Best PlacesBlue Eye, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blue Eye, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Blue Eye ranks 33,973rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Blue Eye
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.
Blue Eye's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blue Eye ranks high
- Cheap childcare$434 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
- Short commute21.5 minutes each way, better than 82% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of towns
Where Blue Eye ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- Household income$59,030 median, better than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Blue Eye
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blue Eye home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $59,030; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Blue Eye's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Blue Eye
Blue Eye runs older 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 Blue Eye.
Who works in Blue Eye, and how
Work in Blue Eye centers on construction and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Blue Eye
Blue Eye has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Blue Eye and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Blue Eye, month by month
Blue Eye sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 69° | 58° | 48° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Blue Eye
The nearest airport, Branson, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 203 miles away.
The best schools in and around Blue Eye
Schools across Blue Eye average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Blue Eye Elem.B− · 40% proficient
- Reeds Spring Elem.C · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hollister MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Blue Eye MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Reeds Spring IntermediateC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Blue Eye HighB · 47% proficient
- Hollister HighB− · 43% proficient
- Reeds Spring HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blue Eye school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blue Eye 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 Blue Eye against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Blue Eye
Is Blue Eye a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blue Eye ranks 33,973rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, health care access, and civic engagement, and lowest on empty homes and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blue Eye expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $246,239. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $59,030 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Blue Eye safe?
Blue Eye is safer than 27% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $469 per resident a year.
Compare Blue Eye with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blue Eye. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blue Eye 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.
Blue Eye detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blue Eye: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blue Eye: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blue Eye: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blue Eye: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blue Eye 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.