Best PlacesDoolittle, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Doolittle, 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.
Doolittle ranks 23,052nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Doolittle
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.
Doolittle's strengths and weaknesses
Where Doolittle ranks high
- Cheap childcare$407 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Short commute16.6 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 76% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
Where Doolittle ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 26% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 28% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 29% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 32% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 74 pleasant days a year, better than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Doolittle
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Doolittle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,259, 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 Doolittle's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Doolittle
Doolittle runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Doolittle.
Who works in Doolittle, and how
Work in Doolittle centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Doolittle
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Doolittle.
What the weather is like in Doolittle, month by month
Doolittle sees roughly 74 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 Doolittle
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Doolittle
Schools across Doolittle average a C+, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mark Twain Elem.B+ · 55% proficient
- Col. John B. Wyman Elem.B · 50% proficient
- Newburg Elem.D · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rolla MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Rolla Sr. HighB− · 43% proficient
- Newburg HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Doolittle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Doolittle 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 Doolittle against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Doolittle
Is Doolittle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Doolittle ranks 23,052nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and fast internet, and lowest on car insurance costs and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Doolittle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $201,590. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $70,259 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Doolittle safe?
Doolittle is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $369 per resident a year.
Compare Doolittle with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Doolittle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Doolittle 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.
Doolittle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Doolittle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Doolittle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Doolittle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Doolittle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Doolittle 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.