BizGapMap

Home / Convenience stores / Missouri / St. Louis County, MO

St. Louis County, MO — Convenience stores Saturation

How many convenience 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. 51 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Convenience stores · Corner stores · Small-format food & fuel marts. Counted together because official statistics use one 445120 code.

Measured density: Range spans bands — 0.26× the U.S. rate (between 0.26× and 0.87× 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. 45 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 37 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

Range spans the U.S. rate   St. Louis County convenience stores — 26–87% of the U.S. rate

32 convenience stores are counted in St. Louis County — 0.2 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 26% of the U.S. rate of 0.9.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has risen 33% between 2015 and 2023 (15 → 20). 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 63135 (Saint Louis), 63114 (Saint Louis), 63136 (Saint Louis) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 63121 (Saint Louis), 63146 (Saint Louis), 63033 (Florissant).

Census County Business Patterns (2023) puts the county-wide count at 57 establishments, including locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA — so it can run slightly above the sum of the ZIP rows on this page. It is annual, so it lags more than QCEW.

Measured density: St. Louis County sits at 26% of the U.S. rate for convenience stores. 37 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 26% and 87% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 63135 and 63114; the lowest measured density is in 63121 and 63146.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing convenience 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.

Convenience stores
32–122
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (45 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
0.2
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
0.9
per 10,000 present
County index
0.26×
vs. U.S.
Latest year (CBP)
57
2023 — $5M annual payroll
Residents
1,028,683
43 ZIPs with data
Workers
614,590
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
992,929
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
−1.0%
−10,447 people
Net migration 2024
+2,644
international +6,550, domestic −3,906
Jobs located here
639,388
LODES 2022, −1.4% since 2019

St. Louis County had an estimated 992,929 residents on July 1, 2024 — 1.0% fewer than in 2020 (−10,447). In the latest year it gained 2,054 people: births minus deaths −620, international migration +6,550, domestic migration −3,906. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

639,388 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (−1.4% since 2019), and 468,077 employed residents lived there (−1.5% 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
63025 Eureka
+32.3%
63122 Saint Louis
+6.3%
ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
63135 Saint Louis
−18.1%

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 convenience stores only combined with vending machine operators, so a convenience-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 convenience 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 — up 33% since 2015

Number of convenience stores in St. Louis County 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.

15
2015
15
2018
13
2020
16
2021
17
2022
20
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
63135 Saint Louis
227%
63114 Saint Louis
214%
63136 Saint Louis
143%
63033 Florissant
139%
63146 Saint Louis
124%
63121 Saint Louis
120%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
63121 Saint Louis
120%
63146 Saint Louis
124%
63033 Florissant
139%
63136 Saint Louis
143%
63114 Saint Louis
214%
63135 Saint Louis
227%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few convenience 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 ResidentsWorkersConvenience storesIndex
63141Saint Louis Employment hub 20,93252,455 0–2 —

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

All ZIP codes

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

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersConvenience stores Per 10kIndexStatus
63135Saint Louis 18,3811,728 4 2.1 227% High density
63114Saint Louis 33,96914,050 8 2.0 214% High density
63136Saint Louis 40,9299,720 6 1.3 143% Above average
63033Florissant 43,0568,105 6 1.3 139% Above average
63146Saint Louis 30,67827,092 5 1.1 124% Above average
63121Saint Louis 25,0084,540 3 1.1 120% Above average
63005Chesterfield 19,77929,717 0–2 — — Not published
63006Chesterfield —80 0–2 — — Not published
63011Ballwin 35,92017,394 0–2 — — Not published
63017Chesterfield 43,24338,461 0–2 — — Not published
63021Ballwin 55,6666,403 0–2 — — Not published
63022Ballwin —27 0–2 — — Not published
63025Eureka 19,5084,920 0–2 — — Not published
63026Fenton 45,35427,259 0–2 — — Not published
63031Florissant 50,1966,797 0–2 — — Not published
63032Florissant —26 0–2 — — Not published
63034Florissant 18,9081,619 0–2 — — Not published
63038Wildwood 7,107783 0–2 — — Not published
63040Wildwood 8,5261,923 0–2 — — Not published
63042Hazelwood 17,81318,020 0–2 — — Not published
63043Maryland Heights 21,92426,758 0–2 — — Not published
63044Bridgeton 10,32419,240 0–2 — — Not published
63045Earth City 016,570 0–2 — — Not published
63074Saint Ann 15,7934,511 0–2 — — Not published
63088Valley Park 8,2262,869 0–2 — — Not published
63099Fenton —1,401 0–2 — — Not published
63105Saint Louis 18,87532,529 0–2 — — Not published
63117Saint Louis 9,2619,423 0–2 — — Not published
63119Saint Louis 34,18116,880 0–2 — — Not published
63122Saint Louis 41,63416,646 0–2 — — Not published
63123Saint Louis 49,07713,475 0–2 — — Not published
63124Saint Louis 10,8397,791 0–2 — — Not published
63125Saint Louis 33,29411,096 0–2 — — Not published
63126Saint Louis 15,4525,629 0–2 — — Not published
63127Saint Louis 5,2689,987 0–2 — — Not published
63128Saint Louis 30,54013,976 0–2 — — Not published
63129Saint Louis 51,55310,796 0–2 — — Not published
63130Saint Louis 28,91032,314 0–2 — — Not published
63131Saint Louis 17,93531,648 0–2 — — Not published
63132Saint Louis 14,28327,674 0–2 — — Not published
63133Saint Louis 6,5692,285 0–2 — — Not published
63134Saint Louis 13,05921,824 0–2 — — Not published
63137Saint Louis 19,6841,296 0–2 — — Not published
63138Saint Louis 18,2331,791 0–2 — — Not published
63140Saint Louis 316572 0–2 — — Not published
63141Saint Louis 20,93252,455 0–2 — — Not published
63143Saint Louis 8,9757,569 0–2 — — Not published
63144Saint Louis 9,50515,025 0–2 — — Not published
63145Saint Louis —3,086 0–2 — — Not published
63151Saint Louis —35 0–2 — — Not published
63167Saint Louis —3,516 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 County and convenience 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 445120 — convenience retailers. Counts establishments with paid employees. ZBP is published annually with a ~2-year lag.

Fresh county signal. This industry has no clean QCEW series, so the freshest county signal is Census County Business Patterns 2023: 57 establishments and $5M in annual payroll county-wide. This count includes locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA, so it can be slightly higher than the sum of the ZIP rows. CBP is annual and slower than QCEW. 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 (0.91 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.