Best PlacesGray Summit, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gray Summit, 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.
Gray Summit ranks 29,671st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gray Summit
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.
Gray Summit's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gray Summit ranks high
- Cheap childcare$496 a month, better than 93% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 78% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 78% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 76% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 76% of towns
Where Gray Summit ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 21% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 29% of towns
- Short commute30.7 minutes each way, better than only 30% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gray Summit
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gray Summit home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,055, 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 Gray Summit's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gray Summit
Gray Summit'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 Gray Summit.
Who works in Gray Summit, and how
Work in Gray Summit centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Gray Summit
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gray Summit.
What the weather is like in Gray Summit, month by month
Gray Summit sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Gray Summit
St Louis Lambert International sits about 30 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 Gray Summit
Schools across Gray Summit average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Coleman Elem.B · 50% proficient
- Truman Elem.B− · 40% proficient
- Labadie ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pacific IntermediateB · 44% proficient
- Riverbend Sch.C+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Pacific HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gray Summit school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gray Summit 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 Gray Summit against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gray Summit
Is Gray Summit a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gray Summit ranks 29,671st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, cell coverage, and civic engagement, and lowest on noise and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gray Summit expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $197,680. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $73,055 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Gray Summit safe?
Yes, Gray Summit is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $347 per resident a year.
Compare Gray Summit with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gray Summit. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gray Summit 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.
Gray Summit detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gray Summit: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gray Summit: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gray Summit: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gray Summit: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gray Summit 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.