Best PlacesHelena, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Helena, 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.
Helena ranks 17,038th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Helena
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.
Helena's strengths and weaknesses
Where Helena ranks high
- Cheap childcare$483 a month, better than 93% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 80% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 79% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 79% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 74% of towns
Where Helena ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
- Short commute32.2 minutes each way, better than only 23% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 24% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Helena
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Helena home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,531, 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 Helena's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Helena
Helena runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Helena.
Who works in Helena, and how
Work in Helena centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Helena
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Helena.
What the weather is like in Helena, month by month
Helena sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 68° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Helena
Kansas City International sits about 43 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.7 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Helena
Schools across Helena average a B+, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Avenue City Elem.A+ · 75% proficient
- Helena Elem.A− · 57% proficient
- Maysville Elem.B+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Andrew MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- South Nodaway HighB− · 40% proficient
- Maysville Jr.-sr. HighC · 33% proficient
- Union Star HighC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Helena school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Helena 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 Helena against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Helena
Is Helena a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Helena ranks 17,038th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, an educated workforce, and good schools, and lowest on tree cover and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Helena expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $263,013. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $85,531 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Helena safe?
Yes, Helena is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $298 per resident a year.
Compare Helena with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Helena. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Helena 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.
Helena detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Helena: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Helena: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Helena: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Helena: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Helena 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.