Best PlacesAllendale, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Allendale, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Allendale ranks 22,489th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Allendale
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.
Allendale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Allendale ranks high
- Cheap childcare$388 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 81% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 79% of towns
Where Allendale ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 15% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 18% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Allendale
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Allendale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,503, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Allendale's effective rate of 0.86%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Allendale
Allendale runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Allendale.
Who works in Allendale, and how
Work in Allendale centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Allendale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Allendale.
What the weather is like in Allendale, month by month
Allendale sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Allendale
The nearest airport, Des Moines International, is about 79 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 86 miles away.
The best schools in and around Allendale
Schools across Allendale average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Harrison Elem.B · 45% proficient
- Worth Co. ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- North Harrison HighC− · 30% proficient
- Worth Co. HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Allendale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Allendale 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 Allendale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Allendale
Is Allendale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Allendale ranks 22,489th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and what local pay buys, and lowest on cell coverage and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Allendale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,200. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $88,503 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Allendale safe?
Allendale is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $511 per resident a year.
Compare Allendale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Allendale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Allendale 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.
Allendale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Allendale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Allendale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Allendale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Allendale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Allendale detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.