Fort Leonard Wood is a medium-sized town located in the state of Missouri. With a population of 15,959 people and four associated neighborhoods, Fort Leonard Wood is the 48th largest community in Missouri.The armed forces are a huge part of the life in Fort Leonard Wood, employing 39.72% of the workforce. While it is a military town, the civilian sector still plays an important role in the local economy, where the Retail and Accommodation industries employ 21.07% and 18.89% of the civilian workforce, respectively. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 15.49% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.Fort Leonard Wood is also a college town, where lots of students live while attending area colleges. Because of the high percentage of people living in Fort Leonard Wood enrolled in college, Fort Leonard Wood has a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared towards the needs and activities of students. Fort Leonard Wood’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the nation, making it a very safe place to live. Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Fort Leonard Wood spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 12.44 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the town are less than they would otherwise be.The education level of Fort Leonard Wood citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 29.20% of adults in Fort Leonard Wood have at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Fort Leonard Wood in 2022 was $21,876, which is low income relative to Missouri and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $87,504 for a family of four. However, Fort Leonard Wood contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Fort Leonard Wood is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Fort Leonard Wood home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Fort Leonard Wood residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Fort Leonard Wood also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 25.52% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Fort Leonard Wood include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Scottish. The most common language spoken in Fort Leonard Wood is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.
