Metropolitan Mirror

Facts and Trends Reflecting the St. Louis Region

Metro Mirror Home

Metropolitan Mirror: Facts and Trends Reflecting the Metropolitan Region is a data series featuring information compiled and/or interpreted by PPRC researchers. Metropolitan Mirror is organized into two sections.

The Data and Trends Section offers an in-depth exploration of issues that directly affect the St. Louis region. The data analysis is presented through graphs, maps, images and reports.
The Governance Section presents a variety of municipal and regional documents, including city budgets, charters and other resources.
The Housing Resources page is coming soon.

Check back often for updates, or follow PPRC on Facebook and be the first to know when we've posted something new!

Just published on Metropolitan Mirror:

Forms of Diverging Demographics
An examination of 2010 Census data for the St. Louis metropolitan area comparing age by sex and race reveals a number of forms of diverging demographics among these groups across space and time. »View Report

Population Up: Poor Population WAY Up
The St. Louis metropolitan area was able to maintain modest, but steady overall population growth through the turbulent first decade of the 21st Century. The rate of growth of the poor population, however, far exceeded that of the general population »View report

Household Composition in St. Louis
The 2010 Census recorded 98 percent of the metropolitan St. Louis population living in 1,119,020 households. This report gives a breakdown of the various household compositions. »View report

Population Distribution by Race and Ethnicity in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area »View report

Separate and Unequal: The Neighborhood Gap for Blacks, Hispanics and Asians in Metropolitan America, by John Logan, Brown University
This report ranks St. Louis, along with 49 other metro areas, and looks at each region's Black, Hispanic and Asian population's exposure to poverty as compared to the white populations in the same region. »View Report

The Green Economy: Sizing the Clean Economy in the St. Louis-Il Metro Area (a report produced for the Brookings-Battelle Clean Economy Database) »View

Percentage of People of Color in the St. Louis MSA, 1970-2010
»View animated map
»View as PowerPoint

Census 2010 Response Rates - St. Louis MSA Plus, a census primer. »view

Next Economy: Missouri State Profile, from the Brookings Institution Analysis of American Communities Survey. »View

Excerpt: Moving Toward Regional Governance Incrementally: The St. Louis Case, from Governing Metropolitan Regions in the 21st Century (Cities and Contemporary Society), edited by Donald Phares (M.E. Sharpe, 2009).
» Read Excerpt
» Buy the Book

Excerpt: Governance and the Struggle for the Downtown: St. Louis, 1952–2005, from Governing Metropolitan Regions in the 21st Century (Cities and Contemporary Society), edited by Donald Phares (M.E. Sharpe, 2009).
» Read Excerpt
» Buy the Book

Population Change in St. Louis City and St. Louis County (Posted January 2011) »Download

Policy Brief 25 - Reconciling the Great Divorce: The City of St. Louis Reentering St. Louis County
The reentry issue has become a defining one in the St. Louis Metro area dialogue. This policy brief explores the issues that must be considered before reentry can occur. »Download Policy Brief

A Regional Perspective on Education: Academic Performance Data for St. Louis Area Students in 2009 »View Report
»View Academic Performance Tables

Foreclosures Reach All-Time High in St. Louis County »View Report

Tracking Economic Recovery in the St. Louis, MO-IL Metropolitan Area »View Report

About Metropolitan Mirror:

Metropolitan Mirror: Facts and Trends Reflecting the Metropolitan Region is an information resource that provides data and reports on a wide variety of aspects that characterize the St. Louis area. The data and analysis range in geographic scope from the entire 16-county metropolitan area to specific St. Louis neighborhoods, and focus on issues including demographics, economic development, housing and foreclosures, evaluation and transportation. “Metropolitan Mirror will continually expand and evolve,” said Mark Tranel, PPRC Director. “Its purpose is to provide information that is useful to elected officials, administrators in public and nonprofit agencies, and other civic leaders.”

In January 2011, Metropolitan Mirror launched the Governance section. While the initial data and reports focus on the government structure in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, the Governance section will expand to include information about municipal and special district issues in the St. Louis Metro area.

“Though we will post new information at least once a month, we’re actually hoping to bring visitors new information about the region on a more frequent basis,” said Tranel. “Our recent reports have centered on issues related to foreclosure, but MM has a much larger scope. Our aim is to delve into a broad range of issues affecting the region, and we will be limited only by the available data.” For example, release of 2010 census data will provide a rich source for analyzing the St. Louis community.

The first Metropolitan Mirror installments were compiled by Will Winter, PPRC Research Analyst. “I hope to show the sort of local data that PPRC acquires and uses on a regular basis,” said Winter, “particularly local spatial data. But I hope to take it a step further. I also want each analysis to show the data in a new light--perhaps in a way that has not been requested by PPRC's clients--and in that way use the data to highlight current public policy debates.” Other reports have been based upon information gathered by Mike Duncan, Information Technology Manager at the St. Louis County Department of Planning, and by Cynthia Palazzolo, a doctoral candidate in Public Law at UMSL and a GRA with PPRC.

In the Governance Section, much of the information is a compilation of government documents, including budgets and city charters. Metropolitan Mirror brings all of the articles of the Charters of the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, respectively; creating a single document for each Charter, a resource that is not available anywhere else. This section also includes digital versions of historic government documents, includingThe Scheme of Separation between St. Louis City and County, published in 1888.

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