Arthritis and other rheumatic conditions comprise the leading cause of disability in the United States. In 1990, an estimated 16.7% of Missourians had arthritis. By 2020, an estimated 20% of Missourians will have this condition. We examined Missouri's prevalence of self-reported physician-diagnosed arthritis, chronic joint symptoms, and activity limitation due to joint symptoms and their associations with selected predictors (i.e., socio-demographic, access to health care, risk factor, and comorbidity indicators) from Missouri's 1996 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We conducted logistic regression analysis to generate Odds Ratios and 95% Confidence Intervals of arthritis and activity limitation across levels of predictors. Analysis indicates arthritis is under-diagnosed in younger individuals and that arthritis and activity limitation due to joint symptoms are significant contributors to functional limitation, enhancing dependency while decreasing the quality of life. As the population ages, arthritis, chronic joint symptoms, and activity limitation will become a larger public health problem.