Best PlacesCato, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cato, 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.
Cato ranks 36,519th 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 Cato
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.
Cato's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cato ranks high
- Cheap childcare$420 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- QuietBetter than 68% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 67% of towns
Where Cato ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 12% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 12% of towns
- Short commute35.2 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cato
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cato home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,721, 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 Cato's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Cato
Cato runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cato.
Who works in Cato, and how
Work in Cato centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cato
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cato.
What the weather is like in Cato, month by month
Cato sees roughly 68 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 Cato
The nearest airport, Branson, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 188 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cato
Schools across Cato average a C+, better than 44% 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 Cato school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cato 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 Cato against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cato
Is Cato a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cato ranks 36,519th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and state finances, and lowest on health outcomes and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cato expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $187,256. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $63,721 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Cato safe?
Cato is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $366 per resident a year.
Compare Cato with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cato. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cato 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.
Cato detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cato: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cato: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cato: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cato: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cato 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.