Best PlacesGazette, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gazette, 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.
Gazette ranks 27,430th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gazette
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.
Gazette's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gazette ranks high
- Cheap childcare$401 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute20.4 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 76% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 76% of towns
Where Gazette ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 11% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gazette
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gazette home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,974, 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 Gazette's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Gazette
Gazette runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gazette.
Who works in Gazette, and how
Work in Gazette centers on agriculture & forestry and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Gazette
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gazette.
What the weather is like in Gazette, month by month
Gazette sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 65° | 52° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Gazette
The nearest airport, Columbia Regional, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gazette
Schools across Gazette average a C+, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bowling Green Elem.B · 47% proficient
- Van-far Elem.C · 32% proficient
- Wellsville-middletown Elem.C− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bowling Green MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Van-far Jr./sr. HighC · 32% proficient
- Wellsville-middletown HsC · 32% proficient
- Bowling Green HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gazette school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gazette 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 Gazette against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gazette
Is Gazette a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gazette ranks 27,430th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and short commutes, and lowest on internet speeds and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gazette expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $155,158. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $75,974 median income, cost of living beats 76% of towns.
Is Gazette safe?
Gazette is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $555 per resident a year.
Compare Gazette with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gazette. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gazette 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.
Gazette detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gazette: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gazette: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gazette: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gazette: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gazette 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.