Best PlacesCleveland, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cleveland, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cleveland ranks 18,741st 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 Cleveland
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.
Cleveland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cleveland ranks high
- Cheap childcare$388 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
Where Cleveland ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Short commute33.9 minutes each way, better than only 17% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 27% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 32% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cleveland
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cleveland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $89,748; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Cleveland'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 and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cleveland
Cleveland runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cleveland.
Who works in Cleveland, and how
Work in Cleveland centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Cleveland
Cleveland has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Cleveland and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cleveland, month by month
Cleveland sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Cleveland
Kansas City International sits about 44 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 Cleveland
Schools across Cleveland average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wilckens Steam Acad @hillcrestB · 47% proficient
- Bridle Ridge ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Peculiar Elem.B− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Belton Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Raymore-peculiar Sr. HighB− · 43% proficient
- Belton HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Drexel HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cleveland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cleveland 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 Cleveland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cleveland
Is Cleveland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cleveland ranks 18,741st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, few empty homes, and health care access, and lowest on noise and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cleveland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $355,690. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $89,748 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Cleveland safe?
Yes, Cleveland is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $248 per resident a year.
Compare Cleveland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cleveland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cleveland 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.
Cleveland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cleveland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cleveland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cleveland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cleveland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cleveland 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.