Best Places65738, MO Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 65738, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

65738 ranks 12,734th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.

#12,734
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 65738

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 65738 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

65738's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Few empty homes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 65738 with other zip codes.

Where 65738 ranks high

  • Low vacancyBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than 88% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than 80% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$660 a month, better than 79% of zip codes
  • School gradeB+, better than 76% of zip codes

Where 65738 ranks low

  • Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 18% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 21% of zip codes
  • Big-city accessBetter than only 28% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 31% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 65738

A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 65738 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,451, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$57,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,333
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $219,911 home
Median rent
$1,206
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,121
Property tax$139
Homeowners insurance$73

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 65738's effective rate of 0.76%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 65738

65738 runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
38
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
18%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1825%
18 to 3424%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6415%
65 and older18%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 65738.


Who works in 65738, and how

Work in 65738 centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
9%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.4%
below the national average
Job growth
+5.3%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social20%
Manufacturing12%
Retail trade10%
Education9%
Transportation & warehousing7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 87%
  • Work from home 9%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in 65738

65738 has more parkland per resident than 68% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 65738 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
68
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 31.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 46% of zip codes
Coffee shops
9
about 4.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 61% of zip codes
Parkland
73 acres
about 3.4 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 68% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 65738, month by month

65738 sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January47°34°23°
April71°57°44°
July92°79°69°
October74°59°47°

Flying in and out of 65738

The nearest airport, Springfield-Branson Ntl, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 165 miles away.

Nearest airport
SGF
Springfield-Branson Ntl, about 10 miles
Airport size
Small hub
118th-busiest in the US, 32 nonstop destinations
Average drive
14 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 65738

Schools across 65738 average a B+, better than 76% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 65738 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


65738 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 65738 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 65738 suits

Families

Schools beat 76% of zip codes and crime safety beats 75%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 65738

Is 65738 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 65738 ranks 12,734th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on few empty homes, a strong job market, and fast internet, and lowest on the weather and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 65738 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $219,911. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $70,451 median income, cost of living beats 53% of zip codes.

Is 65738 safe?

Yes, 65738 is safer than 75% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $326 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 65738?

July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 23. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 10% of zip codes.

Is 65738 good for families?

Schools beat 76% of zip codes, crime safety beats 75%, and childcare runs $660 a month.


Compare 65738 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 65738. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 65738 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

65738 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 65738: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 65738: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 65738: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 65738: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

65738 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.