Best PlacesJackson County, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Jackson County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Jackson County ranks 1,448th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and crime. It does better on fast internet, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Jackson County
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.
The best areas in Jackson County
The parts of Jackson County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Lees Summit
Crime runs lower, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Blue Springs & Grain Valley
Schools score higher and more residents vote.
Kansas City
More adults hold degrees and streets are more walkable.
Grandview & Raytown
Fewer homes sit empty and more households have young kids.
Independence
Biking is worse and transit reaches fewer jobs.
Sugar Creek
Homes cost less, though health care is harder to reach.
Jackson County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Jackson County's strengths and weaknesses
Jackson County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Fast internet, transit, and cell coverage carry most of that.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Crime and car insurance costs also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Jackson County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of counties
- TransitBetter than 93% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of counties
- BikingBetter than 89% of counties
Where Jackson County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 16% of counties
- School gradeC−, better than only 22% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Jackson County
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jackson County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,968, 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 Jackson County's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Jackson County
Jackson County'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 Jackson County.
Who works in Jackson County, and how
Work in Jackson County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Jackson County
Jackson County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of counties and more parkland per resident than 84% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jackson County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Jackson County growing, and who is moving in?
Jackson County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Kansas City, MO metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Jackson County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Jackson County, month by month
Jackson County sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 70° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Jackson County
Kansas City International sits about 25 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 Jackson County
Schools across Jackson County average a C−, better than 22% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Voy Spears Jr. Elem.A+ · 74% proficient
- Chapel Lakes Elem.A+ · 73% proficient
- Lucy Franklin Elem.A · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Delta Woods MiddleA · 64% proficient
- Academie Lafayette Armour ImsA · 59% proficient
- Summit Lakes MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Lee's Summit West HighB+ · 56% proficient
- Blue Springs South HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Ewing Marion Kauffman HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jackson County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jackson County 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 Jackson County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Jackson County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Jackson County
Is Jackson County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jackson County ranks 1,448th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, transit, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Jackson County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,770. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $77,968 median income, cost of living beats 78% of counties.
Is Jackson County safe?
Jackson County is safer than 11% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $715 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Jackson County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 24. That works out to about 99 pleasant days a year, more than 59% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Jackson County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lees Summit, Blue Springs & Grain Valley, and Kansas City. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Jackson County good for families?
Schools beat 22% of counties, crime safety beats 11%, and childcare runs $840 a month.
Is Jackson County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 97% of counties. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Jackson County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jackson County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jackson County 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.
Jackson County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jackson County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jackson County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jackson County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jackson County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jackson County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.