for Education Statistics).
•Missouri posted the third highest percentage increase in tech industry jobs in the nation
in 2012 (TechAmerica Foundation).
Neb.
1,031,000
Kan.
1,482,000
Okla.
1,815,000
Two-year
Four-year
Iowa
1,680,000
Ill.
6,616,000
Mo.
3,015,000
Ark.
1,354,000
Mo workforce vs. surrounding states
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013
Ky.
2,063,000
Tenn.
3,068,000
Missouri’s non-profit colleges and universities
“Missouri’s got the Midwest work ethic, which means we’ve got a terrific pool of people to draw from.
We also have great schools: Washington University, Webster University, Saint Louis University and UMSL
(University of Missouri-St. Louis). We hire hundreds of graduates from those fine institutions. They’re
sharp, they’ve been challenged to think critically, and they’ve got excellent communications skills.”
Jim Weddle, Managing Partner, Edward Jones
access to markets
▪5
4 Missouri is centralized and well
connected, ensuring efficient access to
customers and markets.
▪▪Missouri’s central location allows companies to stretch the regular workday to service
customers on both coasts.
▪▪Missouri is within a day’s drive of more than half of the nation’s households, including
seven of the fastest growing population centers in the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau).
▪▪Missouri has one of the best and least congested transportation networks in the U.S.
▪▪Missouri has an extensive air transportation system with approximately 130 public airports, making both domestic and international travel more efficient.
▪▪Two Missouri airports provide international service: Lambert-St. Louis International and
Kansas City International. Commercial service is also offered in Springfield, Branson,
Joplin, Columbia, Cape Girardeau, Kirksville and Waynesville (Fort Leonard Wood).
▪▪Numerous Tier 1 providers—including AT&T, CenturyLink, Cogent, Level 3, Sprint, Verizon
and XO—have a strong presence throughout Missouri with over 2,000 miles of
fiber combined.
Nonstop Flights from Kansas City (MCI)
Flights from St. Louis
Flights from Kansas City
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Non-stop flights from Missouri
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Fiber routes
Source: NEF Inc.
Kansas City
“For a business like ours that ships coffee to a lot of places, it is important to be centrally located. There
are many places we can get to quickly from Missouri.”
St. Louis
Tricia Zimmer Ferguson, President, Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co.
quality of life
▪6
5 Missouri’s quality of life makes it a
pleasure to do business here.
▪▪Missourians enjoy endless recreational and cultural opportunities, including world-class
fishing and hiking, nationally ranked parks, and abundant music and theatre options.
▪▪With 1,000 miles of managed trails and more than 500 miles of nationally designated
recreation trails, Missouri was named the “Best Trails State” by American Trails (2013).
▪▪Dedicated in 1876 and spanning more than 1,300-acres, St. Louis’s Forest Park was
named one of the World’s Most Beautiful City Parks by Travel + Leisure (2013).
▪▪Missouri is a low-cost state, ranking 16
for lowest cost of living in the U.S. (C2ER,
3rd Quarter 2014) and 13th for lowest state and local property taxes per capita (Tax
Foundation, 2013).
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▪▪Missouri is home to top ranked health institutions, such as Barnes Jewish Children’s
Hospital (BJC) in St. Louis and A.T. Still University, birthplace of osteopathic medicine.
▪▪Missouri has above average rankings for K-12 education. The state ranks among the top
20 states in the U.S. for Blue Ribbon schools (U.S. Department of Education) and consistently produces above average scores on college entrance exams.
“One of our top executives was working for us out in Los Altos, California. And he came to us and said,
‘Please let me move there.’ He’s been in Kansas City three or four years now, and he loves it. I don’t think
you could get him to leave.”
Augie Grasis III, Founder, Handmark
The Missouri Partnership focuses on recruiting new
business to the state, and is a non-profit organization
supported by the Missouri Department of Economic
Development and the Hawthorn Foundation.
▪
To find out how the Missouri Partnership can assist at any
stage of your project, please contact us by:
mail: 120 South Central Avenue, Suite 1535
St. Louis, Missouri 63105
▪
12200 NW Ambassador Drive, Suite 234
Kansas City, Missouri 64163
phone:
314.725.0949
e-mail: info@missouripartnership.com
website: www.missouripartnership.com
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