I Am So Board — St. Louis Creative Industry Survey

The Board
Report Q1.

Q1 2026 — The one about AI anxiety and quiet desks.

We asked 50 St. Louis creative professionals how they’re really doing. Most said fine. The data suggests otherwise.

50
Total responses
3
Survey tracks
Q1 '26
Field period
01

The numbers that matter

Here are the numbers. We didn’t editorialize them. They did that themselves.

45%
of creatives are actively job hunting or worried about their position
43%
say the STL creative job market is “thin” right now
38%
are “moderately terrified” or actively updating their resume because of AI
50%
of agency leaders say Designers are their hardest role to fill
1
person said they’re actively looking for work outside St. Louis
37%
say they feel “pretty good” about their job security — the most common answer
How secure do you feel in your job?
Rock solid 8%
Pretty good 37%
Nervous 8%
Worried 17%
Job hunting 30%
Rock solid (3)
Pretty good (15)
A little nervous (3)
Actively worried (6)
What job? I’m looking (12 + 1)
02

STL Creative Employment Index

Job postings peaked in November at 246. Then January happened. We asked people in March if it felt quiet out there. They said yes. The data had already moved on.

Jul 2025 – Feb 2026  ·  Jason Stone Data View™  ·  Job postings tracked across STL creative employers. This data might not be 100% accurate, but it’s kind of fun.

81
JUL
83
AUG
152
SEP
207
OCT
246 ↑
NOV
238
DEC
145 ↓
JAN
194
FEB
Design
Marketing
Development
Account / PM
Media & Content
Seniority
Mid
36%
Senior
27%
Jr / Entry
9%
Director
9%
C-Level
9%
VP
9%
Jobs by category
Marketing
42%
Design
22%
Media & Content
14%
Account / PM
11%
Development
9%
The takeaway

Job postings peaked in November at 246 then fell 41% by January — right when survey respondents said it felt “quiet out here.” February shows early recovery but hasn’t returned to fall levels.

03

Talent — 40 responses

40 people answered questions about their careers, their anxiety, and whether they’re staying in St. Louis. Most said they’re staying. Most said “for now.” Those are not the same thing.

Who responded
Designer
30%
Marketer
18%
Account / PM
18%
Strategist
15%
Writer / Content
10%
Developer
8%
How busy are you right now?
Slammed
27%
Comfortably busy
35%
Could use more
12%
It’s quiet out here
25%
How’s the STL job market?
Decent
28%
Thin
43%
I don’t want to talk about it
28%
How do you feel about AI?
Not worried at all
15%
A little nervous
42%
Moderately terrified
37%
Updating my resume
5%
Will you stay in St. Louis?
Love it here
25%
For now
45%
Depends on the market
17%
Actively looking elsewhere
2%
62%
of talent respondents are staying in STL — at least for now.
77%
feel at least “a little nervous” about AI’s impact on their career.
0
people said the STL job market is “good” or “great.”
04

In their own words

We asked one open-ended question: what does the STL creative scene need most? We got 18 answers. Here are the ones that stuck.

Diversity. There is no diversity of thought. We’re all screaming the same things into the void only to find out the void is a never-ending echo chamber.
Strategist
No agency is ever willing to take a shot on anyone but a recent grad. I fear any career mobility will require changing cities.
Designer, in-house since 2012
Jobs that aren’t looking for unicorns.
Designer, currently looking
More trust from local businesses to keep creative local.
Designer
I wish it were actually about the sharing of work. Not the “check out my awards.” As a transplant there just isn’t a good sense of mentorship.
Strategist
Collaboration instead of isolation.
Strategist, currently looking
05

Agency leadership

8 agency leaders answered questions about hiring, team size, and AI. Half said Designers are the hardest role to fill. Designers, meanwhile, are the most anxious group in the talent survey. We’re sure someone is working on this.

Hardest role to hire
Designers
50%
Strategists
25%
Account / PM
12%
“All of them”
12%
How was last year?
Great
50%
Good
25%
Rough
25%
Work setup
Hybrid
62%
In-office
25%
Depends on role
12%
AI at the agency
Experimenting
87%
Using it heavily
12%
Notable

One agency leader said they’ve started “hiring outside STL now” — citing difficulty finding local talent. Another noted the biggest challenge is “keeping a balance of happiness with work and healthy budgets. The two don’t always overlap.”

06

So. How are we doing.

It depends on who you ask. And when.

The market is recovering. Slowly.

Job postings fell 41% from November to January. February came back. Not all the way back — but back. If the pattern holds, spring should feel better than winter did. It usually does.

Almost half the room is looking for work.

45% of respondents are actively job hunting or worried about their position. That’s not a statistic you put in a press release. That’s a Tuesday morning in St. Louis creative.

AI is making everyone nervous. Even the people who say it isn’t.

77% are at least a little nervous. 15% said they’re not worried at all. We didn’t follow up with the 15%. Some things are better left alone.

People are staying. For now.

Only one person said they’re actively looking to leave St. Louis. Most said “for now.” That’s not loyalty — that’s a holding pattern. The market has about one good quarter to make an impression.

Designers are wanted everywhere and anxious everywhere.

Agency leaders say Designers are their hardest hire. Designers say they’re the most worried about their jobs. This information exists in two completely separate conversations.

The scene wants to connect. It just doesn’t know how yet.

The open-ended answers kept circling the same thing: mentorship, collaboration, less gatekeeping, more trust. Nobody asked for another awards show. That’s probably worth noting.

We’ll be back in Q2. Same questions, new data, different person looking confused on the cover.

Q2 2026 Survey

You read the data.
Now add yours.

Takes 3 minutes. Completely anonymous. The more people who answer, the more useful this gets for everyone.

Take the Q2 survey  →

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