Best PlacesBoonville, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Boonville, 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.
Boonville ranks 35,546th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Boonville
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.
Boonville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Boonville ranks high
- Cheap childcare$455 a month, better than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 81% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 77% of towns
Where Boonville ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 48 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Boonville
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boonville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,797, 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 Boonville's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Boonville
Boonville'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 Boonville.
Who works in Boonville, and how
Work in Boonville centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Boonville
Boonville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Boonville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Boonville, month by month
Boonville sees roughly 48 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Boonville
The nearest airport, Columbia Regional, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Boonville
Schools across Boonville average a C+, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Franklin ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Pilot Grove Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
- Blackwater Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wm. N. Clark MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Laura Speed Elliott MiddleD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Boonville HighB− · 45% proficient
- Pilot Grove HighC · 32% proficient
- Smithton HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boonville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boonville 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 Boonville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Boonville
Is Boonville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boonville ranks 35,546th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, walkability, and biking, and lowest on the weather and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Boonville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $191,272. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $63,797 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Boonville safe?
Boonville is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $381 per resident a year.
Compare Boonville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boonville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boonville 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.
Boonville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boonville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boonville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boonville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boonville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boonville 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.