Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,991, settled in 1859.
Gray Summit gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $246K, 3.1 years of the St. Louis metro’s $80K median household income. It grades B overall, 93rd among Missouri's 247 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 63% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. On the plus side, the median household earns $66K. 4.2% of residents live below the poverty line in Gray Summit, below both Missouri’s towns (14%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). The biggest park or preserve is Shaw Nature Reserve, at 23 acres. Gray Summit has 1 place on the National Register.
Where Gray Summit beats most towns.
2,701 counted in 2010 and 3,055 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Gray Summit is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,505 in 1990, 3,055 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 3 maps from 1947 on.
Gray Summit is unincorporated, so Franklin County and regional agencies provide most services.
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 Gray Summit.
Gray Summit trades lower home prices for longer drives to work and has added a third more jobs in ten years, but it has little public open land.
Jobs based here grew from 322 in 2013 to 470.
The top destinations are Pacific (8%), St. Louis (7%) and Chesterfield (6%). Commuting out is the norm in Gray Summit: 2% of working residents work locally. The mean commuting time for Gray Summit comes to 29 minutes. Jobs based in Gray Summit grew to 470 in 2023, 148 more than in 2013.
| Gray Summit | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.5% | 13% | 8% |
| Median household income | $66,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
27% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Gray Summit. This Missouri town tracks Missouri closely on all 32 CDC measures.
| Gray Summit | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 16% | 16% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 25% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 38% | 35% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Summers in Gray Summit are warm, and winters chilly. Summer afternoons peak near 89° in July, and January nights bottom out around 22°; snowfall runs to about 11 inches a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Federal disaster aid has reached households in Gray Summit after 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2025. 47% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by tornadoes at 15%.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Homes are within reach (about $246K for the typical one, A− for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 21 miles.
Values rose 4.8% in the 12 months to September 2026. Gray Summit: three quarters of households own their home. In Gray Summit, the median rent is $1,043 a month.
| Gray Summit | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 75% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,043 a month | $970 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Just 23 of its 4,911 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Gray Summit itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
Trails run 0.8 miles in 1 park or preserve. Gray Summit’s density of trails stands at 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Gray Summit | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.5% | 2.1% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Shaw Nature Reserve | — | 23 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gray Summit. Close and well known come first.
8 mi Theme parkMid America Adventure
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaThe Dome at America's Center
35 mi Stadium & arenaBusch Stadium
35 mi National ParkGateway Arch National Park2.2M visitors a year
35 mi Stadium & arenaEnterprise Center
34 mi Stadium & arenaEnergizer ParkMid America Adventure: Chris Hagerman from New Port Richey, FL, US, CC BY 2.0 · The Dome at America's Center: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0 · Busch Stadium: Lee Ann Ratledge, CC BY 4.0 · Gateway Arch National Park: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Enterprise Center: Haaron755, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Energizer Park: Cornfield948, CC BY-SA 3.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Gray Summit
About 2 of every 100 Gray Summit residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Missouri.
Where Gray Summit’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Census-designated place in Missouri, United States
Gray Summit is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 census, Gray Summit had a population of 3,055. Also called "Gray's Summit", it was founded by Daniel Gray of New York, who built a hotel here in 1845. It is located on Missouri Route 100 just north of Interstate 44.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Gray Summit.
| Town | MO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gray Summit | #93 | B | A− | — | B− | C |
| Pacific | #131 | C+ | B | B− | B− | C+ |
Gray Summit reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Gray Summit with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Gray Summit grades B overall, better than 59% of U.S. towns and #93 of 247 in Missouri. It grades C for health and B− for schools. Hazard risk 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 A−.
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