Best PlacesLamar, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lamar, 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.
Lamar ranks 45,705th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lamar
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.
Lamar's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lamar ranks high
- Cheap childcare$379 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of towns
- BikingBetter than 81% of towns
Where Lamar ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Household income$45,438 median, better than only 8% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lamar
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lamar home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,438, 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 Lamar's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Lamar
Lamar runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lamar.
Who works in Lamar, and how
Work in Lamar centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lamar
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lamar.
What the weather is like in Lamar, month by month
Lamar sees roughly 103 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 46, 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 | 46° | 33° | 25° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Lamar
The nearest airport, Joplin Regional, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 127 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lamar
Schools across Lamar average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Liberal Elem.B− · 40% proficient
- Lamar Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
- Jasper Co. Elem.C · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lamar MiddleB · 44% proficient
- Liberal MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Liberal HighB− · 40% proficient
- Lamar HighC− · 30% proficient
- Jasper Co. High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lamar school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lamar 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 Lamar against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lamar
Is Lamar a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lamar ranks 45,705th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, cell coverage, and civic engagement, and lowest on noise and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lamar expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $149,663. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $45,438 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Lamar safe?
Lamar is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $736 per resident a year.
Compare Lamar with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lamar. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lamar 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.
Lamar detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lamar: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lamar: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lamar: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lamar: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lamar 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.