Best PlacesFrontenac, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Frontenac, 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.
Frontenac ranks 23,322nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Frontenac
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.
Frontenac's strengths and weaknesses
Where Frontenac ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
Where Frontenac ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 21% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 23% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Frontenac
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Frontenac home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,020, 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 Frontenac's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Frontenac
Frontenac's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Frontenac.
Who works in Frontenac, and how
Work in Frontenac centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, 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 Frontenac
Frontenac has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Frontenac and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Frontenac, month by month
Frontenac sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 70° | 58° | 48° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Frontenac
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Frontenac
Schools across Frontenac average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Frank Layden ElemB · 50% proficient
- Meadowlark ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frontenac Jr. HighD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Pittsburg HighC · 30% proficient
- Frontenac Sr. High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Frontenac school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Frontenac 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 Frontenac against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Frontenac
Is Frontenac a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Frontenac ranks 23,322nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, cell coverage, and affordable childcare, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Frontenac expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $148,906. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $70,020 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Frontenac safe?
Frontenac is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $377 per resident a year.
Compare Frontenac with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Frontenac. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Frontenac 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.
Frontenac detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Frontenac: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Frontenac: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Frontenac: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Frontenac: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Frontenac 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.