Best PlacesMaples, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Maples, 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.
Maples ranks 47,858th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Maples
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.
Maples' strengths and weaknesses
Where Maples ranks high
- Cheap childcare$363 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 82% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 76% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 74% of towns
Where Maples ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$36,555 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Maples
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Maples home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $36,555, 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 Maples' effective rate of 0.46%, 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 Maples
Maples runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Maples.
Who works in Maples, and how
Work in Maples centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Maples
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Maples.
What the weather is like in Maples, month by month
Maples sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 89° | 76° | 65° |
| October | 71° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Maples
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Maples
Schools across Maples average a C+, better than 44% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Green Forest Elem.A · 65% proficient
- Phelps Co. Elem.B− · 42% proficient
- Licking Elem.C+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Licking HighC · 33% proficient
- Salem Sr. HighD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Maples school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Maples 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 Maples against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Maples
Is Maples a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Maples ranks 47,858th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, clean air, and low property taxes, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Maples expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $126,064. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $36,555 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Maples safe?
Maples is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $406 per resident a year.
Compare Maples with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Maples. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Maples 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.
Maples detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Maples: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Maples: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Maples: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Maples: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Maples 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.