Best PlacesInk, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ink, 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.
Ink ranks 27,445th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ink
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.
Ink's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ink ranks high
- Cheap childcare$371 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
Where Ink ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ink
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ink home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,784, 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 Ink's effective rate of 0.29%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ink
Ink runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ink.
Who works in Ink, and how
Work in Ink centers on real estate and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Ink
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ink.
What the weather is like in Ink, month by month
Ink sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 71° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Ink
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 123 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ink
Schools across Ink average a C+, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Summersville Elem.C · 33% proficient
- Eminence Elem.C− · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Summersville HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Eminence HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ink school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ink 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 Ink against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ink
Is Ink a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ink ranks 27,445th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and low property taxes, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ink expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $202,740. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $74,784 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Ink safe?
Ink is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $439 per resident a year.
Compare Ink with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ink. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ink 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.
Ink detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ink: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ink: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ink: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ink: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ink 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.