Best PlacesBig Piney, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Piney, 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.
Big Piney ranks 43,100th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Big Piney
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.
Big Piney's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Piney ranks high
- Cheap childcare$457 a month, better than 97% of towns
- Short commute16.9 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 83% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
Where Big Piney ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 56 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Piney
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Piney home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,000, 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 Big Piney's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Big Piney
Big Piney runs younger 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 Big Piney.
Who works in Big Piney, and how
Work in Big Piney centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 31%
Life in Big Piney
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Big Piney.
What the weather is like in Big Piney, month by month
Big Piney sees roughly 56 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Big Piney
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Piney
Schools across Big Piney average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Thayer Elem.A · 67% proficient
- Plato Elem.B− · 42% proficient
- Phelps Co. Elem.B− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- 6th Grade CenterB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Waynesville Sr. HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Piney school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Piney 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 Big Piney against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Piney
Is Big Piney a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Piney ranks 43,100th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and population health, and lowest on civic engagement and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Big Piney expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $189,300. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $50,000 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Big Piney safe?
Big Piney is safer than 29% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $447 per resident a year.
Compare Big Piney with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Piney. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Piney 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.
Big Piney detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Piney: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Piney: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Piney: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Piney: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Piney 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.