Best PlacesLuna, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Luna, 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.
Luna ranks 47,016th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Luna
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.
Luna's strengths and weaknesses
Where Luna ranks high
- Cheap childcare$326 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- QuietBetter than 70% of towns
Where Luna ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$40,496 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Luna
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Luna home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $40,496, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Luna's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Luna
Luna 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 Luna.
Who works in Luna, and how
Work in Luna centers on manufacturing and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Luna
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Luna.
What the weather is like in Luna, month by month
Luna sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 37° | 29° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Luna
The nearest airport, Branson, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 171 miles away.
The best schools in and around Luna
Schools across Luna average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dora Elem.B+ · 55% proficient
- Gainesville Elem.B · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Gainesville HighB− · 45% proficient
- Dora HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Luna school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Luna 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 Luna against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Luna
Is Luna a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Luna ranks 47,016th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, clean air, and low property taxes, and lowest on education levels and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Luna expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $186,314. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $40,496 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Luna safe?
Luna is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $806 per resident a year.
Compare Luna with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Luna. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Luna 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.
Luna detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Luna: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Luna: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Luna: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Luna: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Luna 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.