Best PlacesCrawford County, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Crawford County, 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.
Crawford County ranks 2,458th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Crawford 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 Crawford County
The parts of Crawford 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.
Bourbon
More households have young kids, fewer homes sit empty, and prices have run up less.
Cuba
Tree cover is thinner and it is noisier.
Steelville
Homes cost less, though crime runs higher.
Scores across Crawford County run from about the 3rd to the 54th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Crawford County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Crawford County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$402 a month, better than 98% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 76% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 65% of counties
- School gradeB−, better than 61% of counties
Where Crawford County ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 16% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 16% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 18% of counties
- Short commute29.1 minutes each way, better than only 20% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Crawford County
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Crawford County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,624, 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 Crawford County's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 Crawford County
Crawford County 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 Crawford County.
Who works in Crawford County, and how
Work in Crawford County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Crawford County
Crawford County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 89% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Crawford County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Crawford County growing, and who is moving in?
Crawford County has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from St Louis, MO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Crawford County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Crawford County, month by month
Crawford County sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Crawford County
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Crawford County
Schools across Crawford County average a B−, better than 61% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Strain-japan Elem.A · 63% proficient
- Cuba Elem.A− · 58% proficient
- Lucy Wortham James Elem.B+ · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sullivan MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Cuba MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Bourbon Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- St. James HighB · 50% proficient
- Sullivan Sr. HighB · 48% proficient
- Steelville HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Crawford County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Crawford 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 Crawford County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Crawford County suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Crawford County
Is Crawford County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Crawford County ranks 2,458th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and low property taxes, and lowest on cell coverage and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Crawford County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $174,769. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $59,624 median income, cost of living beats 31% of counties.
Is Crawford County safe?
Crawford County is safer than 36% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $452 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Crawford County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 42 with lows near 24. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 31% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Crawford County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Bourbon, Cuba, and Steelville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Crawford County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Crawford County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Crawford 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.
Crawford County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Crawford County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Crawford County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Crawford County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Crawford County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Crawford 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.