Best PlacesLentner, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lentner, 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.
Lentner ranks 47,355th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lentner
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.
Lentner's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lentner ranks high
- Cheap childcare$391 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Short commute22.5 minutes each way, better than 77% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 67% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 61% of towns
Where Lentner ranks low
- Household income$42,551 median, better than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 11% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 12% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lentner
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lentner home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $42,551, 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 Lentner's effective rate of 0.79%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lentner
Lentner 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 Lentner.
Who works in Lentner, and how
Work in Lentner centers on agriculture & forestry and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Lentner
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lentner.
What the weather is like in Lentner, month by month
Lentner sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 65° | 52° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Lentner
The nearest airport, Kirksville Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 115 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lentner
Schools across Lentner average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Shelby Elem.A− · 58% proficient
- South Shelby ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Holliday ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Shelby Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Paris Jr. HighD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- North Shelby HighA · 68% proficient
- Paris HighC+ · 37% proficient
- South Shelby HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lentner school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lentner 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 Lentner against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lentner
Is Lentner a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lentner ranks 47,355th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, short commutes, and state finances, and lowest on low incomes and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lentner expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $119,169. The overall cost of living runs about 25% below the national average. Set against a $42,551 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Lentner safe?
Lentner is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $596 per resident a year.
Compare Lentner with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lentner. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lentner 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.
Lentner detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lentner: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lentner: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lentner: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lentner: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lentner 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.