Best PlacesLake City, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lake City ranks 21,265th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lake City
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.
Lake City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake City ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of towns
- Household income$103,698 median, better than 87% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 85% of towns
Where Lake City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 26% of towns
- Short commute31.1 minutes each way, better than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake City
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $103,698, 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 Lake City's effective rate of 1.17%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Lake City
Lake City 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 Lake City.
Who works in Lake City, and how
Work in Lake City centers on public administration and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lake City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lake City.
What the weather is like in Lake City, month by month
Lake City sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 30° | 23° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Lake City
Kansas City International sits about 27 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 Lake City
Schools across Lake City average a C+, better than 44% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- James Lewis Elem.A− · 62% proficient
- Buckner Elem.B− · 43% proficient
- Indian Trails Elem.C+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brittany Hill MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Osage Trail MiddleC · 33% proficient
- Fire Prairie MiddleC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Blue Springs HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Fort Osage HighC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake City 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 Lake City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake City
Is Lake City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake City ranks 21,265th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, cell coverage, and what local pay buys, and lowest on noise and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $331,174. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $103,698 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Lake City safe?
Lake City is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $429 per resident a year.
Compare Lake City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake City 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.
Lake City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake City 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.