Best PlacesLiberty, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Liberty, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Liberty ranks 634th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Liberty
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.
Liberty's strengths and weaknesses
Where Liberty ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of cities
- School gradeB+, better than 83% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 80% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 78% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 77% of cities
Where Liberty ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 22% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 23% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 34% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Liberty
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Liberty home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,976, 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 Liberty's effective rate of 1.07%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Liberty
Liberty'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 Liberty.
Who works in Liberty, and how
Work in Liberty centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Liberty
Liberty has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Liberty and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Liberty, month by month
Liberty sees roughly 108 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 Liberty
Kansas City International sits about 16 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 Liberty
Schools across Liberty average a B+, better than 83% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Epic ElementaryA+ · 85% proficient
- Horizon ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Franklin Elem.A · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kearney MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Discovery Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Smithville MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Kearney HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Liberty HighB+ · 51% proficient
- Smithville HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Liberty school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Liberty 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 Liberty against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Liberty suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 16% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 65% of cities and health care access beats 78%.
Common questions about living in Liberty
Is Liberty a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Liberty ranks 634th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, good schools, and state finances, and lowest on noise and transit. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Liberty expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $296,612. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $100,976 median income, cost of living beats 74% of cities.
Is Liberty safe?
Yes, Liberty is safer than 69% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $320 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Liberty?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 23. That works out to about 108 pleasant days a year, more than 65% of cities.
Is Liberty good for families?
Schools beat 83% of cities, crime safety beats 69%, and childcare runs $942 a month.
Compare Liberty with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Liberty. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Liberty 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.
Liberty detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Liberty: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Liberty: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Liberty: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Liberty: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Liberty 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.