The population of the Waynesville R-VI School District is just over 30,000, encompassing three cities and the surrounding rural areas in Pulaski County, Missouri. Waynesville, with a population of 3500 is the county seat. Adjoining Waynesville to the east is Saint Robert with a population of just under 3000. St. Robert has recently experienced a high level of commercial growth.

To the southwest of the two cities lies Fort Leonard Wood, with a permanent party population of nearly 14,000. Fort Leonard Wood is a military training base with missions including basic training, Engineer School, Military Police School, and Chemical School among others. Over 90,000 service members graduate from Fort Leonard Wood training each year.

Fort Leonard Wood is the most significant economic force impacting the communities and schools. Approximately 61% of the district's students are military dependents, another 12% of the district's students have at least one parent working on the military base. The base continues to see growth in the number of personnel and construction projects. There are currently over $250 million dollars of construction in progress, or planned during this fiscal year.

The technology business park located on the Army post is the first in the nation with a unique partnership of Education, Military, State Government and Business. Many businesses, from start-ups to the nation's leading Fortune 500 corporations, are represented at Fort Leonard Wood as Federal Government contractors to the Military.