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St. Louis city, MO — Grocery stores Saturation

How many grocery stores exist per person present — residents plus daytime workers — by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Establishment data: Census ZBP 2023. Population: ACS 2024 5-year. 26 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Supermarkets · Grocery stores · Neighborhood food markets. Counted together because official statistics use one 445110 code.

Measured density: Above average — 1.24× the U.S. rate (between 1.24× and 1.42× once withheld ZIP cells are counted)

Why a range: Census does not publish a ZIP-by-industry count when that ZIP has 0–2 businesses. 13 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 5 of them with residents. Each could hold 0, 1, or 2 businesses: counting them all as 0 gives the low end, counting them all as 2 gives the high end — the data cannot say where the truth sits. The density range uses only the populated cells, since ZIPs without residents are excluded from per-person rates. How ranges work

Above the U.S. rate   St. Louis city grocery stores — 124–142% of the U.S. rate

72 grocery stores are counted in St. Louis city — 1.9 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 124% of the U.S. rate of 1.6.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has fallen 24% between 2015 and 2023 (84 → 64). That set is smaller than today's county total. 2020–2021 were pandemic-distorted, and Census rounds counts, so small moves are within noise.

Measured supply density is highest in 63113 (Saint Louis), 63115 (Saint Louis), 63118 (Saint Louis) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 63109 (Saint Louis), 63111 (Saint Louis), 63104 (Saint Louis).

BLS QCEW puts the latest county-wide count (2026 Q1) at 64 establishments, the freshest available signal.

Measured density: St. Louis city sits at 124% of the U.S. rate for grocery stores. 5 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 124% and 142% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 63113 and 63115; the lowest measured density is in 63109 and 63111.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing grocery stores and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more. Treat low density as a question to check, not an answer.

Grocery stores
72–98
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (13 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
1.9
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
1.6
per 10,000 present
County index
1.24×
vs. U.S.
Latest quarter (QCEW)
64
2026 Q1 — county total
Residents
279,896
18 ZIPs with data
Workers
184,510
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
279,695
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
−6.9%
−20,620 people
Net migration 2024
−3,229
international +2,403, domestic −5,632
Jobs located here
222,778
LODES 2022, −2.1% since 2019

St. Louis city had an estimated 279,695 residents on July 1, 2024 — 6.9% fewer than in 2020 (−20,620). In the latest year it lost 3,077 people: births minus deaths +173, international migration +2,403, domestic migration −5,632. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

222,778 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (−2.1% since 2019), and 137,454 employed residents lived there (−4.6% since 2019). LODES counts wage and salary jobs covered by unemployment insurance plus federal jobs; it excludes the self-employed and military, and counts jobs rather than unique people. 2019→2022 spans the pandemic, so read it as one change, not a trend.

Population and migration say whether the customer base is growing. They do not say whether people want another business of this type. Definitions and limits →  ·  Full county detail →

ZIP gaining residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change

No ZIP had a statistically significant increase.

ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
63106 Saint Louis
−36.5%
63115 Saint Louis
−18.2%

ACS 5-year estimates for 2015–2019 and 2020–2024. Only ZIPs with at least 2,000 residents in both windows and a change larger than the survey margin of error (90%) are listed — small ZIPs move a lot on paper without a real signal.

Nonemployer businesses

Not shown. Census publishes grocery stores only combined with convenience stores in this dataset, so a grocery-only nonemployer count is not published.

Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024 (NAICS 2022). We do not approximate this figure.

Saturation map

Each ZIP area is shaded by its density of this business type per person present (residents + workers) vs. the U.S. average. Click any ZIP to zoom to its boundary, see its numbers, and switch to aerial imagery. Individual mapped shops appear as dots at street level — Show locations zooms you in to them (scroll or double-click to zoom).

Basemap:
Under 50% 50–100% 100–150% 150–250% 250%+ 0–2 (not published) / no data ZIP total (dot size) Mapped shop (OpenStreetMap, street level)

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles by OpenFreeMap.

White dots are ZIP totals from the official Census count — the bigger the dot, the more grocery stores in that ZIP. They are aggregated, not individual shops. Turquoise dots are individual locations mapped in OpenStreetMap, shown only at street level; they are crowd-sourced and indicative, may be incomplete, and do not equal the official counts. Only the official ZIP totals feed the saturation index.

Market trend — down 24% since 2015

Number of grocery stores in St. Louis city across 2015–2023, on a consistent set of ZIP codes present in every year — so changes are real, not ZIP-boundary artifacts. 2015/2018 are pre-pandemic baselines; 2020/2021 are COVID-distorted.

84
2015
74
2018
72
2020
73
2021
66
2022
64
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
63113 Saint Louis
401%
63115 Saint Louis
286%
63118 Saint Louis
269%
63107 Saint Louis
198%
63112 Saint Louis
163%
63147 Saint Louis
160%
63108 Saint Louis
145%
63116 Saint Louis
127%
63104 Saint Louis
122%
63111 Saint Louis
92%
63109 Saint Louis
70%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
63109 Saint Louis
70%
63111 Saint Louis
92%
63104 Saint Louis
122%
63116 Saint Louis
127%
63108 Saint Louis
145%
63147 Saint Louis
160%
63112 Saint Louis
163%
63107 Saint Louis
198%
63118 Saint Louis
269%
63115 Saint Louis
286%
63113 Saint Louis
401%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few grocery stores may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. We rank only residential and mixed ZIPs here; employment hubs and visitor destinations are listed separately below. ZIPs where Census did not publish a count (0–2 businesses) are not ranked: they may be the least served of all, but the data cannot tell 0 from 1 or 2. Verify those locally.

Employment hubs & destinations

These ZIPs have far more workers (or visitors) than residents, so their counts are driven by daytime and visitor demand — not a place to read "shortage" from resident numbers alone.

ZIPNeighborhoodType ResidentsWorkersGrocery storesIndex
63110Saint Louis Employment hub 17,64536,147 5 90%
63103Saint Louis Employment hub 8,77830,782 3 80%
63101Saint Louis Employment hub 3,13015,456 0–2 —
63102Saint Louis Employment hub 2,88219,163 0–2 —

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

All ZIP codes

Click a column header to sort. Index = grocery stores per 10,000 people present (residents + 0.5×workers) ÷ the U.S. average. 100% = exactly average.

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersGrocery stores Per 10kIndexStatus
63113Saint Louis 10,2211,992 7 6.2 401% Very high density
63115Saint Louis 14,4882,492 7 4.4 286% Very high density
63118Saint Louis 25,91310,241 13 4.2 269% Very high density
63107Saint Louis 8,9091,634 3 3.1 198% High density
63112Saint Louis 17,9853,506 5 2.5 163% High density
63147Saint Louis 8,1737,780 3 2.5 160% High density
63108Saint Louis 21,33610,388 6 2.3 145% Above average
63116Saint Louis 42,1706,663 9 2.0 127% Above average
63104Saint Louis 19,00714,917 5 1.9 122% Above average
63111Saint Louis 18,8514,211 3 1.4 92% Below average
63110Saint Louis 17,64536,147 5 1.4 90% Below average
63103Saint Louis 8,77830,782 3 1.2 80% Below average
63109Saint Louis 25,2364,513 3 1.1 70% Below average
63101Saint Louis 3,13015,456 0–2 — — Not published
63102Saint Louis 2,88219,163 0–2 — — Not published
63106Saint Louis 6,7512,817 0–2 — — Not published
63120Saint Louis 6,7902,846 0–2 — — Not published
63139Saint Louis 21,6318,962 0–2 — — Not published
63156Saint Louis —118 0–2 — — Not published
63157Saint Louis —18 0–2 — — Not published
63163Saint Louis —350 0–2 — — Not published
63164Saint Louis —2,105 0–2 — — Not published
63166Saint Louis —77 0–2 — — Not published
63177Saint Louis —10 0–2 — — Not published
63178Saint Louis —239 0–2 — — Not published
63180Saint Louis —41 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Saint Louis

The numbers above tell you how the market looks. To find a specific storefront, these marketplaces list available retail space for lease.

LoopNet
Largest commercial marketplace
Browse Saint Louis retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Saint Louis retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Saint Louis retail space →

Open vacancy data (actual empty units) is only published by some cities; where it exists we show it directly. Listings above are third-party.

Census withholds some ZIP-by-industry cells to protect small businesses. 0–2 means the cell was not published (Census publishes industry counts only at 3+ per ZIP), so the ZIP is left unranked rather than counted as zero. ~ means the count is estimated from the broader industry group and can be off by a business or two.

Follow St. Louis city and grocery stores

When a data vintage changes or a section of this report is revised, we post it to a public update feed. No email address, no account, no tracking — and nothing is sent unless something actually changed.

Subscribe to updates (RSS) How these numbers are built →

Methodology & sources

Establishments. U.S. Census ZIP Code Business Patterns (ZBP 2023), NAICS 445110 — supermarkets & other grocery stores. Counts establishments with paid employees. ZBP is published annually with a ~2-year lag.

Fresh county signal. BLS QCEW (quarterly) is newer than ZBP — 2026 Q1 shows 64 establishments county-wide for this industry. It cannot be broken down by ZIP.

Population. U.S. Census American Community Survey 2024 5-year ZCTA population (table B01003). Workers are the ZIP's total employment from the same 2023 ZBP file.

Demand ("people present"). Demand comes from residents and daytime workers: residents + 0.5 × workers. This is the single documented assumption in the model and can be tuned.

Index. index = (ZIP establishments ÷ ZIP demand × 10,000) ÷ the U.S. average for this industry (1.55 per 10,000 present). It is a supply-side density measure; it does not capture income, rent, tourism, or whether locals actually want more.

Read the full methodology →  ·  Data sources & vintages →

BizGapMap — free, no-login small-business saturation reports for major U.S. counties. Built entirely from public U.S. Census, BLS, and IRS data (ZBP 2023, ACS 2024 5-year, PEP 2024, LODES, QCEW, IRS SOI). No forecasts, no revenue guesses — withheld cells are marked, and the few derived counts are labelled as estimates.