Best PlacesFanning, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fanning, 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.
Fanning ranks 36,981st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fanning
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.
Fanning's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fanning ranks high
- Cheap childcare$402 a month, better than 98% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 73% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 71% of towns
- School gradeB−, better than 61% of towns
Where Fanning ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 23% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fanning
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fanning home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,332, 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 Fanning'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 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 Fanning
Fanning 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 Fanning.
Who works in Fanning, and how
Work in Fanning centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Fanning
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fanning.
What the weather is like in Fanning, month by month
Fanning sees roughly 73 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 Fanning
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fanning
Schools across Fanning average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cuba Elem.A− · 58% proficient
- Steelville Elem.D · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cuba MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Steelville MiddleB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Steelville HighB− · 45% proficient
- Cuba HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fanning school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fanning 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 Fanning against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fanning
Is Fanning a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fanning ranks 36,981st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state finances, and low property taxes, and lowest on health outcomes and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fanning expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $208,527. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $62,332 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Fanning safe?
Fanning is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $368 per resident a year.
Compare Fanning with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fanning. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fanning 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.
Fanning detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fanning: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fanning: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fanning: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fanning: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fanning 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.