St. Louis Remains a Fortune 500 City, Despite the Conventional Wisdom

It is bizarre that St. Louis, founded in 1764 by a group of intrepid French pioneers on the banks of the Mississippi, would engage in constant civic self-flagellation. In other words, what is the source of the often-heard sentiment: “St. Louisans are their own worst enemies”? 

I pose this question as I heard Clayco founder Bob Clark recently explain on The 314 Podcast that St. Louis has lost a ton of Fortune 500 companies over the years. I agree with Clark on just about everything else he said, but I have to take some exception to this point, as it frames St. Louis’ large company history in an overly negative light.

In fairness, the Fortune 500 metric is a bit tricky in its application. For example, the list includes privately held companies but only if they disclose their financials to a federal regulatory agency. Thus, St. Louis financial firm Edward Jones is on the list, but neither Enterprise Mobility nor World Wide Technology appear, despite having substantially higher revenues.