Best PlacesMasters, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Masters, 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.
Masters ranks 34,882nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Masters
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.
Masters' strengths and weaknesses
Where Masters ranks high
- Cheap childcare$355 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 83% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 75% of towns
Where Masters ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Masters
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Masters home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,022, 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 Masters' effective rate of 0.39%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Masters
Masters'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 Masters.
Who works in Masters, and how
Work in Masters centers on manufacturing and real estate. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Masters
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Masters.
What the weather is like in Masters, month by month
Masters sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 34° | 23° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 44° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Masters
The nearest airport, Springfield-Branson Ntl, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 129 miles away.
The best schools in and around Masters
Schools across Masters average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fair Play Elem.A− · 62% proficient
- Stockton Elem.B+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stockton MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Stockton HighB · 47% proficient
- Fair Play HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Masters school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Masters 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 Masters against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Masters
Is Masters a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Masters ranks 34,882nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and low property taxes, and lowest on the weather and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Masters expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $253,787. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $67,022 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Masters safe?
Masters is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $666 per resident a year.
Compare Masters with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Masters. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Masters 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.
Masters detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Masters: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Masters: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Masters: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Masters: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Masters 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.