Best PlacesFerguson, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ferguson, 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.
Ferguson ranks 47,461st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ferguson
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.
Ferguson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ferguson ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 84% of towns
Where Ferguson ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ferguson
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ferguson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,370, 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 Ferguson's effective rate of 1.41%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ferguson
Ferguson runs younger 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 Ferguson.
Who works in Ferguson, and how
Work in Ferguson centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Ferguson
Ferguson has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ferguson and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ferguson, month by month
Ferguson sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 72° | 58° | 46° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Ferguson
St Louis Lambert International sits about 4 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 7.5 million passengers in 2025, with 114 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Ferguson
Schools across Ferguson average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Keeven Elem.D− · 13% proficient
- Lee Hamilton ElementaryF · 9% proficient
- Woodland Elem.F · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- East MiddleD− · 15% proficient
- Kenneth C. Hanrahan Elem.F · 10% proficient
- Westview Middle SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Steam Academy At Msb High SchoC− · 30% proficient
- Hazelwood East HighD− · 13% proficient
- NorthviewF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ferguson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ferguson 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 Ferguson against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ferguson
Is Ferguson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ferguson ranks 47,461st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and walkability, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ferguson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $115,692. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $54,370 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Ferguson safe?
Ferguson is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,326 per resident a year.
Compare Ferguson with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ferguson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ferguson 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.
Ferguson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ferguson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ferguson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ferguson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ferguson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ferguson 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.