Best PlacesCave, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cave, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cave ranks 8,855th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cave
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.
Cave's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cave ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$122,334 median, better than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$557 a month, better than 86% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 74% of towns
Where Cave ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute33.4 minutes each way, better than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 23% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cave
A household needs to earn about $92,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cave home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $122,334, 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 Cave's effective rate of 0.61%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Cave
Cave runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cave.
Who works in Cave, and how
Work in Cave centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cave
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cave.
What the weather is like in Cave, month by month
Cave sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Cave
St Louis Lambert International sits about 40 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cave
Schools across Cave average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hawk Point Elem.B · 47% proficient
- Boone Elem.B− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Troy MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Troy Buchanan HighB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cave school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cave 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 Cave against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cave
Is Cave a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cave ranks 8,855th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on biking and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cave expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $359,653. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $122,334 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Cave safe?
Yes, Cave is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $323 per resident a year.
Compare Cave with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cave. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cave 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.
Cave detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cave: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cave: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cave: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cave: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cave 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.