How Poplar Bluff is run
Poplar Bluff spent $64.5 million in the year to December 31, 2024, about $3,975 per resident.
What stands out about how Poplar Bluff is run
Read from the town’s budget, meetings and records. The page puts what stands out first.
Who runs Poplar Bluff
From public records, which can lag behind an election. Tell us if a name is out of date.
The typical homeowner pays $796 a year
Every local property tax on the home: town, schools and county. About 0.66% of the home’s value, vs 0.85% across Missouri.
Typical yearly bill next door and statewide
The Housing page’s calculator splits a monthly payment into loan, tax and insurance at Poplar Bluff’s rate.
Can I afford it? →The median bill homeowners report to the Census survey (bills of $10,000+ are reported as “$10,000+”). The effective rate is that bill ÷ the median home value: a rough guide, not the official tax rate.
About $3,975 per resident a year, or $10.89 a day
The biggest line: water & other utilities, at 67% of spending.
Thank you for being a neighbor
Per resident, spending is down 12% since 2022
Spending per resident, by fiscal year. Prices rose too: about 4% a year in 2022–2024.
Spending per resident by year
full-time in 2025, down from 132 in 2022.
* A Census Bureau estimate for that year (the town didn’t report most of its figures).
One full-time town employee for every 124 residents
On the payroll in March 2025.
By department full-time, plus part-time
Pay is March payroll times twelve, so it’s approximate. Part-timers count half in the bar lengths.
Poplar Bluff R-I School District
Poplar Bluff’s K–12 school district. It’s its own government, with a budget separate from the town’s.
Of the $11,725 per pupil, $6,908 goes to the classroom (teachers, aides, supplies); the rest to buses, buildings, counselors and administration. Building projects and debt payments aren’t in the per-pupil figure.
Missouri districts overall: 54% local, 35% state, 11% federal.
School year 2023–24. Census Bureau school finance survey.
From town hall to Washington
Every level of government that speaks for Poplar Bluff.
- 1Your cityMayor & council
- 2Missouri HouseState representatives
- 3Missouri SenateState senator
- 4GovernorStatewide
- 5U.S. HouseYour representative in Congress
- 6U.S. SenateBoth represent all of Missouri
Democrat · Republican · other or independent. Tap a name for their official page.
Reach Poplar Bluff’s government
Numbers and hours come from neighbors and the town’s own site (the Handbook). A new one goes live once two neighbors confirm it.
Questions about how Poplar Bluff is run?
Neighbors who’ve been to the meetings can help.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Budget and staff: U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Governments and Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances and the Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll. School district: Census school finance survey. Property tax: Census American Community Survey, 5-year estimates. Officials: Open States and Wikidata. Representatives: Open States, the Census and congress-legislators.