Best PlacesBates County, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Bates 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.
Bates County ranks 2,760th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bates 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.
Bates County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bates County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$412 a month, better than 98% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 79% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 68% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 65% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 58% of counties
Where Bates County ranks low
- Short commute32.8 minutes each way, better than only 8% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 15% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 19% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 25% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Bates County
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bates County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,611, 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 Bates County's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Bates County
Bates County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bates County.
Who works in Bates County, and how
Work in Bates County centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Bates County
Bates County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Bates County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bates County growing, and who is moving in?
Bates County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Kansas City, MO metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bates County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bates County, month by month
Bates County sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Bates County
Kansas City International sits about 73 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.7 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Bates County
Schools across Bates County average a C, better than 37% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Hudson Elem.A · 65% proficient
- Miami Elem.B+ · 52% proficient
- Adrian Elem.B− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harrisonville MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Rich Hill HighB− · 43% proficient
- Hume HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Adrian Sr. HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bates County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bates 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 Bates County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Bates County
Is Bates County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bates County ranks 2,760th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, civic engagement, and low property taxes, and lowest on long commutes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bates County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $195,165. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $64,611 median income, cost of living beats 37% of counties.
Is Bates County safe?
Bates County is safer than 11% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $648 per resident a year.
Compare Bates County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bates County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bates 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.
Bates County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bates County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bates County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bates County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bates County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bates 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.