Best PlacesCherokee County, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cherokee County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cherokee County ranks 2,236th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cherokee 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 Cherokee County
The parts of Cherokee 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.
Galena
Tree cover is thicker and incomes run higher.
Columbus
Fewer homes sit empty, though local pay stretches less far.
Baxter Springs
Streets are more walkable, though it is noisier.
Scores across Cherokee County run from about the 8th to the 58th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Cherokee County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cherokee County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 95% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 94% of counties
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 78% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 69% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 61% of counties
Where Cherokee County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 17% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 24% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of counties
- Household income$59,323 median, better than only 25% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cherokee County
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cherokee County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,323, 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 Cherokee County's effective rate of 1.10%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cherokee County
Cherokee County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cherokee County.
Who works in Cherokee County, and how
Work in Cherokee County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cherokee County
Cherokee County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Cherokee County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cherokee County growing, and who is moving in?
Cherokee County has lost about 8% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Joplin, MO metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cherokee County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cherokee County, month by month
Cherokee County sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Cherokee County
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 151 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cherokee County
Schools across Cherokee County average a C−, better than 24% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Southeast Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Central ElemB− · 43% proficient
- Bartlett ElemB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central ElemC · 35% proficient
- Pittsburg Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Galena Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Pittsburg HighC · 30% proficient
- Baxter Springs HighC− · 29% proficient
- Oswego Junior-senior High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cherokee County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cherokee 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 Cherokee County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Cherokee County
Is Cherokee County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cherokee County ranks 2,236th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state infrastructure, and short commutes, and lowest on air quality and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cherokee County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $109,160. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $59,323 median income, cost of living beats 49% of counties.
Is Cherokee County safe?
Cherokee County is safer than 42% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $393 per resident a year.
Compare Cherokee County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cherokee County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cherokee 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.
Cherokee County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cherokee County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cherokee County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cherokee County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cherokee County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cherokee 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.