Rolla vs St. James

A side-by-side comparison of Rolla and St. James: population, income, housing, and more.

Rolla and St. James are places in Missouri. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Rolla has the higher population (20,144 vs 3,922 in St. James). St. James has the higher median household income ($50,644 vs $42,518 in Rolla). Rolla has the higher median home value ($177,400 vs $117,200 in St. James).

Population, income & housing

	Rolla	St. James
Population	20,144	3,922
Median age	27.4 yrs	40.7 yrs
Median household income	$42,518	$50,644
Median home value	$177,400	$117,200
Median gross rent	$790	$814
Housing units	9,231	1,939
Homeownership rate	40.8%	57.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.5%	18.6%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	9.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rolla	St. James
Population	20,169 → 20,144 (-0.1%)	4,076 → 3,922 (-3.8%)
Median household income	$37,600 → $42,518 (+13.1%)	$42,615 → $50,644 (+18.8%)
Median home value	$131,100 → $177,400 (+35.3%)	$92,000 → $117,200 (+27.4%)
Median gross rent	$737 → $790 (+7.2%)	$678 → $814 (+20.1%)

Rolla

Population

20,16920,144

Median household income

$37,600$42,518

Median home value

$131,100$177,400

Median gross rent

$737$790

St. James

Population

4,0763,922

Median household income

$42,615$50,644

Median home value

$92,000$117,200

Median gross rent

$678$814

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rolla	St. James
Under 5	4.8%	9.0%
5 to 17	13.9%	15.6%
18 to 24	27.5%	5.4%
25 to 34	14.9%	14.1%
35 to 44	9.7%	9.6%
45 to 54	7.3%	9.5%
55 to 64	7.7%	12.8%
65 to 74	7.4%	12.4%
75 and over	6.7%	11.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rolla	St. James
White (non-Hispanic)	81.8%	91.0%
Black or African American	3.5%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	6.1%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.3%	3.9%
Hispanic or Latino	3.7%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rolla	St. James
No high school diploma	6.8%	12.1%
High school graduate	28.6%	42.2%
Some college or associate's	29.1%	27.1%
Bachelor's degree	17.7%	8.9%
Graduate or professional degree	17.8%	9.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rolla	St. James
Drove alone	73.5%	78.1%
Carpooled	14.1%	9.6%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	4.6%	1.9%
Bicycle	1.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.4%	8.5%
Other means	0.6%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rolla	St. James
1-unit, detached	48.1%	65.4%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	5.6%
2 to 4 units	24.8%	24.7%
5 to 19 units	11.5%	3.0%
20 or more units	10.2%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.7%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Rolla	St. James
Poverty rate	23.8%	20.6%
Average household size	2.16	2.20
Mean commute (minutes)	14	22
Median year structure built	1985	1977