Best PlacesHedge City, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hedge City, 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.
Hedge City ranks 38,743rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hedge City
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.
Hedge City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hedge City ranks high
- Cheap childcare$384 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute16.5 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
Where Hedge City ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 7% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hedge City
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hedge City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,178, 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 Hedge City's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Hedge City
Hedge City runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hedge City.
Who works in Hedge City, and how
Work in Hedge City centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Hedge City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hedge City.
What the weather is like in Hedge City, month by month
Hedge City sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 65° | 52° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Hedge City
The nearest airport, Kirksville Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 131 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hedge City
Schools across Hedge City average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Knox Co. Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Adair Co. HighB− · 44% proficient
- La Plata HighC · 32% proficient
- Highland Jr.-sr. HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hedge City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hedge City 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 Hedge City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hedge City
Is Hedge City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hedge City ranks 38,743rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, civic engagement, and short commutes, and lowest on crime and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hedge City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $147,467. The overall cost of living runs about 26% below the national average. Set against a $82,178 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Hedge City safe?
Hedge City is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $928 per resident a year.
Compare Hedge City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hedge City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hedge City 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.
Hedge City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hedge City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hedge City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hedge City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hedge City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hedge City 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.