Best PlacesClay County, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Clay County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Clay County ranks 384th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $98,166, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are noise, car insurance costs, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Clay 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 Clay County
The parts of Clay 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.
Kansas City
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and crime runs lower.
Smithville
More residents vote and prices have run up less.
Liberty
Schools score higher and more households have young kids.
Kearney & Excelsior Springs
Advertised internet is slower and biking is worse.
Gladstone & North Kansas City
More homes sit empty and heat risk is higher.
Clay County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 6% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Clay County's strengths and weaknesses
Clay County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Fast internet, few empty homes, and what local pay buys carry most of that.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and childcare costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Clay County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of counties
- Household income$98,166 median, better than 91% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of counties
Where Clay County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 20% of counties
- Cheap childcare$942 a month, better than only 23% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 25% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 26% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Clay County
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clay County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,166, 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 Clay County's effective rate of 1.09%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Clay County
Clay County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clay County.
Who works in Clay County, and how
Work in Clay County 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 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Clay County
Clay County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 65% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Clay County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Clay County growing, and who is moving in?
Clay County has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Kansas City, MO metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Clay County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Clay County, month by month
Clay County sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Clay County
Kansas City International sits about 12 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 Clay County
Schools across Clay County average a B−, better than 72% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Epic ElementaryA+ · 85% proficient
- LensA+ · 78% proficient
- Bell Prairie ElementaryA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kearney MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Discovery Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Lawson MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Kearney HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Staley HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Liberty HighB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clay County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clay 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 Clay County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Clay County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 16% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 63% of counties and health care access beats 72%.
Common questions about living in Clay County
Is Clay County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clay County ranks 384th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, few empty homes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on noise and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clay County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $292,565. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $98,166 median income, cost of living beats 95% of counties.
Is Clay County safe?
Yes, Clay County is safer than 59% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $400 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Clay County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 24. That works out to about 104 pleasant days a year, more than 63% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Clay County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Kansas City, Smithville, and Liberty. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Clay County good for families?
Schools beat 72% of counties, crime safety beats 59%, and childcare runs $942 a month.
Is Clay County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 97% of counties. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Clay County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clay County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clay 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.
Clay County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clay County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clay County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clay County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clay County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clay 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.