St. Louisruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Academic medicine and healthcare
BJC HealthCare, Washington University School of Medicine, SSM Health, Mercy, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
BJC and the Washington University medical school operate as a single clinical and research complex in the Central West End and are between them the largest employer in the region. The med school's research funding is out of all proportion to the city's size.
Plant science and agtech
Bayer Crop Science, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Benson Hill, KWS, Yield Lab
One of the densest concentrations of plant science anywhere in the world, built on the Monsanto legacy and now anchored by Bayer's Creve Coeur campus and the Danforth Center. It is the sector that makes St. Louis distinctive rather than merely mid-sized.
Defence, aerospace and geospatial intelligence
Boeing Defense, Space & Security, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA West), Leidos
Boeing's defence arm is the region's largest private employer and builds the F-15 and F/A-18 in north county. The NGA's new West campus in north St. Louis brought thousands of cleared geospatial jobs into the city itself — most of that work requires US citizenship.
Financial services
Edward Jones, Stifel Financial, Commerce Bancshares, Wells Fargo Advisors, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Edward Jones runs one of the largest brokerage branch networks in North America from south county, and the Federal Reserve's Eighth District bank is downtown — the source of the FRED economic database that economists everywhere use.
Consumer goods, food and industrials
Anheuser-Busch InBev, Post Holdings, Emerson, Ameren, Bunge, Energizer, Graybar
Anheuser-Busch's Soulard brewery still runs and is still the North American headquarters; Emerson and Ameren are Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the metro. It is a genuinely deep corporate base for a city this size.
Technology and startups
World Wide Technology, Centene, Block, Cortex Innovation Community, Bullhorn
Cortex, between the Central West End and Forest Park Southeast, is the district where the university spinouts and the venture scene sit. World Wide Technology is one of the largest privately held technology firms in the US and is headquartered here.
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