ST. LOUIS, MO – October 6, 2026 (STL.News) More than three months after STL.News examined why Kansas City appeared to be gaining urban momentum while St. Louis continued confronting population loss, vacant properties, and aging infrastructure, the comparison between Missouri’s two largest metropolitan areas has returned to the spotlight.
First Alert 4 reporter Nathan Vickers raised the question directly Tuesday in a new installment of the station’s “First Alert Forward” series: What can St. Louis learn from Kansas City?
Vickers sat down with Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas to discuss efforts to generate growth in downtown Kansas City and some of the major events the city has secured, including matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The report follows another First Alert Forward story published Sept. 30 examining Kansas City’s strong sense of local pride and the differing growth trajectories of the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas.
For STL.News readers, the broader question is familiar.
On June 24, STL.News published an extensive analysis titled “Kansas City’s Urban Revival Highlights St. Louis Challenges.” That report examined infrastructure, public safety, taxation, downtown development, transportation, regional cooperation, and what appeared to be a widening gap between the trajectories of the two Missouri cities.
More than three months later, we have reason to revisit that analysis.
Some of the evidence supporting the original comparison has grown stronger.
But something else has happened.
St. Louis has begun taking measurable steps to address several of the problems identified in June.
The question is therefore no longer simply what St. Louis can learn from Kansas City.
It is whether St. Louis can turn new investments, improving public-safety numbers and redevelopment plans into sustained economic momentum.
The Population Gap Remains Striking
Any comparison between the two cities must begin with an important qualification: Kansas City and St. Louis have dramatically different municipal boundaries.
Kansas City covers a much larger geographic area, while the independent City of St. Louis has been geographically separated from St. Louis County since the 19th century. City-to-city population comparisons therefore don’t tell the full story of either metropolitan area.
But the direction of population change remains difficult to dismiss.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s latest completed estimates put Kansas City’s population at 521,220 as of July 1, 2025.
That represents a 2.6% increase from the city’s April 2020 estimate base of 508,012.
St. Louis moved in the opposite direction.
The Census Bureau estimated the City of St. Louis at 278,144 residents in July 2025, down 7.7% from its April 2020 estimates base of 301,349.
That divergence matters.
Population supports the tax base, neighborhood businesses, housing demand, restaurants, retail, and the infrastructure necessary to sustain an urban economy.
St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer acknowledged the seriousness of the problem in her 2026 State of the City address.
“We’re facing a real headwind in the form of population loss,” Spencer said.
She linked population decline to high vacancy and deteriorating infrastructure—two problems that have become central to the debate over St. Louis’ future.
The mayor also acknowledged another uncomfortable reality: St. Louis has yet to reverse roughly seven decades of population decline.
That makes population growth one of the clearest measures by which future revitalization efforts must eventually be judged.
Kansas City’s Streetcar Is Producing Extraordinary Ridership
Transportation remains one of the clearest differences between the two cities’ redevelopment strategies.
Kansas City’s streetcar has expanded considerably beyond its original downtown route, connecting destinations that include the River Market, downtown, the Power & Light District, the Country Club Plaza and the University of Missouri-Kansas City area.
The expanded system produced a remarkable result this summer.
The KC Streetcar Authority reported 698,705 passenger trips during June 2026, the highest monthly ridership in the system’s history.
The FIFA World Cup undoubtedly contributed to the surge.
But the more revealing number may be what happened away from the FIFA Fan Festival.
According to the Streetcar Authority, more than 130,000 streetcar trips were provided to and from the Fan Festival at the National World War I Museum and Memorial.
Yet approximately 75% of all June trips were to and from other destinations along the route.
That included destinations such as City Market, Power & Light District, Country Club Plaza and the Riverfront.
That distinction is significant.
It suggests the streetcar was not simply functioning as temporary transportation for an international sporting event. The expanded system was moving large numbers of people among multiple economic, residential, and entertainment destinations.
That is where the Kansas City comparison becomes useful for St. Louis.
The lesson is not necessarily that St. Louis needs to copy Kansas City’s streetcar.
St. Louis already has MetroLink and MetroBus, and the two cities have different transportation systems, development patterns, and geography.
The broader lesson is that transportation can become an economic-development tool when it effectively connects places where people live, work, shop and spend their leisure time.
Kansas City Connected the World Cup to Local Business
Kansas City’s handling of the World Cup provides another tangible example.
Before the tournament, the city and the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City launched the Open Doors! program to activate vacant commercial spaces.
Kansas City announced in May that more than 20 local businesses, artists and organizations had been matched with storefronts across more than 18 locations.
The participating areas included Downtown, Crossroads, 18th & Vine, River Market, Midtown and Westport.
The city’s program specifically sought properties downtown, near entertainment districts and along the streetcar line.
The concept was relatively simple.
Kansas City knew enormous numbers of visitors would arrive for the World Cup.
Instead of treating those visitors solely as stadium customers, the city attempted to connect that temporary surge in attention with local businesses, artists, commercial property owners, and vacant storefronts.
Whether those temporary activations ultimately produce lasting businesses will require longer-term measurement.
But the strategy itself illustrates something important.
A major event was incorporated into a broader economic-development effort.
That differs from simply winning an event, celebrating the announcement, and waiting for visitors to arrive.
St. Louis Has Taken Significant Steps Since June
The Kansas City comparison should not excuse overlooking what has changed in St. Louis.
Important developments have occurred since the June STL.News analysis.
One of the largest came from the city’s Rams settlement.
On July 13, Spencer signed Board Bill 22 into law. It became Ordinance 72165, authorizing $230 million in Rams settlement money for North St. Louis and tornado recovery, citywide infrastructure and neighborhood improvements, and Downtown revitalization.
The legislation dedicates $55 million to Downtown St. Louis.
That includes money for major capital projects involving large vacant buildings, riverfront improvements, downtown infrastructure, retail and restaurant activation, and attracting major events.
The original investment framework allocated:
- $15 million for strategic major capital projects, including work involving large vacant properties such as the Railway Exchange.
- $15 million for the riverfront.
- $15 million for downtown infrastructure and streetscape improvements.
- $7.5 million for downtown retail and corridor activation.
- $2.5 million for attracting major events, subject to private matching requirements.
The broader $230 million package also directs substantial resources toward North St. Louis, tornado recovery, water infrastructure, public infrastructure, and vacancy reduction.
The city later said it would transfer $40 million to the Water Division to begin supporting essential repairs.
Those are not merely proposals anymore.
The ordinance is law.
That is a meaningful difference from where St. Louis stood when STL.News examined the Kansas City comparison in June.
The next question is what the money produces.
St. Louis Is Also Seeing Improvement in Homicides
Public safety was one of the major issues examined in the June STL.News analysis.
There has been measurable progress there, too.
Through September, St. Louis police reported 88 murders in 2026, according to First Alert 4.
There were 109 during the corresponding period in 2025 and 119 during the first nine months of 2024.
According to the report, 2026 marked the first time since 2013 that St. Louis entered October with fewer than 100 murders.
That is significant.
It does not mean St. Louis has solved its public-safety problems.
Homicide is only one crime measure. Shootings, robberies, vehicle crime, reckless driving, and residents’ and visitors’ perceptions of safety can all influence economic activity.
But the homicide decline is measurable progress and should be recognized as such.
For Downtown St. Louis in particular, sustained public-safety improvements could have economic consequences.
Employers, residents, tourists, convention planners, developers and restaurant operators all make decisions partly based on their perception of an area’s safety and stability.
If St. Louis can sustain the improvement, public safety could become part of a broader recovery rather than a force working against it.
Vacancy Shows the Scale of the St. Louis Challenge
The magnitude of St. Louis’ vacancy problem also became clearer this summer.
In June, the city’s Community Development Administration released “From Policy to Progress: A Ten-Year Strategy to Reduce Vacancy in the City of St. Louis.”
The numbers are substantial.
According to the report, St. Louis has more than 24,000 vacant parcels, including more than 9,000 vacant buildings and approximately 15,000 vacant lots.
Nearly 90% of the vacant buildings are privately owned.
The report estimated that vacancy contributes to approximately $310 million in lost personal property value and unrealized family wealth, about $25 million in lost potential annual real-estate tax revenue, and roughly $20 million annually in city services devoted to maintaining vacant property.
The problem is also geographically concentrated.
Approximately 84% of vacant parcels are north of Delmar Boulevard, according to the report.
Those numbers illustrate why revitalizing St. Louis requires more than fixing Downtown.
Downtown matters enormously because it is the region’s most visible urban business district and contains major employment, tourism, sports, and cultural assets.
But St. Louis cannot produce lasting population growth without stabilizing neighborhoods as well.
That is why the Rams settlement package’s combination of North St. Louis investment, infrastructure spending, vacancy reduction and Downtown revitalization could be important — provided the projects are successfully executed.
This Is Where Kansas City’s Lesson Becomes Clearer
The most useful lesson from Kansas City may not be a particular development.
It may be coordination.
Kansas City’s current momentum cannot reasonably be attributed to one streetcar, one entertainment district, one mayor, one sporting event, or one redevelopment project.
The visible effect comes from multiple investments operating together.
Transit connects destinations.
Events bring visitors.
Businesses capture some of their spending.
Active storefronts generate pedestrian traffic.
Housing puts people downtown outside traditional office hours.
Public spaces give visitors reasons to remain in an area.
Successful projects can then increase confidence in subsequent investments.
That does not mean every Kansas City project has succeeded or that Kansas City has eliminated its own serious urban problems.
It has not.
Nor does it mean St. Louis should duplicate Kansas City’s development strategy.
The two cities are different.
The lesson is that isolated projects have limited ability to change the trajectory of an entire city.
Connected projects can have a much larger effect.
St. Louis Already Has Many of the Pieces
St. Louis does not lack assets.
It has the Gateway Arch and one of America’s most recognizable riverfronts.
It has Forest Park and major cultural institutions.
It has professional baseball, hockey, and Major League Soccer.
It has Washington University, Saint Louis University, and major medical and research institutions.
It has Cortex and a growing geospatial sector.
It has distinctive neighborhoods and historic architecture.
It has MetroLink.
It has the Brickline Greenway under development.
It has major redevelopment opportunities downtown.
And now it has hundreds of millions of dollars in Rams settlement money authorized for strategic investment.
The problem isn’t a lack of assets.
The challenge is making those assets reinforce one another.
Downtown residents should be able to move easily between neighborhoods and attractions.
A visitor attending a Cardinals, Blues, or City SC game should have compelling reasons to spend additional time and money elsewhere in the city.
Major events should benefit surrounding restaurants, retailers, and locally owned businesses.
Redeveloped buildings should add residents and street-level activity.
Infrastructure improvements should make private investment more attractive.
Public-safety improvements should increase confidence.
Those connections are where individual projects begin becoming an urban strategy.
Civic Pride Cannot Substitute for Results
First Alert 4’s earlier Kansas City report focused heavily on local pride.
That is worth examining, but civic pride is difficult to manufacture through slogans.
St. Louis residents already demonstrate enormous pride in their neighborhoods, restaurants, sports teams, architecture and cultural institutions.
The challenge is turning that pride into broader confidence in the city’s direction.
That confidence ultimately depends on results.
Residents notice when streets improve.
They notice when vacant buildings reopen.
They notice when businesses arrive.
They notice when crime falls.
They notice when construction projects finish.
And they notice when highly publicized plans fail to materialize.
St. Louis does not simply need a better story about itself.
It needs continued measurable improvements that make a better story credible.
Three Months Later, the Debate Has Advanced
The June STL.News analysis asked why Kansas City appeared to be advancing while St. Louis continued struggling with many long-standing problems.
The evidence available today produces a more nuanced answer.
Kansas City continues demonstrating significant urban momentum.
Its expanded streetcar has generated record ridership.
Its World Cup strategy attempted to direct international attention toward local businesses and vacant commercial properties.
Its population continues moving in the opposite direction from that of the City of St. Louis.
But St. Louis is not in exactly the same position it occupied in June.
The Rams settlement legislation has become law.
The city has authorized money for Downtown, infrastructure, vacancy reduction, North St. Louis, and tornado recovery.
The city has adopted a detailed 10-year strategy for addressing vacancy.
And homicides are running substantially below the previous two years through September.
Those developments matter.
They also raise the stakes.
The Question Is Now Execution
St. Louis leaders do not need another study to tell them that population loss is dangerous.
They know it.
They do not need another report to establish that vacancy is expensive.
Their own vacancy strategy documents it.
They do not need to be told that the water system requires investment.
Spencer has publicly described the Water Division as operating in “crisis mode.”
They do not need to be told Downtown needs more residents, businesses, and activity.
The city has now appropriated money specifically for those purposes.
And Kansas City doesn’t need to prove that major events can be leveraged beyond the event itself.
The evidence is visible across Missouri.
The next stage is execution.
Can St. Louis turn $55 million in Downtown appropriations into completed projects?
Can major vacant buildings return to productive use?
Can riverfront investment create sustained commercial and pedestrian activity?
Can declining homicide numbers become a multi-year trend?
Can the city’s vacancy strategy materially reduce its inventory of more than 24,000 vacant parcels?
And, ultimately, can St. Louis stop losing residents?
Those are measurable questions.
They will also determine whether the Kansas City comparison looks different in several years.
St. Louis Does Not Need to Become Kansas City
Kansas City’s recent successes deserve attention, but St. Louis should not try to become Kansas City.
It should become a more successful version of St. Louis.
The cities have different geography, governmental structures, histories, and economic strengths.
Kansas City has problems St. Louis should not minimize merely to create a convenient comparison.
But its recent experience demonstrates something important.
A city’s trajectory is not necessarily permanent.
Investment can create activity.
Activity can attract additional investment.
Transportation can connect economic centers.
Major events can become development opportunities.
Vacant commercial spaces can be activated.
And civic confidence can grow when residents repeatedly see evidence that their city is moving forward.
St. Louis now has an opportunity to test those lessons.
When STL.News examined the comparison in June, much of the discussion centered on what St. Louis was failing to accomplish.
Three months later, there are legitimate signs of progress.
That deserves recognition.
But appropriating money is not redevelopment.
Publishing a vacancy strategy is not reducing vacancy.
Announcing infrastructure investment is not repairing infrastructure.
And improving nine months of crime statistics is not yet a permanent reversal.
Those are beginnings.
The real measure will be what comes next.
First Alert 4 is now asking what St. Louis can learn from Kansas City.
Perhaps the more important question for St. Louis is whether, several years from now, anyone will still need to ask.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; City of St. Louis; Kansas City, Missouri; KC Streetcar Authority; First Alert 4; STL.News.
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