Best PlacesHornet, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hornet, 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.
Hornet ranks 22,043rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hornet
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.
Hornet's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hornet ranks high
- Cheap childcare$445 a month, better than 97% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 78% of towns
- Short commute22.3 minutes each way, better than 78% of towns
Where Hornet ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 13% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hornet
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hornet home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,082, 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 Hornet's effective rate of 0.72%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hornet
Hornet's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hornet.
Who works in Hornet, and how
Work in Hornet centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Hornet
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hornet.
What the weather is like in Hornet, month by month
Hornet sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Hornet
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 162 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hornet
Schools across Hornet average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Seneca Elem.D+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seneca Intermediate SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Seneca HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hornet school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hornet 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 Hornet against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hornet
Is Hornet a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hornet ranks 22,043rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, few empty homes, and health care access, and lowest on air quality and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hornet expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $255,275. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $83,082 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Hornet safe?
Hornet is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $365 per resident a year.
Compare Hornet with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hornet. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hornet 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.
Hornet detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hornet: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hornet: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hornet: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hornet: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hornet 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.