Best PlacesJoplin, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Joplin metro, 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.
Photo by AbeEzekowitz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Joplin ranks 329th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on internet speeds and health outcomes. It does better on affordable childcare, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Joplin metro
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 Joplin
The towns and districts of the Joplin metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Oronogo
More households have young kids, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Carl Junction & Columbus
More residents vote and more adults hold degrees.
Baxter Springs & Seneca
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
Sarcoxie
Crime runs lower, though commutes are longer.
Galena
More homes sit empty.
Downtown Joplin
Streets are more walkable and biking is better.
Neosho & Granby
Heat risk is lower.
Carthage
Health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Joplin run from about the 1st to the 83rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Joplin's strengths and weaknesses
Joplin ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Affordable childcare is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Short commutes and state finances follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: internet speeds, health outcomes, and low incomes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Joplin ranks high
- Cheap childcare$408 a month, better than 99% of metro areas
- Short commute20.4 minutes each way, better than 81% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than 74% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 65% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 61% of metro areas
Where Joplin ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- Household income$65,053 median, better than only 11% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 13% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Joplin
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Joplin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,053, 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 Joplin's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Joplin
Joplin'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 Joplin.
Who works in Joplin, and how
Work in Joplin centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Joplin
Joplin has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 76% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Joplin and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Joplin growing, and who is moving in?
Joplin has grown about 5% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Kansas City, MO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Joplin go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Joplin, month by month
Joplin sees roughly 76 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 Joplin
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 154 miles away.
The best schools in and around Joplin
Schools across Joplin average a C+, better than 35% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Pleasant Valley Elem.A · 70% proficient
- George Washington Carver Elem.B · 50% proficient
- Carterville Elem.B · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Webb City Jr. HighB · 47% proficient
- Carl Junction Jr. HighB · 46% proficient
- Seneca Intermediate SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Carl Junction High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Webb City HighB− · 44% proficient
- Carthage High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Joplin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Joplin 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 Joplin against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Joplin suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Joplin
Is Joplin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Joplin ranks 329th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and state finances, and lowest on internet speeds and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Joplin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,427. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $65,053 median income, cost of living beats 32% of metro areas.
Is Joplin safe?
Joplin is safer than 41% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $431 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Joplin?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 27. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 34% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Joplin?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Oronogo, Carl Junction & Columbus, and Baxter Springs & Seneca. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Joplin good for families?
Schools beat 35% of metro areas, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $408 a month.
Is Joplin good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 32% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 5% of metro areas. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Joplin with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Joplin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Joplin 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.
Joplin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Joplin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Joplin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Joplin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Joplin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Joplin 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.