Missouri map

Where Missouri is

Missouri is at the meeting point of the Midwest and the South, on the west bank of the Mississippi. It is about 300 miles north to south and 280 miles east to west. Iowa lies to the north; Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east across the Mississippi; Arkansas to the south; and Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska to the west. Kansas City sits on the western edge where the Missouri River turns east, St. Louis on the eastern edge just below the Missouri's mouth, and Jefferson City between them on the river. North of the Missouri River the land is rolling prairie; south of it rise the Ozarks.

Major cities

Geography

• Taum Sauk Mountain — 1,772 feet, the highest point, in the St. Francois Mountains of the eastern Ozarks.
• Missouri River — enters at Kansas City, crosses the state for about 550 miles and joins the Mississippi just above St. Louis. See the Missouri River map.
• Mississippi River — the entire eastern border; the lowest point, 230 feet, is on the St. Francis River in the Bootheel near the Arkansas line. See the Mississippi River map.
• Ozark Plateau — the rugged southern half, with the Current, Jacks Fork and Eleven Point rivers, large springs, and Lake of the Ozarks and Table Rock Lake, two of the largest reservoirs.
• Osage, Gasconade and Meramec rivers — the main tributaries draining the Ozarks north and east to the Missouri and Mississippi.
• Bootheel — the flat, delta-like southeast corner between the St. Francis and Mississippi rivers; the New Madrid fault beneath it produced the huge earthquakes of 1811–12.

Borders

The Mississippi River forms the whole eastern border and the Missouri River the north-western border with Nebraska and the northern part of the Kansas line, down to Kansas City. From there the Kansas and Oklahoma borders are a surveyed meridian. The Iowa border, settled after the 1839 Honey War, is a surveyed line. The Arkansas border follows 36°30′N, the Missouri Compromise line, except at the Bootheel, where it drops to the 36th parallel between the St. Francis and the Mississippi. Missouri has 114 counties plus the independent city of St. Louis, which separated from St. Louis County in 1876.

Regions of Missouri

Kansas City metro and the Missouri River towns of the west (St. Joseph, Independence), Northern Missouri (Kirksville, Hannibal), Central Missouri or Mid-Missouri (Columbia, Jefferson City), St. Louis metro and the Metro East, the Ozarks and Southwest Missouri (Springfield, Branson, Joplin), Southeast Missouri (Cape Girardeau) and the Bootheel.

Related maps

• Missouri county map — 114 counties plus the city of St. Louis.
• Blank Missouri map — outline for printing.
• Printable Missouri map.
• Jefferson City — a capital built in the middle of the state on the Missouri River.
• Neighbors: Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska.
• Region: Midwest · West North Central.
• Time zone: Central.
• Geography: Missouri River, Mississippi River, Ozarks.