Selling Points: Amid inflationary pressures, employers still boast cost of living as local attractor

While elevated costs persist amid ongoing inflationary pressures, they’re not changing what employers typically say that Springfield and the state remain attractive as an affordable place to live and work.

The latest data released from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center ranked Missouri No. 4 nationwide in cost of living with a first-quarter 2025 index score of 88. MERIC collected data from a survey by The Council for Community and Economic Research, which notes a score of 100 represents the national average – the lower the score, the lower the costs on items such as groceries, housing, utilities, transportation and health care. Although Springfield metro area data was unavailable for the first quarter of this year, it averaged an 87.3 score for 2024, which put it below the state average of 88.7, as well as metro-area scores of 89.1 in St. Louis, 90.1 in Columbia and 91.1 in Kansas City. Springfield fared the best in housing, with a 75.9 score. Its other individual scores were 82.8 in utilities, 87.3 in transportation, 93.5 in miscellaneous, 95.5 in health care and 96 in groceries, according to the MERIC report.

Erik Crane, president and CEO of information technology company CPI Technologies, says when it comes to attracting and retaining talent in Springfield, the low cost of living is something he regularly sells to prospective employees. Still, he recognizes inflation continues to impact that perceived value proposition.

“I know there are things that people think are expensive, but we do have an attractive cost of living,” he says, noting Springfield’s advantages also include its large number of higher education institutions that can provide a workforce pipeline. “They’re producing people that want to be in the technology space. The key is to keep them here. And we have that opportunity. There’s a pretty good-sized pool to draw from, and we get some really good candidates.”

The technology industry is among the higher-paid occupation groups in the Springfield metropolitan statistical area, according to MERIC. The Springfield MSA comprises Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk and Webster counties. The computer and mathematical occupation group, which includes jobs such as information security analysts, database administrators and computer programmers, averages $79,290 per year. However, the total falls short of the statewide average of $90,910 for the group. In Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas, the average is even higher. Kansas City’s average is $99,470 per year, followed by St. Louis at $96,440.

Springfield keeping up with higher pay in Kansas City and St. Louis is also a challenge in the legal field, says Austin Fax, managing member of Lowther Johnson Attorneys at Law LLC. The legal occupation group pays an average of $104,250 per year in the Springfield MSA, compared to $133,870 and $113,790 in metro areas in Kansas City and St. Louis, respectively, according to MERIC data.

“We can’t pay starting out what some of the bigger firms that either St. Louis or Kansas City can pay,” Fax says. “And these kids are coming out with a lot of debt and a lot of money that they owe from law school. So, it’s attractive to them to go to a bigger firm that can pay them a lot of money in a bigger city.”

However, Fax says that doesn’t keep the firm from looking beyond the area to bolster its workforce. He says Lowther Johnson employs 61, including 20 attorneys.

“We really have to focus on people who not only fit the culture of our firm, but also we try and figure out what kind of people project long-term,” Fax says. “In terms of attorney talent, we do a lot of interviewing at the University of Missouri. We have a lot of University of Missouri grads, but we also had people who went to other law schools and went to other areas. For other law schools, like (University of Missouri-Kansas City) and (Saint Louis University), and even out of state, we really rely on word of mouth if somebody knows somebody.”

Regarding what employees report as a barrier to accepting or keeping a job at a company, better wages and benefits was the top response for participants in Springfield Business Journal’s 2025 Economic Growth Survey. Over 70% says it was a barrier, and nearly 50% of respondents noted it as the company’s top challenge. Other barriers included access to child care, access to transportation and leaving for a remote job.

Additionally, 23% of respondents say housing prices – either by purchasing or renting – have a large impact on their ability to recruit and retain employees. Another 40% say it has some impact, while 20% say it has a small impact. Only 17% say it has no impact.

Fax himself is an MU graduate and rose the ranks to his leadership position after starting as a clerk for the firm in 2013.

“I’ve had some opportunities [to leave the firm] along the way, and I didn’t set out in law school with the idea that I was going to come back, but I really liked this area,” Fax says, adding he’s a Rogersville native. “Since I came back, I’ve just never really had occasion to want to leave, and now we’ve got two kids, and we’re raising them, and so I don’t see any plan to really leave in any time in the near future.”

That southwest Missouri connection is part of what Fax says Lowther Johnson considers for new hires. It was a strategy that Fax says drew him back.

“We really have to work to try and find people who have a connection to this area and are serious about coming back after graduation and aren’t just looking for a summer job.”

Evaluating data
Charles Gascon, economist and research officer for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, says cost of living at its core is really differences in rents.

“It’s a household factor that matters, and it’s an important factor that determines migration as to where people will live and ultimately helps firms understand where they should set wages if they truly believe that there’s high amenity values,” he says, adding the amenity values in Springfield are very high.

The Springfield MSA increased nearly 14,700 residents – roughly 3.1% – between July 1, 2020, and July 1, 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Springfield MSA’s resident count was at 491,053 as of 2023, only behind St. Louis and Kansas City in metro area size.

The Springfield MSA, along with northwest Arkansas, has seen “pretty healthy population growth,” Gascon says, adding a consequence is a higher cost in rent due to difficulty in demand matching supply.

“That has led to some affordability measures moving in the opposite direction that you would like to see, but that’s also a sign of healthy demand for the region,” he says.

As for wage growth, Gascon says he doesn’t place too much emphasis on regional data. It’s very difficult to get accurate estimates, he says. Springfield’s average hourly earnings rate for all employees was $26.93 in June, down from $28.02 a year prior, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

“Even if you look at average hourly earnings at the national level, changes in the composition of the workforce can also have big impacts on average hourly earnings,” he says. “If you look at during the pandemic, when you saw a lot of workers laid off in leisure and hospitality, average hourly earnings shot up, and then as those hospitality workers came back into the labor market, average hourly earnings actually dropped pretty sharply because you had a lot more low-wage workers coming into the market.”

Attraction making
Don Harkey, CEO of People Centric Consulting Group LLC, works with clients in the Springfield area to sell their companies as an attractor to bring in and retain talent.

Cost of living is a factor but not a major one, Harkey says.

“The major factor for attracting employees into a new position is the quality of the work itself,” he says, adding he knows a lot of employees who have left in favor of higher cost of living areas because they found the right company, position and experience. “If we’re leading with cost of living in Springfield, I think we’re going to be losing in terms of talent attraction.”

For Springfield, Harkey says the community should be more focused on quality of life rather than cost of living.

“The best thing that Springfield could do that’s not necessarily related to the city is if all of our employers worked on making sure we have the best employee experiences, and Springfield became known as being a great employer,” he says. “That would go a really long way toward attracting talent.”

Culture connection
Crane says roughly 53 of his company’s 65 employees work in Springfield, adding the company also has offices in Arkansas and Kansas.

“At all of our offices, we try to keep those people local,” he says, adding most of the talent is homegrown. “I feel like that gives our clients a nice feeling to know that these people are all local. We try to do all our banking local. We try to keep everything as local as we can and really help out those economies.”

Culture is stressed at CPI Technologies, which pays employees up to four hours a month to donate time for nonprofit volunteering. It meets a community involvement need that Crane says he hears from many of his employees, especially younger ones.

“It gives people the opportunity to fill that spot that they’re looking for to give back, but not have to sacrifice as much at work,” he says, adding the company also pays to have food trucks come several times a year to feed its staff. “We are pretty high-speed, low-drag in the technology world, and the pace is sometimes difficult. But we’ve had people that have been with us for over 30 years, and so you must be doing something right when you are having retirement parties for your people that are 30-plus years on your team.”

Fax says his firm likes to pitch its culture and describes Lowther Johnson to prospective employees as having a family atmosphere and providing a place for attorneys to work in areas such as family law, secured transactions, personal injury and contract drafting.

“You name it, we’ve probably got an attorney who does it,” he says, adding the firm doesn’t have minimum billable hours requirements for new hires coming out of law school. “So, you’ve got a lot of different things you can do down here, but also the firm is small enough that you’re not going to get lost in the shuffle.”