Best PlacesCawood, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cawood, 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.
Cawood ranks 27,106th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cawood
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.
Cawood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cawood ranks high
- Cheap childcare$475 a month, better than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 79% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 76% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Short commute23.9 minutes each way, better than 69% of towns
Where Cawood ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cawood
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cawood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,576, 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 Cawood's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Cawood
Cawood runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cawood.
Who works in Cawood, and how
Work in Cawood centers on education and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cawood
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cawood.
What the weather is like in Cawood, month by month
Cawood sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Cawood
Kansas City International sits about 56 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.7 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cawood
Schools across Cawood average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Andrew Elem.B+ · 53% proficient
- King City Elem.B · 47% proficient
- South Nodaway Elem.B · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Andrew MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Stanberry HighB+ · 52% proficient
- South Nodaway HighB− · 40% proficient
- King City HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cawood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cawood 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 Cawood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cawood
Is Cawood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cawood ranks 27,106th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, an educated workforce, and health care access, and lowest on a weak job market and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cawood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $205,212. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $75,576 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Cawood safe?
Cawood is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $382 per resident a year.
Compare Cawood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cawood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cawood 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.
Cawood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cawood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cawood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cawood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cawood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cawood 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.