Best PlacesBarton County, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Barton County, 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.
Barton County ranks 2,841st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Barton County
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.
Barton County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barton County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$379 a month, better than 99% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 75% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 67% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 65% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 103 pleasant days a year, better than 62% of counties
Where Barton County ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 8% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 10% of counties
- Household income$53,532 median, better than only 14% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Barton County
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barton County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,532, 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 Barton County's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Barton County
Barton County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Barton County.
Who works in Barton County, and how
Work in Barton County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Barton County
Barton County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Barton County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Barton County growing, and who is moving in?
Barton County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Joplin, MO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Barton County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Barton County, month by month
Barton County sees roughly 103 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Barton County
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 126 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barton County
Schools across Barton County average a C+, better than 46% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Liberal Elem.B− · 40% proficient
- Lamar Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
- Jasper Co. Elem.C · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lamar MiddleB · 44% proficient
- Liberal MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Liberal HighB− · 40% proficient
- Sheldon HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Lamar HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barton County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barton County 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 Barton County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Barton County
Is Barton County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barton County ranks 2,841st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, civic engagement, and low property taxes, and lowest on internet speeds and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Barton County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,632. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $53,532 median income, cost of living beats 16% of counties.
Is Barton County safe?
Barton County is safer than 15% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $623 per resident a year.
Compare Barton County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barton County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barton County 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.
Barton County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barton County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barton County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barton County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barton County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barton County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.