Miller County, Missouri

Miller County is a county in Missouri, United States, in the northern Ozarks along the Osage River and the Lake of the Ozarks’ Bagnell Dam basin. It had a population of 24,722 at the 2020 census and covers 600 square miles (1,554 km2) centred near 38°13′N 92°26′W.

Tuscumbia is the county seat, and its postal code is 65082. The county has three incorporated cities, five incorporated villages, and roughly two dozen unincorporated communities. It sits in the Central time zone.

Towns & Villages in Miller County

Miller County has 33 named places on record, split between three cities, five villages, and unincorporated crossroads and lake communities. Two places straddle a county line and are noted below the table; CDP figures come from the 2020 census where available, otherwise the cell reads —.

Two of the county’s largest places straddle the Camden County line at Lake of the Ozarks: Osage Beach and Lake Ozark are each shared between Miller and Camden counties, with most of Lake Ozark’s incorporated area sitting in Camden. Both are listed here for their Miller County frontage.

ZIP Codes

• 65026 — Eldon
• 65486 — Iberia
• 65047 — Kaiser
• 65017 — Brumley
• 65082 — Tuscumbia (also serves Ulman-area rural routes)
• 65075 — Saint Elizabeth
• 65064 — Olean
• 65083 — Ulman
• 65065 — Osage Beach (shared with Camden County)

Smaller unincorporated communities such as Bagnell, Etterville, and Mount Pleasant use the ZIP code of their nearest post office town rather than one of their own.

Geography

Miller County lies in the northern Ozark Highlands, a landscape of hardwood ridges and limestone bluffs cut by the Osage and Tavern Creek river valleys. The county covers 600 square miles, of which 593 square miles (1,536 km2) are land and 7.4 square miles (19 km2) are water — most of that water the Miller County arm of the Lake of the Ozarks, formed by Bagnell Dam on the Osage River in 1931. It borders Moniteau County to the north, Cole County to the northeast, Osage County to the east, Maries County to the southeast, Pulaski County to the south, Camden County to the southwest, and Morgan County to the west.

Demographics

The 2020 census counted 24,722 residents, giving a density of about 41 people per square mile. Eldon (4,416) is the county’s largest incorporated city, followed by Osage Beach, whose 4,637 residents are split with neighboring Camden County. The county is 93.4% White with a median age of 41.3, and roughly three in four residents live in rural, unincorporated areas. Median household income runs below the Missouri median of $68,545, typical for a rural Ozarks county without a major metro employer base.

Economy & Local Life

Tourism tied to the Lake of the Ozarks anchors the local economy along the county’s southwestern edge, supporting marinas, resorts, and seasonal retail around Osage Beach and Kaiser. Eldon serves as the county’s trade and service hub, with Eldon R-I School District as one of the larger employers. Away from the lake, the county remains largely agricultural, with cattle farming and timber on the ridge land between Tuscumbia and Iberia.

History

Miller County was organized on February 6, 1837, carved from Cole County, and named for John Miller, a former U.S. Representative and the state’s sixth governor. Tuscumbia, on the Osage River, was platted as the county seat the same year and remains one of Missouri’s smallest county seats by population. The 1931 completion of Bagnell Dam, built by Union Electric to power the region, flooded thousands of acres of the Osage River valley to create the Lake of the Ozarks and reshaped the county’s southwestern communities from farmland into a resort economy.

Getting There

U.S. Route 54 crosses the county’s southwest corner near Osage Beach and Kaiser, while Missouri Routes 17 and 52 connect Eldon and Tuscumbia to the rest of the county.

• Jefferson City — 30 miles northeast
• Lake of the Ozarks/Osage Beach — 12 miles south of Eldon
• Rolla — 45 miles southeast
• Columbia — 55 miles north

The nearest commercial airport is Columbia Regional Airport; Lee C. Fine Memorial Airport at the Lake of the Ozarks handles general aviation traffic in the county’s south.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Miller County, Missouri?
It sits in the northern Ozarks of central Missouri, about 30 miles southwest of Jefferson City, along the Osage River and the northern arm of the Lake of the Ozarks.

What is the population of Miller County?
24,722 people, per the 2020 census.

How big is Miller County?
600 square miles (1,554 km2), of which 593 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Miller County?
Tuscumbia, a small village on the Osage River.

How many towns and villages are in Miller County?
Three incorporated cities (Eldon, Osage Beach, Lake Ozark), five incorporated villages, and roughly two dozen unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes are in Miller County?
65026 (Eldon), 65486 (Iberia), 65047 (Kaiser), 65017 (Brumley), 65082 (Tuscumbia), 65075 (Saint Elizabeth), 65064 (Olean), 65083 (Ulman), and 65065 (Osage Beach, shared with Camden County).

Why does Miller County share cities with Camden County?
Bagnell Dam’s 1931 impoundment of the Osage River created the Lake of the Ozarks along the county line, and the resort towns that grew up around it — Osage Beach and Lake Ozark — expanded across the Miller-Camden border.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Missouri.