Best PlacesLake Ozark, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake Ozark, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lake Ozark ranks 30,697th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lake Ozark
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 Ozark's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake Ozark ranks high
- Cheap childcare$427 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 80% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 79% of towns
- Short commute22.4 minutes each way, better than 78% of towns
Where Lake Ozark ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 20% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Ozark
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Ozark home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $75,814; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Ozark's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Lake Ozark
Lake Ozark runs older than the country, 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 Lake Ozark.
Who works in Lake Ozark, and how
Work in Lake Ozark centers on retail trade 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 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lake Ozark
Lake Ozark has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Lake Ozark and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lake Ozark, month by month
Lake Ozark sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Lake Ozark
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 129 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake Ozark
Schools across Lake Ozark average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Osage Upper Elem.B− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Osage MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Osage HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake Ozark school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake Ozark 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 Ozark against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake Ozark
Is Lake Ozark a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Ozark ranks 30,697th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, civic engagement, and cell coverage, and lowest on empty homes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake Ozark expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $312,199. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $75,814 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Lake Ozark safe?
Lake Ozark is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $604 per resident a year.
Compare Lake Ozark with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Ozark. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Ozark 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 Ozark detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Ozark: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Ozark: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Ozark: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Ozark: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Ozark 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.