Investment Securities (Proceeds From Sales Of Securities And Components Of Investment Securities Gains And Losses) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2018
Investment [Line Items]
Proceeds from Sale of Available-for-sale Securities			$ 368,219	$ 152,541
Proceeds from Sale of Equity Securities			0	39,981
Proceeds From Sale Of Other Securities			7,243	0
Total proceeds			375,462	192,522
Investment securities gains (losses), net	$ (110)	$ (3,075)	(1,035)	2,335
Available-for-sale Securities [Member]
Investment [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Gains realized on sales			2,249	423
Available-for-sale Securities, Losses realized on sales			(1,559)	0
Other-than-temporary impairment recognized on debt securities			(63)	(68)
Equity Securities [Member]
Investment [Line Items]
Gain realized on sales			0	102
Loss realized on sales			0	8,917
Fair value adjustments, net			262	2,699
Other Investments [Member]
Investment [Line Items]
Other Securities Gain On Sale			1,094	0
Fair value adjustments, net			$ (3,018)	$ 8,096

Fair value adjustments on other securities.

No definition available.

Name:	cbsh_FairValueAdjustmentsOtherSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	cbsh_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Other Securities Gain On Sale

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	cbsh_OtherSecuritiesGainOnSale
Namespace Prefix:	cbsh_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Proceeds From Sale Of Other Securities

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	cbsh_ProceedsFromSaleOfOtherSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	cbsh_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of cash inflow from sale of investment in equity securities measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in earnings.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	cbsh_Proceedsfromsaleofequitysecurities
Namespace Prefix:	cbsh_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Proceeds from sales and maturities of available for sale debt, equity, and other securities

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	cbsh_Proceedsfromsalesandmaturitiesofavailableforsaledebtequityandothersecurities
Namespace Prefix:	cbsh_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent reporting concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher SEC
-Name Regulation S-X (SX)
-Number 210
-Article 12
-Section 12
-Sentence Column A

+ Details

Name:	invest_InvestmentLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	invest_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of realized gain on investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 9
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27357-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtSecuritiesAvailableForSaleRealizedGain
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of realized loss on investment in debt security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income (available-for-sale).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtSecuritiesAvailableForSaleRealizedLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of realized gain from sale of investment in equity security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in net income (FV-NI).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 321
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84241550&loc=SL75117546-209714

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesFvNiRealizedGain
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of realized loss from sale of investment in equity security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in net income (FV-NI).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesFvNiRealizedLoss
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of unrealized gain on investment in equity security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in net income (FV-NI).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesFvNiUnrealizedGain
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investment.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 10
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=d3e27405-111563

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 220
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.7(c),9(a))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=115205541&loc=SL114868664-224227

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/recommendedDisclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109223946&loc=d3e3602-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GainLossOnInvestments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The amount of other than temporary impairment (OTTI) losses on equity securities, OTTI related to credit losses on debt securities, and OTTI losses on debt securities when the entity intends to sell the securities or it is more likely than not that the entity will be required to sell the securities before recovery of its amortized cost basis. Additionally, this item includes OTTI losses recognized during the period on investments accounted for under the cost method of accounting.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OtherThanTemporaryImpairmentLossesInvestmentsPortionRecognizedInEarningsNet
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The cash inflow associated with the sale of debt and equity securities classified as available-for-sale securities.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 11
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109979856&loc=d3e26853-111562

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 12
-Subparagraph (a),(b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109223946&loc=d3e3179-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ProceedsFromSaleOfAvailableForSaleSecurities
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_AvailableforsaleSecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FinancialInstrumentAxis=us-gaap_OtherInvestmentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: