I have a t-shirt that says “Missouri. It’s not all that bad.”
Some folks laugh at it. Others just shake their heads.
A new survey indicates why those opposite reactions are both accurate. A new survey says we’re keeping our money (“because the people know better how to spend their money than government does,” as the legislative cliché goes). But what’s it costing us?
A personal finance company in Washington, D.C. peppers our mailbox regularly with surveys on local and state issues. One of the most recent looks at where Missourians rank when it comes to return on investment of their tax dollars.
Wallet Hub says Missouri is the sixth-lowest in total taxes per capita (meaning the population 18 and older).
But we don’t rank as highly in some key things the company also measured.
Our economy isn’t bad—19th, rated on the median household income, annual job-growth rate, the share of people living below poverty line, economic mobility, unemployment and underemployment rates.
We’re 25th in education, a measurement of the quality of our public university system. The company ranked 500 of the 951 public and private universities in another survey. Truman State was the highest ranking public university in Missouri and it ranked 107th among the private and public schools. Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla was 140. UMKC was 200th, the University of Missouri (apparently Columbia) was 223. Schools were measured on Student selectivity, cost and financing, faculty resources, campus safety, campus experience, educational outcomes, and career outcomes.
We were 29th in public schools rankings. Among categories in that ranking were the number of blue ribbon schools per capita, high school graduation rate among low-income students, projected high school graduation rate increase between 2017-18 and 2031-32 school years, dropout rate, math test scores, reading test scores, median SAT and ACT scores, and pupil-teacher ratios.
Missouri ranked 35th in health, measured in terms of hospital beds per 1,000 people, the quality of public hospitals—using data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, average life expectancy at birth, births, infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births, average health insurance premium, and the quality of health care.
The numbers for safety are worse. We’re 42nd in safety. The ranking is based on our per-capita violent crime and property crime rates and vehicle fatalities per 100-million miles traveled.
In infrastructure and pollution quality—only seven states are worse. The poor quality of our roads and bridges is well-known. But other factors enter in: average commute time, parks and recreation expenditures, highway spending per driver, air pollution, and water quality and the share of the population that receives fluoridated water through public water supplies.
Not sure what we should expect as the sixth lowest in total taxes per capita. Probably not surprising that we’re only average at best in some categories and among the worst in others.
But everybody has to be someplace. And Missourians seem to be happy to be in the lower third of state in some important areas.