2025 Compare Cities Economy:
Columbia, MO vs Palo Alto, CA

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Highlights
- Household income in Palo Alto, is 239% more than it is in Columbia and is 65% above the National Average.
- Columbia unemployment rate is 3.0%.
- Palo Alto unemployment rate is 3.5%.
 Columbia, MOPalo Alto, CAUnited States
 Unemployment Rate  Unlock3.5%6.0%
 Recent Job Growth  Unlock2.5%1.6%
 Future Job Growth26.8%  Unlock33.5%
 Sales Taxes8.0%  Unlock6.2%
 Income Taxes  Unlock8.0%4.6%
 Income per Cap.$32,784  Unlock$37,638
 Household Income  Unlock$194,782$69,021
 Family Median Income$88,210  Unlock$85,028
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 Est. Households By Income
 Columbia, MOPalo Alto, CAUnited States
 Income Less Than 15K  Unlock5.2%9.4%
 Income between 15K and 20K4.4%  Unlock3.8%
 Income between 20K and 30K  Unlock3.1%8.1%
 Income between 30K and 40K9.2%  Unlock8.0%
 Income between 40K and 50K  Unlock2.9%7.6%
 Income between 50K and 60K6.8%  Unlock7.2%
 Income between 60K and 75K  Unlock4.6%9.6%
 Income between 75K and 100K11.5%  Unlock12.8%
 Income between 100K and 150K  Unlock12.8%16.3%
 Income between 150K and 200K5.7%  Unlock7.8%
 Income greater than 200K  Unlock49.5%9.5%
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 Population By Occupation
 Columbia, MOPalo Alto, CAUnited States
 Management, business, finance15.3%  Unlock16.4%
 Engineering, computers, science  Unlock29.0%6.5%
 Community, social services2.7%  Unlock1.8%
 Legal  Unlock3.7%1.2%
 Education, library10.9%  Unlock6.2%
 Arts, design, media, sports, entertainment  Unlock3.5%2.0%
 Healthcare practitioners and technology9.7%  Unlock6.2%
 Healthcare support  Unlock1.1%3.3%
 Firefighters, law enforcement1.4%  Unlock2.1%
 Food preparation, serving  Unlock1.6%5.4%
 Building maintenance2.3%  Unlock3.6%
 Personal care  Unlock2.3%2.6%
 Sales, office, administrative support19.4%  Unlock20.9%
 Farming, fishing, forestry  Unlock0.1%0.6%
 Construction, extraction, maintenance/repair4.2%  Unlock8.1%
 Production, transportation, material moving  Unlock2.5%13.1%
Reviews for Columbia    41 Reviews

If you are an active person and love to be outdoors and go to college sporting events, Columbia is a great place to live! I run and bike and go to Mizzou events a lot. I  More

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Over 4 years ago

I've live in CoMo for 20 yrs. NOT sure about this state of the art water park??!! There are great parks but nothing else for families. NO zoo, museum, and definitely no  More

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I lived there for a year and hated every minute. Columbia reminded me of the San Francisco of the Midwest. It is overrun with homeless people. Law enforcement is  More

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Reviews for Palo Alto    8 Reviews

The Bay Area in general, but Palo Alto specifically provides many of the qualities sought by many; the climate is beautiful, there is access to cultural and recreational  More

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Over 17 years ago

Very  More

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Over 18 years ago

VTA and SamsTrans and Caltrain all provide good service and most times frequency of service is  More

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