Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 6,636, settled in 1876.
Bonne Terre gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $204K for a typical one, or 3.5 years of the Farmington area’s $57K median household income. It grades C− overall, 193rd among Missouri's 247 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 95% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates and its public schools trail 87% of Missouri towns on state tests and graduation. 28% of residents live below the poverty line in Bonne Terre, where Missouri’s towns sit at 14% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Bonne Terre has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Bonne Terre Mine and Bonne Terre Depot. Only 6 of the 247 Missouri towns we compare have a lower share of children under 18 than Bonne Terre.
Where Bonne Terre beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Bonne Terre is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,719 in 1890, 6,903 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2017 and 3 maps from 1905 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bonne Terre, 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 Bonne Terre.
Bonne Terre trades lower home prices for longer drives to work and trades workers with Farmington and other neighbors, but it has seen reported crime rise by about half.
The share of adults in Bonne Terre who say their health is fair or poor: 29%. Among 247 Missouri towns, just 7 have a higher share of adults who smoke cigarettes than Bonne Terre. Of 32 CDC measures, Bonne Terre beats the Missouri average on 1 and trails it on 20.
| Bonne Terre | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 17% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 45% | 38% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 30% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 22% | 19% |
| What stands out | Bonne Terre | MO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.4% | 8.6% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 30% | 15.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Public schools: the North St. Francois Co. R-I school district. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. The largest public high school is North Co. SR. High, with 785 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| North County PrimaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 673 | – |
| North Co. SR. HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 785 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
Homes are within reach (about $204K for the typical one, A for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 24 miles. The median property tax bill is $860, against $1,948 across Missouri, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Typical home values rose 2.3% in the year to September 2026. The rent at the middle of the market for Bonne Terre comes to $641 a month. Also worth knowing: a home in Bonne Terre typically sold within 58 days of listing.
| Bonne Terre | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $641 a month | $972 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 60% | 64% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Count the trails in 2 parks and preserves and they come to 1.3 miles. The biggest park or preserve is Bonne Terre Park, at 30 acres.
| Bonne Terre | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.7% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Bonne Terre Park | — | 30 |
| 2. Lakeview Park | — | 16 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
July afternoons reach 88°, January nights drop to 22° and about 9 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Bonne Terre has about as many jobs (1,829) as working residents, but only 258 people both live and work here. The average commute takes 30.9 minutes, against 23.5 across Missouri.
Commuting out is the norm in Bonne Terre: 13% of working residents work locally. Its average trip to work stands at 31 minutes. The top destinations are Farmington (14%), St. Louis (6%) and Park Hills (5%). Since 2013, Bonne Terre has added 103 jobs, to 1,829 in 2023.
| Bonne Terre | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $46,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 13% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Federal aid has come to Bonne Terre households in 7 declared disasters; the latest was in 2015. Storm and flood damage is expected to run higher than in 64% of U.S. communities. Paid flood insurance claims in the town since 1979: 13. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 28% come from inland flooding and 20% from heat waves.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Reported crimes rose from 59 to 96 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. At 19.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 61% of Missouri’s graded towns.
Bonne Terre’s rate of reported violence comes in at 4.5 per 1,000 residents. In Bonne Terre, the property offense rate is 10.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Bonne Terre | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.5 per 1,000 residents | 2.2 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 10.5 per 1,000 residents | 12.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
1 within 15 miles of the center of Bonne Terre
About 3 of every 100 Bonne Terre residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Missouri.
3 places in Bonne Terre on the National Register of Historic Places.
11 notable people were born in Bonne Terre.
City in St. Francois County, Missouri, United States
Bonne Terre ( bon-TAIR) is a city in St. Francois County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bonne Terre had a population of 6,903. Situated in the Southeast Missouri Lead District, lead mining shaped the history and character of the area from the earliest French settlers in the 1720s until today, even though Bonne Terre Mine (established by St. Joseph lead mining company in 1864) closed in 1962. Mine tailing piles eroded, and contaminated the area as dust, posing residential hazards or were washed into the Big River. Not until 1992 was the Bonne Terre Mine Tailings Site listed as a Superfund site; as of 2022 remediation is still ongoing. The Bonne Terre Depot from 1909, the St…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Bonne Terre grades C− overall, better than 19% of U.S. towns and #193 of 247 in Missouri. It grades D for health, B− for safety and D for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
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 A.
11 notable people were born here, including Patrick Williams and Elaine Gannon.
