Best PlacesCamden County, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Camden County, 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.
Camden County ranks 2,085th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Camden County
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.
The best areas in Camden County
The parts of Camden County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Village of Four Seasons
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Lake Ozark
Camdenton
More households have young kids, though tree cover is thinner.
Osage Beach
Crime runs higher and it is noisier.
Scores across Camden County run from about the 8th to the 56th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Camden County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Camden County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$442 a month, better than 97% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of counties
Where Camden County ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 9% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 16% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 26% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Camden County
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Camden County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $69,493; 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 Camden County'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 and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Camden County
Camden County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Camden County.
Who works in Camden County, and how
Work in Camden County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Camden County
Camden County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Camden County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Camden County growing, and who is moving in?
Camden County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from St Louis, MO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Camden County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Camden County, month by month
Camden County sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Camden County
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 136 miles away.
The best schools in and around Camden County
Schools across Camden County average a B−, better than 62% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Skyline Elem.A+ · 80% proficient
- Osage Beach ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Osage Upper Elem.B− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Skyline MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Oak Ridge IntermediateB+ · 49% proficient
- Camdenton MiddleB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Skyline HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Osage HighB− · 45% proficient
- Camdenton HighB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Camden County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Camden County 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 Camden County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Camden County suits
Common questions about living in Camden County
Is Camden County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Camden County ranks 2,085th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, civic engagement, and health care access, and lowest on empty homes and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Camden County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $302,460. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $69,493 median income, cost of living beats 44% of counties.
Is Camden County safe?
Camden County is safer than 30% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $480 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Camden County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 27. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 35% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Camden County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Village of Four Seasons, Lake Ozark, and Camdenton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Camden County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Camden County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Camden County 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.
Camden County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Camden County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Camden County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Camden County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Camden County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Camden County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.