Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 3,642 people, the town was settled in 1881.
El Dorado Springs’s weakest subject is health (D): CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 94% of the country. The town’s overall grade of D puts it better than 7% of U.S. towns, 230th of 247 in Missouri. Incomes are weaker too: the median household income is $32K, and 28% of residents live below the poverty line. Walkability is where it shines — it is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns. A typical home there costs about $179K, 3.7 years of the county’s $48K median household income. Only 4 of the 247 Missouri towns we compare have a lower typical household income than El Dorado Springs.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far El Dorado Springs is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,543 in 1890, 3,493 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 2016 and 3 maps from 1939 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in El Dorado Springs, 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 El Dorado Springs.
El Dorado Springs fares better on crime within Missouri than nationally, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and trades workers with Nevada and other neighbors.
Against the 812 U.S. towns with household incomes like El Dorado Springs’s, it is healthier than 56%, so that grade isn’t only a matter of income.
36% of adults get no exercise outside work in El Dorado Springs, above both the Missouri town median (30%) and the median of U.S. towns (25%). In El Dorado Springs, 18% of adults report frequent physical distress. Of 32 CDC measures, El Dorado Springs beats the Missouri average on 1 and trails it on 16.
| El Dorado Springs | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 15% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 30% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 17% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 22% | 19% |
| What stands out | El Dorado Springs | MO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 13% | 15.8% |
| More adults with COPD | 12.2% | 8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The largest public high school is El Dorado Springs High, with 321 students. The public schools here belong to El Dorado Springs R-II. Of its 4 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Dorado Springs Elem.Largest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 564 | C |
| El Dorado Springs HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 321 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
Home values rose 52% in five years, to about $179K, against 26% across Missouri. 59.3% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 45.6% across Missouri.
47% of households own their home in El Dorado Springs, against 64% in Missouri’s towns and 73% across U.S. towns. In the year to September 2026, typical home values climbed 5.2%. The going rate for rent in the town is $775 a month.
| El Dorado Springs | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 47% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $775 a month | $972 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
At 29.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 57% of Missouri’s graded towns.
El Dorado Springs’ rate of thefts and burglaries stands at 18.6 per 1,000 residents. In El Dorado Springs, the level of violent crime is 2.7 per 1,000 residents.
| El Dorado Springs | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 18.6 per 1,000 residents | 12.4 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.7 per 1,000 residents | 2.2 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
El Dorado Springs’ midsummer high comes in at 89°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
El Dorado Springs has about as many jobs (1,487) as working residents, but only 357 people both live and work here.
Half commute less than 34 miles. Jobs in El Dorado Springs fell by 237 from 2013 to 2023, to 1,487. 27% of working residents work locally in the town. The top destinations are Nevada (10%), Springfield (8%) and Kansas City (3%).
| El Dorado Springs | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 28% | 14% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 27% | 13% | 8% |
| Median household income | $32,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In El Dorado Springs, the FEMA risk score is 39 of 100. Expected losses in El Dorado Springs break down as 30% from inland flooding and 28% from tornadoes. Also worth knowing: households in the town have drawn federal disaster aid in 9 declared disasters, most recently in 2011.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
0.7 miles of trail wind through 3 parks and preserves. The trail network density for El Dorado Springs comes to 0.2 miles per square mile.
| El Dorado Springs | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.5% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lion's Club Park | — | 7 |
| 2. El Dorado Springs City Park | 0.1 mi | 4 |
| 3. Historic El Dorado Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of El Dorado Springs; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 El Dorado Springs residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Missouri.
4 notable people were born in El Dorado Springs.
City in Cedar County, Missouri, United States
El Dorado Springs is the largest city in Cedar County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,493 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
El Dorado Springs grades D overall, better than 7% of U.S. towns and #230 of 247 in Missouri. It grades D for health, C for safety and C for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
4 notable people were born here, including Eugene MacCown and Pansy Stockton.