Best PlacesBerkeley, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Berkeley, 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.
Berkeley ranks 48,994th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Berkeley
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.
Berkeley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Berkeley ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
Where Berkeley ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Berkeley
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Berkeley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,041, 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 Berkeley's effective rate of 1.29%, 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 Berkeley
Berkeley runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Berkeley.
Who works in Berkeley, and how
Work in Berkeley centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Berkeley
Berkeley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Berkeley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Berkeley, month by month
Berkeley sees roughly 59 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 Berkeley
St Louis Lambert International sits about 2 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 Berkeley
Schools across Berkeley average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Armstrong Elem.D− · 15% proficient
- Kratz Elem.D− · 15% proficient
- Berkeley Elementary SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- West MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Ritenour MiddleD · 21% proficient
- Hoech MiddleD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Steam Academy At Msb High SchoC− · 30% proficient
- Hazelwood West HighC− · 27% proficient
- Ritenour Sr. HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Berkeley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Berkeley 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 Berkeley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Berkeley
Is Berkeley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Berkeley ranks 48,994th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and walkability, and lowest on crime and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Berkeley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $83,886. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $54,041 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Berkeley safe?
Berkeley is safer than 0% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,749 per resident a year.
Compare Berkeley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Berkeley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Berkeley 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.
Berkeley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Berkeley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Berkeley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Berkeley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Berkeley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Berkeley 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.