WillardMO
A town of 6,904, settled in 1858. Public schools that outperform most of Missouri.
Is Willard a good place to live?
Willard gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $272K for a typical one, or 4.2 years of the Springfield metro’s $65K median household income. It grades A− overall, ranked 49th of 247 in Missouri. On the plus side, its public schools beat 78% of Missouri towns on state tests and graduation. Only 8 of the 247 Missouri towns we compare have a lower share of residents 65 or older than Willard. The biggest park or preserve is Miller Farm Park, at 23 acres. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 72% of U.S. towns.
What makes Willard stand out
Where Willard beats most towns.
Willard has grown 31% since 2010
5,288 counted in 2010 and 6,344 in 2020; an estimated 6,904 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 8.8% since 2020, after 20% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How Willard grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Missouri), ordered by how far Willard is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Willard: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Willard, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Willard.
Willard pairs an A− for schools with modest home prices and fares better on crime within Missouri than nationally, but it has little public open land.
For schools, Willard earns an A−
Its A− for schools comes with a B for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $272K.
Its public schools are run by Willard R-II. Three of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Willard High, with 1,379 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willard MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 704 | B+ |
| Willard HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,379 | B+ |
| Willard East Elem.Top results in townGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 322 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MO on state tests and graduation
More than half of Willard’s working residents commute to Springfield
Most working residents leave Willard for work: only 7% work in town. Jobs based in Willard fell to 1,070 in 2023, 128 fewer than in 2013. 15% of Willard workers work from home, above both the Missouri town median (9%) and the median of U.S. towns (11%).
| Willard | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 15% | 9% | 11% |
| Median household income | $85,000 | $62,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 7.5% | 13% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 9.7% | 14% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
More children than Missouri overall
Children under 18 are 33% of residents (22% statewide); people 65 and older are 10% of residents (18% statewide). Willard’s median age is 32.2 years, where Missouri’s towns sit at 38.5 years and U.S. towns at 40.5 years. Willard has grown 8.8% since 2020, to 6,904 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Willard | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 32.2 years | 38.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 33% | 22% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
46% women, 54% men
About 117 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±3.6 points). Across Missouri, 50.7% of residents are women.
| Willard | MO | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 15.8% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 17% | 10.4% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 11.8% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.1% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.1% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.5% | 11.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.4% | 13% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 6% | 10.6% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.2% | 7.3% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.9% | 8.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.9% | 30.2% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.1% | 20.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12% | 8.4% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.5% | 19.8% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.6% | 12.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Willard has four seasons and hot summers
Willard has chilly winters and warm summers. The July high in Willard is 89°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Crime per resident in Willard is lower than in 65% of U.S. towns
At 13.1 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 82% of Missouri’s graded towns.
Willard’s property crime rate is 3.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Willard | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.7 per 1,000 residents | 12.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.1 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Willard is healthier than 62% of U.S. towns
Willard beats the Missouri average on 10 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 30% of Willard adults have high blood pressure.
| Willard | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 37% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.1% | 12% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 30% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 22% | 19% |
| What stands out | Willard | MO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.7% | 15.8% |
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 9.1% | 12.1% |
| Fewer adults screened for colon cancer | 59.2% | 64% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Moderate risk in Willard, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 56% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
For cost of living, Willard earns a B
The typical Willard home is worth about $272,000, up 2.4% in a year, close to the Missouri typical home.
| Willard | Missouri towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 70% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $984 a month | $970 a month | $1,185 a month |
Typical home value
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1% of Willard is conserved land
Just 39 of its 3,850 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Willard itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
0.0 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Miller Farm Park | — | 23 |
| 2. Willard Sports Complex | — | 21 |
| 3. Jackson Street Park | — | 19 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Wonders of Wildlife Museum & Aquarium and 3 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Willard. Close and well known come first.
10 mi Zoo & aquariumWonders of Wildlife Museum & Aquarium14 mi MuseumRiverbluff Cave
12 mi National BattlefieldWilson's Creek National Battlefield371K visitors a year7 mi Zoo & aquariumDickerson Park ZooPhoto credits
Wonders of Wildlife Museum & Aquarium: Robert Lawton, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wilson's Creek National Battlefield: National Park Service, Public domain
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Everything we know about Willard
Colleges nearby
7 within 15 miles of the center of Willard
About 2 of every 100 Willard residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Missouri.
93% of working residents leave Willard for work
Where Willard’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Willard
City in Missouri, United States
Willard is a city in Greene County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 6,344. It is part of the Springfield, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 5.9 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,237 ft
- ZIP code
- 65781
- Area code
- 417
Willard’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Willard.
| Town | MO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willard | #49 | A− | B | B+ | A− | B |
| Springfield | #176 | C− | B− | D− | B | C |
Questions about Willard
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Willard, MO a good place to live?
By most measures, yes. Willard grades A− overall, better than 78% of U.S. towns and #49 of 247 in Missouri. It grades B for health, B+ for safety and A− for schools.
Is Willard, MO expensive?
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
What is Willard, MO known for?
2 notable people were born here, including Chappell Roan and Tom Greenwade.