Best PlacesBellefontaine Neighbors, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bellefontaine Neighbors, 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.
Bellefontaine Neighbors ranks 49,231st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bellefontaine Neighbors
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.
Bellefontaine Neighbors' strengths and weaknesses
Where Bellefontaine Neighbors ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
Where Bellefontaine Neighbors ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bellefontaine Neighbors
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bellefontaine Neighbors home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $48,383, 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 Bellefontaine Neighbors' effective rate of 1.35%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bellefontaine Neighbors
Bellefontaine Neighbors runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Bellefontaine Neighbors.
Who works in Bellefontaine Neighbors, and how
Work in Bellefontaine Neighbors centers on health care & social and admin & support services. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Bellefontaine Neighbors
Bellefontaine Neighbors has more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Bellefontaine Neighbors and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bellefontaine Neighbors, month by month
Bellefontaine Neighbors sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 72° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Bellefontaine Neighbors
St Louis Lambert International sits about 8 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Bellefontaine Neighbors
Schools across Bellefontaine Neighbors average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Keeven Elem.D− · 13% proficient
- Northview Elem.D− · 11% proficient
- Larimore Elem.F · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- East MiddleD− · 15% proficient
- Rose Johnson Jennings Jr. HighD− · 13% proficient
- Southeast MiddleF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Hazelwood East HighD− · 13% proficient
- Riverview Gardens Sr. HighF · 9% proficient
- Jennings HighF · 8% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bellefontaine Neighbors school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bellefontaine Neighbors 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 Bellefontaine Neighbors against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bellefontaine Neighbors
Is Bellefontaine Neighbors a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bellefontaine Neighbors ranks 49,231st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and cell coverage, and lowest on the schools and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bellefontaine Neighbors expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $87,892. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $48,383 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Bellefontaine Neighbors safe?
Bellefontaine Neighbors is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,351 per resident a year.
Compare Bellefontaine Neighbors with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bellefontaine Neighbors. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bellefontaine Neighbors 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.
Bellefontaine Neighbors detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bellefontaine Neighbors: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bellefontaine Neighbors: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bellefontaine Neighbors: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bellefontaine Neighbors: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bellefontaine Neighbors 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.