This is a partial list of notable people born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with the city of St. Joseph, Missouri.
- Don Alt (1916–1988), Iowa state representative and businessman; born in St. Joseph.[1]
- Charles S. L. Baker (1859–1926), African American businessman and inventor, lived in St. Joseph.
- Kay Barnes (b. 1938), mayor of Kansas City 1999–2007
- Dwayne Blakley (b. 1979), football player, born in St. Joseph.[2]
- Ryan Bradley (b. 1983), figure skater
- Norbert Brodine, cinematographer
- Byron Browne, baseball player
- Charles Francis Buddy, bishop, attended Christian Brothers School
- Rob Calloway, boxer
- Harold F. Cherniss, historian of ancient Greece and Plato scholar at Princeton
- Walter Cronkite, iconic television journalist, born in St. Joseph; his father was a dentist there
- Paul Crouch, founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network
- Katherine Kennicott Davis, composer of “The Little Drummer Boy”
- Eminem, rapper and songwriter, born in St. Joseph
- Eugene Field, popular poet in his day, worked for the St. Joseph Gazette and wrote a famous poem about Lover’s Lane, St. Joseph
- Harold K. Forsen, Nuclear physicist
- Ralph D. Foster, broadcasting pioneer
- Betty Garrett, actress, known for On the Town and Laverne & Shirley, born in St. Joseph
- Elijah Gates, State Treasurer of Missouri
- Jody Hamilton, wrestler
- Larry Hamilton, wrestler
- Fred Harman, artist, drew the Red Ryder cartoons and worked with Walt Disney, born in St. Joseph and worked at Artcrafts Engraving Company in St. Joseph
- Coleman Hawkins, jazz saxophonist[3]
- Shere Hite, sex educator
- Edie Huggins, television journalist[4]
- Bela M. Hughes (1817–1903), pioneer, born in Kentucky, was in the 1850s and 1860s a prominent St. Joseph lawyer[5]
- William Hyde (1836–1898), journalist
- Lucie Fulton Isaacs, writer, philanthropist, suffragist
- Jesse James, iconic outlaw, murdered in St. Joseph
- Kagney Linn Karter, porn actress
- Brian McDonald, writer[6]
- Jeff Morris, actor, known for The Blues Brothers, born in St. Joseph
- Timothy Omundson, actor
- Mary Alicia Owen, Missouri folklorist
- Isaac Parker, judge
- Travis Partridge, football player
- Forrest E. Peden, decorated World War II soldier
- Tom Pendergast, political boss
- Seraphine Eppstein Pisko, executive secretary of the Denver Jewish Hospital
- Frank Posegate, mayor of St. Joseph
- LeRoy Prinz, choreographer and film director
- Arthur Pryor, trombonist
- Randy Railsback, member of the Missouri House of Representatives
- Sid Rogell, Hollywood producer
- Nellie Tayloe Ross, first woman elected governor of a U.S. state; governor of Wyoming from 1925 to 1927[7]
- Martin Rucker, football player
- Martin T. Rucker, politician
- Mike Rucker, football player
- Jay Sarno, hotel mogul, founder of Caesars Palace
- Bill Snyder, Kansas State football coach
- Eddie Timanus, Jeopardy! champion, won five times in 1999 despite being blind
- Steve Walsh, musician of band Kansas
- Ruth Warrick, actress, known for Citizen Kane and All My Children, born in St. Joseph
- James H. Webb, U.S. Senator from Virginia, born in St. Joseph
- Silas Woodson (1819–1896), 21st Governor of Missouri, born in Kentucky, was in the 19th century a prominent St. Joseph lawyer[5]
- Huston Wyeth, industrialist
- Jane Wyman, Oscar–winning actress and first wife of Ronald Reagan, born in St. Joseph
- Delmer J. Yoakum (1915–1996), artist
- Olive Young, born in St. Joseph; actress and blues singer; was silent–films movie star in China but typecasting hurt her in Hollywood.
- Orson L. Crandall, Naval Officer, Navy Master Diver, Medal of Honor recipient[8]
