2026 Economic Impact Study
MVU’s economic impact on Marshall and Missouri
When MVU pays its people, buys from local businesses, and welcomes students and visitors, that money keeps moving through Saline County and the rest of the state. An independent study shows what it added up to in fiscal year 2025.
About this study
Prepared by
Zenith Economics LLC, an independent economic consulting firm
Commissioned by
Missouri Valley University and its leadership
Period studied
Fiscal year 2025 (July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025)
Areas studied
Saline County, the four-county Pioneer Trails region, and the state of Missouri
What was measured
University operations, capital investment, student spending and visitor spending
Statewide impact
What MVU added to Missouri’s economy
In fiscal year 2025, spending by MVU, its students and its visitors supported these results across the state.
Economic output is the total value of production, roughly the same as sales. Jobs include full-time and part-time positions. All figures are model estimates, rounded.
Close to home
Most of the impact stays in Saline County
MVU’s campus is in Marshall, the Saline County seat. That’s where the largest share of the activity happens, supporting local businesses and the people who work there.
Saline County
Home of the MVU campus
- Economic output$36.6M
- Jobs supported374
- Labor income$17.9M
- State and local taxes$0.9M
Pioneer Trails region
Saline, Johnson, Lafayette and Pettis
- Economic output$38.1M
- Jobs supported383
- Labor income$18.3M
- State and local taxes$0.9M
State of Missouri
Statewide totals
- Economic output$43.6M
- Jobs supported412
- Labor income$20.2M
- State and local taxes$1.2M
Each larger area includes the smaller one, so the three sets of numbers shouldn’t be added together.
Where each dollar of impact lands
Of every $1 in statewide economic output tied to MVU:
- 84¢ Saline County
- 3¢ Johnson, Lafayette and Pettis counties
- 13¢ the rest of Missouri
Your college town
Marshall, Missouri
MVU’s hometown and the Saline County seat: a small town with a relaxed, friendly feel, where most of the university’s economic impact stays.
Columbia about 55 minutes · Kansas City about 1 hour 20 minutes
The free Viking Shuttle takes students around town
Campus and directions: 500 East College Street
Where the spending comes from
Four kinds of spending, one community
The study followed four streams of spending tied to MVU. Running the university is by far the largest, at 95% of direct spending.
University operations
Paying faculty and staff and buying the goods and services it takes to run a university. In fiscal year 2025, MVU paid $15.2 million in wages and benefits and spent $11.0 million on goods and services.
Supported 400 jobs and $42.0 million in output statewide
Capital investment
Construction on campus, including a student housing project. Disclosed construction contracts averaged $377,000 a year from fiscal year 2023 through 2025.
Supported 3 jobs and $0.7 million in output statewide
Student spending
Rent, food, transportation and personal purchases off campus by students from outside Missouri. About 848 in-person students came from out of state in fall 2024.
Supported 5 jobs and $0.5 million in output statewide
Visitor spending
Lodging, meals and shopping by out-of-state guests at games, commencement, campus visits and other events. Total attendance was about 31,000 in 2024–25.
Supported 4 jobs and $0.4 million in output statewide
Student and visitor spending counts only people from outside Missouri, so those two figures are conservative. Tuition, fees and on-campus housing are paid to MVU and are already counted in operations.
The ripple effect
How spending keeps moving
A dollar MVU spends doesn’t stop with the first business that receives it. The study counts three rounds of activity.
01
Direct
MVU’s payroll and purchases, plus the first round of spending by students, visitors and contractors.
02
Indirect
MVU’s suppliers buy goods and services from other businesses in the region.
03
Induced
People who work for MVU and its suppliers spend their paychecks at stores, restaurants and services nearby.
Fiscal year 2025, in millions of dollars
Saline County$36.6M total
Direct $27.0M · Indirect $3.2M · Induced $6.4M
Pioneer Trails region$38.1M total
Direct $27.0M · Indirect $3.9M · Induced $7.2M
State of Missouri$43.6M total
Direct $27.1M · Indirect $6.6M · Induced $9.9M
Across Missouri, every $1 of direct output supported another $0.61, and every 100 direct jobs supported about 33 more.
See the full data table
| Area | Effect | Jobs | Labor income | Value added (GDP) | Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saline County | Direct | 307 | $15.4M | $15.5M | $27.0M |
| Indirect | 27 | $0.9M | $1.4M | $3.2M | |
| Induced | 39 | $1.6M | $3.5M | $6.4M | |
| Total | 374 | $17.9M | $20.4M | $36.6M | |
| Pioneer Trails region | Direct | 308 | $15.4M | $15.6M | $27.0M |
| Indirect | 31 | $1.0M | $1.6M | $3.9M | |
| Induced | 44 | $1.8M | $3.9M | $7.2M | |
| Total | 383 | $18.3M | $21.1M | $38.1M | |
| State of Missouri | Direct | 309 | $15.4M | $15.6M | $27.1M |
| Indirect | 44 | $2.0M | $3.2M | $6.6M | |
| Induced | 59 | $2.7M | $5.5M | $9.9M | |
| Total | 412 | $20.2M | $24.3M | $43.6M |
Public revenue
Supporting public services
MVU is a tax-exempt nonprofit, but the activity it creates generates taxes paid by employees, households and businesses: income, payroll, sales, property and business taxes.
In total, the study estimates $5.4 million in tax revenue tied to MVU-related activity in fiscal year 2025. Federal taxes, mostly Social Security and Medicare payroll contributions, make up 78% of it.
See tax revenue by area
| Level of government | Saline County | Pioneer Trails | Missouri |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local governments | $331 | $376 | $526 |
| State of Missouri | $520 | $556 | $679 |
| Federal | $3,709 | $3,800 | $4,228 |
| Total | $4,560 | $4,732 | $5,433 |
MVU at a glance
The university behind the numbers
A snapshot of Missouri Valley University during the study period.
64%
Of students came from outside Missouri: 39% from other states and 25% from other countries
35
Varsity sports in the NAIA and the Heart of America Athletic Conference, plus national associations for rodeo (NIRA), shotgun sports (ACUI), archery (USA Archery), esports (NECC), powerlifting, weightlifting and STUNT
Also during the study period, MVU had 301 full-time and part-time employees (Nov. 30, 2024), plus 292 student workers.
About the study
How the numbers were calculated
MVU asked Zenith Economics LLC, an independent firm, to estimate the university’s economic and fiscal contribution. Zenith used IMPLAN, a widely used input-output model of the economy.
What was counted
- University operations: pay and benefits for employees and purchases of goods and services. About $3.5 million in depreciation, interest, bad debt and other items that aren’t purchases was left out.
- Capital investment: construction under disclosed contracts, averaged over fiscal years 2023 through 2025. Land and equipment were left out.
- Student spending: off-campus spending by students from outside Missouri. On-campus room and board isn’t counted again, because MVU’s cost of providing it is already in operations.
- Visitor spending: purchases by visitors from outside Missouri who came for athletic events, commencement and admissions visits.
Key terms
- Output: the total value of production, roughly equal to sales.
- Value added: the contribution to gross domestic product (GDP).
- Labor income: wages, salaries and benefits.
- Jobs: full-time and part-time positions, not full-time equivalents. Student workers aren’t in the job count, but their pay is in labor income.
- Direct, indirect and induced: the first round of spending, purchases by suppliers, and spending by the people those paychecks support.
Data sources
- MVU audited financial statements, fiscal year 2025
- MVU counts of employees, enrollment, student housing and home locations, and event attendance
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
- Missouri Division of Tourism visitor spending profile, College Board and U.S. Census Bureau data
- IMPLAN model and 2024 regional data
Assumptions and limitations
- Results cover fiscal year 2025 and are stated in 2025 dollars.
- The model assumes fixed prices and an unchanged mix of inputs within each industry.
- About $3.9 million in MVU purchases couldn’t be assigned to suppliers and was left out, which lowers the reported results.
- Student and visitor spending rests on more assumptions than the other streams and was modeled conservatively. Together they are less than 4% of direct spending.
- Alumni earnings, research and community benefits that involve no spending are outside the study’s scope.
- The results are estimates from an economic model, not forecasts or guarantees. Zenith did not audit the information MVU supplied.
Source: 2026 Missouri Valley University Economic Impact Study, Executive Summary Report. Analysis by Zenith Economics LLC, commissioned by MVU. Learn more about the university’s leadership and Board of Trustees.
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