Best PlacesChillicothe, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chillicothe, 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.
Chillicothe ranks 28,128th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chillicothe
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.
Chillicothe's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chillicothe ranks high
- Cheap childcare$437 a month, better than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute18.3 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
Where Chillicothe ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 24% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chillicothe
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chillicothe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,946, 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 Chillicothe's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Chillicothe
Chillicothe's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Chillicothe.
Who works in Chillicothe, and how
Work in Chillicothe centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Chillicothe
Chillicothe has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Chillicothe and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Chillicothe, month by month
Chillicothe sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 68° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 70° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Chillicothe
The nearest airport, Kirksville Regional, is about 57 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chillicothe
Schools across Chillicothe average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tri-county Elem.A+ · 75% proficient
- Dewey ElementaryA · 64% proficient
- Field Elem.B · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chillicothe MiddleC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Meadville HighA− · 60% proficient
- Chillicothe HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Tri-county HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chillicothe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chillicothe 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 Chillicothe against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chillicothe
Is Chillicothe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chillicothe ranks 28,128th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, walkability, and short commutes, and lowest on noise and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chillicothe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,079. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $65,946 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Chillicothe safe?
Chillicothe is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $592 per resident a year.
Compare Chillicothe with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chillicothe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chillicothe 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.
Chillicothe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chillicothe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chillicothe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chillicothe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chillicothe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chillicothe 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.