Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 11,994, settled in 1836. Public schools that outperform most of Missouri.
Bolivar gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $258K, 4 years of the Springfield metro’s $65K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 138th of 247 graded towns in Missouri. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $50K, and 19% of residents live below the poverty line, and residents are less healthy than 80% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. 28% of working residents work locally in Bolivar, above both Missouri’s towns (13%) and U.S. towns (8%). Bolivar is home to Southwest Baptist University. Bolivar is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 71% of U.S. towns.
Where Bolivar beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Bolivar Primary | K–2 | 578 |
| Bolivar Intermediate SCH. | 3–5 | 572 |
| Bolivar Middle | 6–8 | 587 |
| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Southwest Baptist University | 1,932 |
| Bolivar Technical College | 132 |
2 colleges in town.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Bolivar is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 409 in 1860, 10,679 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1948 and 4 maps from 1884 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bolivar, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Bolivar.
Bolivar trades lower home prices for longer drives to work, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and fares better on crime within Missouri than nationally.
Dunnegan Memorial Park, at 48 acres with 1.1 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Walkers can cover 4.8 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. Bolivar’s concentration of trails stands at 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Bolivar | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.8% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Dunnegan Memorial Park | 1.1 mi | 48 |
| 2. John Playter Rotary Park | 0.1 mi | 3 |
| 3. Cribbs Family Youth Park | 0.1 mi | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Below: Two of its 6 schools, each with why it was picked. The largest public high school is Bolivar High, with 831 students. The public schools here belong to the Bolivar R-I school district.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bolivar MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 587 | B− |
| Bolivar HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 831 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
Against the 5,653 U.S. towns with household incomes like Bolivar’s, it is healthier than 50%, so that grade isn’t only a matter of income.
For adults in Bolivar, the share who get no exercise outside work is 33%. Among adults here, 20% report frequent mental distress.
| Bolivar | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 19% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 30% | 25% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 25% | 23% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Bolivar | MO |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 9.8% | 8% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 10.2% | 8.4% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 16.4% | 13.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Adults 35 to 64 are 29% of residents (37% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 30% of residents (22% statewide). Since 2020, Bolivar has grown 11%, to 11,994 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. In Bolivar, a fifth of residents are 65 or older.
| Bolivar | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 34.1 years | 38.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 20% | 17% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 23% | 22% |
54% women, 46% men
About 85 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2.9 points). Across Missouri, 50.7% of residents are women.
| Bolivar | MO | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.5% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.3% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 18.9% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.5% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.7% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9% | 11.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 8.8% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.1% | 10.6% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.4% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 9.7% | 8.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 32.5% | 30.2% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.4% | 20.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.6% | 8.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 16% | 19.8% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.9% | 12.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Expect July afternoons of 89° and January nights of 23°, with about 7 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
About one worker in four stays in Bolivar for work. Employers in Bolivar added 1,556 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 6,771. The top destinations are Springfield (24%), Kansas City (4%) and Lebanon (2%).
| Bolivar | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $50,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 10% | 9% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 22.9 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 52% of Missouri’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 254 to 216 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
In Bolivar, the property offense rate is 17 per 1,000 residents. The town’s rate of reported violence comes in at 1.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Bolivar | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 17 per 1,000 residents | 12.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.4 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Households in Bolivar have drawn federal disaster aid in 7 declared disasters, most recently in 2015. Compared with 57% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage here is higher. Also worth knowing: the national flood insurance program has paid 4 claims here since 2009. Expected losses in Bolivar break down as 42% from inland flooding and 18% from tornadoes.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Homes are within reach (about $258K for the typical one, B+ for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 28 miles.
54% of households live in a home they own in Bolivar. Zillow values the typical Bolivar home at about $258,000, up 0.9% in a year, close to the Missouri typical home. The rent at the middle of the market for Bolivar comes to $812 a month.
| Bolivar | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 54% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $812 a month | $972 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Bolivar
About 14 of every 100 Bolivar residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Missouri.
3 notable people were born in Bolivar.
City in Missouri, U.S.
Bolivar ( BOL-iv-ər) is a city in and the county seat of Polk County, Missouri, United States. The city derives its name in-part from the South American revolutionary Simón Bolívar. According to the 2020 United States Census, Bolivar had a population of 10,772.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Bolivar grades C+ overall, better than 37% of U.S. towns and #138 of 247 in Missouri. It grades C− for health, C+ for safety and B+ for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a C−.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.
3 notable people were born here, including Andrew W. Hockenhull and M. Waldo Hatler.
