Jefferson City, the state capital · Photo: RebelAt of English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0How Missouri stacks up
In Missouri, across its larger towns, 54% of residents live in one of the nation’s most affordable towns. On the plus side, widespread home ownership; on the minus side, health that trails most states and slow growth (+2.8% from 2010 to 2020). On balance it grades B, which places it 21st.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
29th of 51C+44/100 A bit above-average crime. Big places drag it down: Kansas City and St. Louis rank in the national bottom quarter. Violent crime runs at 426 per 100,000 residents, 29% above the national figure (11th highest among the states). Its larger towns rank higher than the statewide figure suggests.
Add property crime, weighted as our town grades weigh it, and it ranks 13th highest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 75 Missouri towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 90% of residents of Missouri’s 10,000+ towns.
Where most people live, crime runs higher
At the safe end sit Ballwin (#354), Lake St. Louis (#381) and Nixa (#397) in the national ranking of towns of 10,000+. The quarter reporting the most crime per resident takes in Springfield, Columbia and Independence. The statewide rate ranks 11th highest, but town by town it places 19th of 48.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Missouri | 9% | 55% |
Where county or state police patrol
Town figures come from each police department’s own reports to the FBI, and a town needs enough of the last three years reported to count. That covers 90% of the people in Missouri’s towns of 10,000+. Poplar Bluff and Moberly sit out, missing too many years. In Oakville, Wildwood, Mehlville and twelve other places, county or state police answer the calls, so there is no town figure. Next door, coverage runs from 55% in Illinois to 100% in Oklahoma.
Schools
20th of 51B62/100 Somewhat above-average schools. 13% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 23% in a bottom-quarter one; Clayton ranks highest. Compared with 31% nationally, 28% of its 4th and 8th graders test Proficient.
On-time graduation, 89.3% (9th highest), weighs equally with test results in the grade.
It spends $14,569 per pupil, 16th lowest (context only; spending isn’t graded).
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 92 Missouri towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
8th of 51A86/100 Affordable nearly everywhere. Almost no one here lives in a bottom-quarter town; Union and Harrisonville are typical. Homes cost 3.3 times the typical household income, and the median tax bill is $1,948 (16th lowest).
Home values run 3.3 times the median household income, 13th lowest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 92 Missouri towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
42nd of 51C−18/100 Less healthy than most states. Missouri ranks 14th highest for adults in fair or poor health, at 21%. Kansas City and St. Louis weigh on the town measure; 56% of residents live in bottom-quarter places.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 92 Missouri towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
16th of 51B+70/100 Ownership above most states. 48% of residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Kansas City and St. Louis. About 7 in 10 homes are lived in by their owners (21st highest).
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 92 Missouri towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
32nd of 51C+38/100 Somewhat more exposed than average. Compared with $155 nationally, FEMA expects $146 a year in damage per $100,000 of buildings here. Few residents live in a top-quarter town; its best showing is Rolla, #1,127 nationally. FEMA puts 68% of the expected losses on inland flooding.
The federal government declared 17 major disasters here between 2015 and 2025 (10th most).
What drives it: inland flooding 68%, earthquake 13%, tornado 9% of expected building damage.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 92 Missouri towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
20th of 51B62/100 Slightly shorter commutes than average. Missouri workers average 23.5 minutes to work, against 26.4 nationally. Its standout is Fort Leonard Wood, the top-ranked town in the country for commute times. Nearly every larger town does well here, Maryville and Polk Township among them.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 92 Missouri towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
37th of 51C28/100 Slow growth. Builders added 3.7 homes per 1,000 residents in 2025, after the population grew 2.8% from 2010 to 2020 (12th slowest). Wentzville leads its towns at #188 nationally; 15% of residents live in top-quarter towns.
New homes permitted in 2025: 3.7 per 1,000 residents (19th fewest).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 92 Missouri towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Missouri compares to its neighbors
It sits mid-pack among Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma on every subject.
| Missouri | Illinois | Kentucky | Tennessee | Arkansas | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B 6021st of 51 | B 6220th of 51 | A− 8210th of 51 | B− 5026th of 51 | C− 2439th of 51 |
| Safety | C+ 4441st official · 9% in top towns | A− 7821st official · 27% in top towns | A− 809th official · 10% in top towns | C 2847th official · 7% in top towns | C− 1848th official · 5% in top towns |
| Schools | B 6238th official · 13% in top towns | A− 8416th official · 29% in top towns | A− 7829th official · 16% in top towns | A 8615th official · 32% in top towns | B− 5046th official · 9% in top towns |
| Cost of living | A 8616th official · 54% in top towns | C 2846th official · 14% in top towns | A 908th official · 33% in top towns | B+ 707th official · 14% in top towns | A+ 963rd official · 60% in top towns |
| Health | C− 1838th official · 7% in top towns | B+ 6825th official · 30% in top towns | D 1244th official · 3% in top towns | C− 1644th official · 9% in top towns | D− 348th official · 0% in top towns |
| Housing | B+ 7021st official · 13% in top towns | B+ 7430th official · 23% in top towns | C 3420th official · 4% in top towns | C 3231st official · 8% in top towns | C− 1636th official · 3% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | C+ 3832nd official · 1% in top towns | B 5819th official · 12% in top towns | C+ 4039th official · 7% in top towns | B− 4622nd official · 6% in top towns | D 842nd official · 0% in top towns |
| Commute | B 6217th official · 32% in top towns | D 1443rd official · 13% in top towns | B+ 6820th official · 40% in top towns | B− 4632nd official · 39% in top towns | A− 8413th official · 76% in top towns |
| Growth | C 2840th official · 15% in top towns | D− 249th official · 2% in top towns | C 3234th official · 15% in top towns | A− 7818th official · 57% in top towns | B− 5036th official · 40% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work