Best PlacesCape Fair, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cape Fair, 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.
Cape Fair ranks 36,423rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cape Fair
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.
Cape Fair's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cape Fair ranks high
- Cheap childcare$435 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 83% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
Where Cape Fair ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 21% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cape Fair
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cape Fair home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,078, 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 Cape Fair's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cape Fair
Cape Fair runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cape Fair.
Who works in Cape Fair, and how
Work in Cape Fair centers on hospitality & food and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cape Fair
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cape Fair.
What the weather is like in Cape Fair, month by month
Cape Fair sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, 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 | 46° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 49° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 71° | 60° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Cape Fair
The nearest airport, Branson, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 189 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cape Fair
Schools across Cape Fair average a C, better than 29% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cassville IntermediateB · 47% proficient
- Shell Knob Elem.C+ · 38% proficient
- Reeds Spring Elem.C · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Reeds Spring IntermediateC+ · 37% proficient
- Cassville MiddleC · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Cassville HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Reeds Spring HighC · 32% proficient
- Galena HighD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cape Fair school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cape Fair 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 Cape Fair against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cape Fair
Is Cape Fair a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cape Fair ranks 36,423rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and low property taxes, and lowest on health outcomes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cape Fair expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,784. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $63,078 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is Cape Fair safe?
Yes, Cape Fair is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $350 per resident a year.
Compare Cape Fair with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cape Fair. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cape Fair 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.
Cape Fair detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cape Fair: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cape Fair: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cape Fair: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cape Fair: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cape Fair 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.